Frances Burnett in 1888, part of a photograph by Herbert Rose Barraud (1845-1896). Public domain.
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett
, 1849 - 1924
Frances Hodgson Burnett was an internationally known children’s writer born in Manchester, England in the UK on November 24, 1849. The family of five children was left in serious financial circumstances when her father died in 1865. Burnett was about 16 years old when her family immigrated to Tennessee in the U.S. to live with her mother’s brother. The only education she received was at a dame school, which were small private schools in England, run by women. Burnett was an avid reader and this is how she educated herself. She loved telling stories and due to a desperate lack of money she began to send her stories to popular magazines such as Godey’s Lady’s Book. She began to be regularly published by Godey’s, Peterson’s Ladies Magazine, Scribner’s Monthly, and Harper’s. She married Dr. Swan Moses Burnett in 1873 and a year later her son Lionel was born. The birth of her second son, Vivian, occurred in 1876 in Paris where the Burnetts had moved in 1875. To support the family financially Burnett continued to write. Her first novel, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s was published in 1876 and it was instrumental in establishing her writing career in the U.S. and the U.K. (where she bought a home in the 1880’s).
Burnett wrote 55 books, five of which became bestsellers and a number were adapted for the stage. Her most successful children’s book was Little Lord Fauntleroy, which was published in serialised for in 1885 in a children’s magazine and later (1886) then as a stand-alone book. Based on her son Vivian, it became a best seller and was translated into many languages. After Little Lord Fauntleroy Burnett published A Little Princess in 1905, and The Secret Garden in 1911. The latter became a children’s classic. In 1909 Burnett left England and built a home in Plandome, Long Island, New York where she died in 1924.
Sources:
Penguinrandomhouse.com (accessed: March 6, 2021).
Britannica.com (acessed: April 2, 2021).
Yourdictionary.com (accessed April 3, 2021).
Thwaite, Ann, The Magic of Frances Hodgson Burnett, New Statesman, London, October 28, 2020, (accessed: July 5, 2022)
Bio prepared by Beverley Beddoes-Mills, beverleym@bigpond.com
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