Ann Yearsley (1753–1806)

Ann Yearsley, née Cromartie, was born in Bristol, England, and worked as a milkmaid. She became one of only a few working-class women of her era to gain prominence as a writer. In 1774, she married John Yearsley, a yeoman farmer, with whom she had six children. Despite her many responsibilities, she managed to eke out time to write poetry at night. The severe winter of 1783-1784 threw the family into extreme poverty. Ann went to work in the home of Hannah More, who arranged for her first collection of verse, Poems on Several Occasion, to be published (under the pseudonym "Lactilla") in 1785, with a preface by Hannah. Several other collections followed, such as Poems on Various Subjects, and Other Pieces (1787), which contained an account of her quarrel with Hannah More over royalties; Stanzas of Woe (1790); and An Elegy on Marie Antoinette (1795). Ann Yearsley established a circulating library in Bristol and her play Earl Goodwin (1789) was performed in Bath and Bristol. She also wrote a historical novel about the so-called Man in the Iron Mask entitled The Royal Captives: a Fragment of Secret History (1795). Her final collection of poetry, The Rural Lyre, appeared in 1796. Ann Yearsley was one of many prominent Bristol women who campaigned against the slave trade. Her portrait was painted by Sarah Shiells and a mezzotint engraving of it is in the British Museum.