Biography
Charlotte Smith's Biography
By: Paige Serrer
Youth
Charlotte Smith was born as Charlotte Turner on May 4th, 1749, in central London. Her home was on King Street, off of St. James’s Square and was a modest townhouse; however, her father, Nicholas Turner was a prosperous land owner having two larger estates, one in Sussex and one near Guildford, Surrey, and some smaller properties scattered throughout London. A man dedicated to land-owning, Nicholas Turner was evidently very wealthy and married a woman named Anna Turner, maiden name Towers. Together, Nicholas and Anna had three children, including Charlotte Smith’s younger brother Nicholas and younger sister Catherine, known today as the children’s literature writer Catherine Ann Dorset. Charlotte Smith never got to know her mother, because “by May 1753 Anna (Towers) Turner, mother of Charlotte... died giving birth to a son when Charlotte was three years old” (Brown, Clements, Grundy) After the death of Anna, Nicholas Senior was left completely emotionally distraught and left his children with their Aunt Lucy Towers as he travelled abroad. Regardless, Charlotte lived a privileged lifestyle, as she was able to go to school in Chichester and later when she was eight moved to London and “continued her education at a fashionable girls’ school in Kensington [where] she learned dancing, drawing, music, and acting, and won praise for her performances in French and English plays.” (Zimmerman) Regardless of Smith’s mother dying and her father running away to travel, she enjoyed a happy childhood with her aunt Lucy and siblings. However, Smith’s happy childhood was quickly stolen from her: just as quickly as her father had left, he re-entered her life; but this time broke as he had “encountered financial difficulties on his return to England and was forced to sell some of the family’s holdings and marry the wealthy Henrietta Meriton in 1765” (“Charlotte Smith (writer)” Wikipedia)
Married-Life
Even after re-marrying into a wealthy family, Nicholas Turner was still in debt, so Henrietta Meriton suggested marrying Charlotte into a wealthy family at the age of fourteen. However, Nicholas thought it was too young an age and waited until Charlotte was fifteen to wed her to Benjamin Smith in the year 1765. Benjamin Smith was twenty-one years old when he married Charlotte Smith, and the two of them led a very complicated, unhappy marriage, as Charlotte Smith “later considered she was ‘sold, a legal prostitute’” (Brown, Clements, Grundy). Benjamin Smith had issues with gambling, drinking, having affairs and illegitimate children, as well as a really bad temper but within all the hatred they had against each other, they had a total of twelve children. This was ultimately a recipe for disaster, as they were already poor due to Benjamin’s gambling and could not afford to provide for their children. Even though Benjamin Smith’s father Richard Smith was wealthy, he did not financially support Benjamin as he did not trust him with the family company. Richard Smith owned plantations in Jamaica and was a slave-holder and Charlotte took a very small role in his business as she “assisted Richard Smith with his business correspondence” (Zimmerman). Charlotte Smith and Richard Smith had a friendly relationship, despite her tumultuous relationship with his son and despite the “shock to her that he owned and traded in slaves” (Brown, Clements, Grundy). Not only did Charlotte and Richard Smith work closely together in correspondences, but they also became even closer as Richard Smith “married...aunt Lucy Towers in 1767.” (Zimmerman) Despite Charlotte Smith working alongside Richard, it simply was not enough to support her family and Benjamin went into further debt, subsequently being sentenced to the king's bench. This king’s bench was a prison located in Southwark, London, and used as a debtor’s prison. Charlotte Smith ultimately ended up serving seven months in prison alongside Benjamin, leaving their 12 children with her brother Nicholas. Charlotte Smith was responsible for Benjamin’s release “she negotiated with lawyers and creditors to secure her husband’s release.” (Brown, Clements, Grundy) Although in an incredibly unfortunate situation being stuck in prison, Charlotte Smith was able to write her first published works, Elegiac Sonnets, and other Essays by Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, Sussex. The success of her poems launched her writing career and gave her the confidence to leave her husband. After living a very miserable 22 years together, Charlotte Smith decided to separate from her husband on April 15th, 1787 as she described him “as a voracious, unfeeling monster, a ‘Mr. Monstroso’, and a wretch.” (Brown, Clements, Grundy) Charlotte Smith was then left alone to take care of twelve children as a single mother.
Literary Career
After Charlotte Smith published her Elegiac Sonnets, and other Essays by Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, she gained popularity. In total, Smith had nine editions of her Elegiac Sonnets as she would revise, add sonnets, change the preface, or add illustrations. The Elegiac Sonnets were her prize and possession, however within all of the editions, she published twelve novels, five more substantial poems, two translations from French to English, two Children’s literature books and five educational works. Charlotte Smith considered herself poet and even “interspersed in her novels specimens of the poetry on which she prided herself more” (Brown, Clements, Grundy) Even though Charlotte Smith preferred writing poetry, it unfortunately did not pay her bills, so she turned to writing novels to provide for her children. Charlotte Smith’s novels had complex themes as she would use “the Gothic setting of the manor house as a metaphor for the nation, and adopt... the framework of the courtship novel in order to indict English primogeniture laws which favour empowered men over women, second sons, the impoverished, and the enslaved” (Zimmerman) Charlotte Smith had lived a very wealthy childhood and her father-in-law was a slaveholder, so she had a first-hand glimpse at the mistreatment of the enslaved which would have served for inspiration for her work.
Richard Smith’s slave-holding potentially influenced Charlotte Smith’s poem Beachy Head as she inquires about slavery within the letter exhibited in Upcott’s album. Charlotte Smith’s letter was composed in 1799, a year before The Story of Henrietta was published. The Story of Henrietta is a novel about a young girl whose father is a tyrannical slaveholder in Jamaica. Within Charlotte Smith’s letter she is asking for a favour to borrow the novel “The Proceedings of the Governor and Assembly of Jamaica, in Regard to the Maroon Negroes: Published by order of the Assembly” by Bryan Edwards. This novel discusses the fight between the British Colonies and the Maroons which would have given her historical background for her novel. This proves that Charlotte Smith did her research before writing and cared to learn about what her characters would be going through.
Later Life
Within Charlotte Smith’s later years, “she suffered from gout, arthritis, neuritis, and pleurisy” (Zimmerman) ultimately leading to a steep decline of her health. She died at the age of fifty-seven in 1806 yet was not immediately forgotten. Charlotte Smith had some very important close friends, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge who referred to her as someone “who first made the Sonnet popular among the present English” (Bethan) and also remembered by William Wordsworth as “the ‘first modern’ poet distinguished in the sonnet” (Bethan). Charlotte Smith’s predominance within the literary sphere was incredibly important as she was a voice for female writers, proving that within the eighteenth century, women could succeed on their own.
References
- Brown, Susan, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, eds. Charlotte Smith entry: Life screen within Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Online, 2006. <http://orlando.cambridge.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/>. 03 November 2021
- Roberts, Bethan. “Introduction.” Charlotte Smith and the Sonnet: Form, Place and Tradition in the Late Eighteenth Century, Liverpool University Press, 2019, pp. 1–10, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvt6rjcc.4
- “Charlotte Smith (Writer).” Wikipedia, 27 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Smith_(writer)#CITEREFBlank2003.