Mary Young Sewell
Mary Young Sewell | |
|---|---|
 Mary with her brother William, from The Family of Sir William Young by Johann Zoffany, 1767 - 1769 | |
| Died | 9 December 1821  Chertsey |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Spouse(s) | George Sewell |
| Parent(s) |
|
| Family | Sir William Young, 2nd Baronet |
Mary Young Sewell (c. 1759 - 9 December 1821) was a British poet.
Early life
[edit]Mary Young was the daughter of Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, of North Dean, colonial governor of Dominica, and his second wife, Elizabeth Taylor, the daughter of the mathematician Brook Taylor.[1] She appears with her family in the conversation piece The Family of Sir William Young, painted by Johan Zoffany, probably in 1767. She is seated on the far right on a parapet next to her brother William, wearing a lemon yellow dress and holding a letter.[2] Her father owned four Caribbean sugar plantations and 896 enslaved Africans on his death, inherited by William.[3]
Writing career
[edit]She published two books of poetry before her marriage. Horatio and Amanda (1777) is a long sentimental poem about a couple permanently separated by war. Amanda finds Horatio's body on the battlefield, only identifiable by her own needlework. Innocence (1790) is an allegorical poem about Innocence, who initially persues Pleasure before being saved by Religion.[1]
She married the Rev. George Sewell, rector of Byfleet, Surrey. After his death in 1801, she published Poems (1803), which had a lengthy list of subscribers, including royalty and prominent authors like Elizabeth Montagu.[1]
Mary Sewell died on 9 December 1821 in Chertsey.[4]
Her work has been often confused with that of Mary Julia Young and their works have been misattributed to each other.[5]
Bibliography
[edit]- Horatio and Amanda a Poem by a Young Lady. London: Printed for J. Robson, 1777.[5]
- Innocence: an allegorical poem. By Miss Mary Young. London: Printed for J. Evans; and sold by T. Hookham; and T. Lake, Uxbridge, 1790[5]
- Poems, By Mrs. G. Sewell, relict of the late Rev. Geo. Sewell, Rector of Byfleet, Surrey. Wetton and Sons, Printers, Egham and Chertsey, 1803[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Blain, Virginia (1990). The Feminist companion to literature in English : women writers from the Middle Ages to the present. Internet Archive. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-04854-4.
- ^ Webster, Mary (2011). Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810. Internet Archive. New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16278-3.
- ^ "Young, William Sir". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30284. Retrieved 1 June 2024. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Owen, Mountague Charles (1906). Sewells of the Isle of Wight : with an account of some of the families connected with them by marriage. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. [Manchester, England : Manchester Courier. p. 169.
- ^ a b c Lloyd, Nicola. (Summer 2008) Mary Julia Young: A biographical and bibliographical study. Romantic Textualities(18)
- ^ "WPHP". womensprinthistoryproject.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
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