A new season of Mary Barton events begins at Elizabeth Gaskell's House with this introduction to her first novel, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life. The story is a tale of class strife, romantic love and action adventure as Mary Barton, daughter of a trade unionist, is torn between the working-class Jem Wilson and mill […]
Back by popular demand, Dr Diane Duffy leads us on a literary journey of discovery to the places, buildings and landmarks of Manchester as featured in Elizabeth Gaskell’s first novel Mary Barton, with extracts from the text to map the way. This fascinating talk will interest anyone who wants to find out more about historical […]
Mary Barton and the Year of Revolutions: ‘John Barton became a Chartist, a Communist’ Elizabeth Gaskell’s debut novel Mary Barton (1848) is recognised as one of the most important Victorian works to explore the working class Chartist movement, in this case through the character of Mary’s father, John Barton. Popular speaker Prof Mike Sanders is back to reveal […]
With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread— Stitch! stitch! stitch! Thomas Hood wrote the famous poem The Song of the Shirt (1843), in response to a newspaper report about a widow and seamstress named Mrs Biddell who was forced, like many seamstresses of her day, to […]
In this session, Dr Diane Duffy will be looking at Fallenness in Adam Bede, Ruth and Mary Barton with a focus on the characters of Hetty Sorrel, Ruth and Aunt Esther. Our monthly Knutsford meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month, between October and April (except December). Bring your own packed lunch […]