Celebrating the life and work of Elizabeth Gaskell
‘The Well of Pen – Morfa’, November 1850 In the autumn of 1850, the year that Elizabeth Gaskell and her family took up residence at 42, Plymouth Grove, Charles Dickens published the second of Gaskell’s contributions to Household Words-‘The Well of … Continued
Gaskell’s last novella, Cousin Phillis, was published in The Cornhill Magazine in 1863, only two years before she died. In this story she returns to her beloved Knutsford, now named Eltham, and her grandfather’s farm at Sandlebridge, renamed Heathbridge. Gaskell’s … Continued
Mary Barton – the book that divided a nation 1848 was the year of revolution. A series of political upheavals took place across Europe. Their aim was ostensibly to remove the old monarchical structures and create independent nation-states. In February, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels … Continued
Every year, on a Sunday close to what would have been Elizabeth Gaskell’s birthday, we head to Brook Street Chapel in Knutsford to lay flowers on the Gaskell family grave and on the grave of Joan Leach, the Gaskell Society … Continued
As part of the Heritage Open Days in 2019, the doors will be open at Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel, Warrington’s oldest Dissenting Chapel. Founded on the same site in 1662, when led by the Revd Samuel Yates Rector of St … Continued
‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ can be found in collections of Gothic stories, ghost stories and tales of the macabre, something which might seem odd for a woman who was the wife of a Unitarian minister and, as a Unitarian, a … Continued
How would you then define a hero? ‘The Sexton’s Hero’, was published in William and Mary Howitt’s Journal during September 1847, the year before Gaskell ‘s first, and much-loved, novel Mary Barton appeared in print. Suzanne Lewis in her introduction … Continued
In 1845 while scarlet fever was rife in Manchester, Elizabeth Gaskell took her young family, comprising then of three girls and a baby boy, William, out to North Wales to avoid the infection. Sadly, Marianne contracted the fever and then … Continued
The Gaskell Society recently received a question via Twitter concerning connections between Molly Gibson (Wives and Daughters) and Eleanor Omerod, an entomologist. Omerod was born in Gloucestershire in 1828, moving to Torquay, then Isleworth and finally St Albans where she … Continued
It’s hard to imagine a more nerve-wracking scenario than Newish Chairwoman organising and chairing her first conference for such a well-respected literary society as the Gaskell Society. NOT helped by a history of well-organised, enjoyable, academically stimulating previous conferences stretching … Continued