Relationships

Intro:

Helen Maria Williams was an important woman of her time, and in the Romantic era, importance tended to relate back to who people knew. In Helen Maria WIlliams’ case she had a large variety of important people in her life that either helped her and supported her, or served as loyal friends. While she is certainly an independent woman, she would not be the same person, nor have quite the same impact without all the people in her life.

Family:

First and foremost is her family, the very basis of who she was and why she was around in the first place. She was born to Charles Williams and Helen Williams nee Hay. Her father was a wealthy man who was Secretary of the Island of Minorca, and was likely an army man serving in Ireland before that. He had been married before Helen to a woman named Persis, whom he had a daughter with who shared her name. His first wife died, and he remarried to Helen years later. Within the second marriage, Charles and Helen had two daughters, Cecilia Williams, and Helen Maria Williams. While birth records were never uncovered, Cecilia is figured to be the older sister.

Helen Williams nee Hay was a Scottish woman who was born in December of 1730. It is thought that she likely met Charles through her brother David Hay, who also served on Minorca. He actually had a bible he brought that had remained in the Williams family for years that they called “Bible de Minorca”.

Charles Williams died in December 1762, and left his home and a fair sum of money to his family, which supported them well as Helen Williams raised the three girls and educated them well. She lived a fairly long life, dying in 1812.

Of the three daughters only Williams' sister Cecilia ended up getting married and having children. She was married to a French man named Marie-Martin-Athanase Coquerel and had two sons with him, Athanase (1795-1868) and Charles (1797-1851). When Cecilia died in 1798, Helen Maria Williams took on the role of caregiver to her nephews, caring for them as a mother would. When she herself got older her nephew Athanase stepped up and cared for her for a short while too before she moved back to France and passed away. Like Williams, Athanase went on to become very involved in politics in his later years.

Early Life Friends and Acquaintances:

In 1781 Helen Maria Williams and her family moved back to London. Once there Williams began forming multiple close relationships and friendships. Perhaps most notably was her relationship with Dr Andrew Kippis (1725-1795), a Reverend at the presbytarian church of Westminster which Williams and her family attended. Kippis was a well liked man, and was active in politics in his life, and would be considered a fairly progressive man for his time, aligning with the Whigs. His politics likely greatly influenced Helen Maria Williams’ own politics which is an area she is most known to write about. He also did a fair amount of writing in his life, writing for publications such as The Gentleman’s Magazine, The Monthly Review, and The Library, as well as writing and publishing pamphlets and sermons.

Kippis acted as a mentor to Williams, and took an interest in Williams writing when he met her, and being a well liked and well connected man, he helped her publish her first work of Edwin and Eltruda, and used his connections to spread word of her work around to try and garner interest in it. He also introduced her to other writers of the time, providing her with like minded acquaintances as well connections. Among these people were William Hayley, Joseph Warton, Thomas Warton and John Heele, most of whom would praise Williams and her writing and encouraged her to keep doing so.

Around this time Williams also became acquainted with Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800) and the bluestockings, the famous group of women writers who would get together to talk and support each other's writing endeavors. Montagu is often credited as somewhat of the leader and founder of the bluestockings, and was a feminist in her time. A lot of her fame came from her being heralded as a great literary critic, perhaps one of the best, as well as a compelling letter writer.

Around three years after being in London Williams made a name for herself as a high class poet, and around this time she befriended the writer Anna Seward (1742-1809). Seward was known to be a harsh critic, but she greatly assisted Williams in her writing. The two of them became quite close friends, writing often to each other and always talking. Seward even has a poem about Williams in which she praises the other woman.

Also in 1784 Williams met Dr. John Moore (1729-1802), another mentor to her. Moore was a doctor who also was involved in literary pursuits, being well respected in the community and publishing some of his own works as well.

France:

While in France Helen Maria Williams befriended multiple people, most notably however were those who were involved in the Girondist movement; Madame Roland, Pierre Verginaud and J.P. Brissot. She supported their cause, and was heavily on their side during the Reign of Terror. Unfortunately as the political climate got more intense in France, the Girondists were taken down by the more violent Montagards, Williams and her family were arrested for their relation to the Girondist movement. While there many of her Girondist friends were killed for their involvement, and Williams likely had little time to mourn for fear of her own life.

Tea Table Talk:

Helen Maria Williams was known for her tea Table and salons. In fact that is how she was involved with the Girondist movement, by hosting them at her place for their meetings.  Though usually discussing politics in some capacity, most of the guests of these meetings did not meet the same fate as her Girondist friends.

Many important people would attend these meetups, including but not limited to, Samuel Rogers, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, William Godwin, Amelia Opie, Joel Barlow, and Thomas Erskine. Many of the attendees were close with Williams, and kept correspondence with her, and her salons were praised for their atmosphere.

After the Revolution:

John Hurford Stone:

After being released from prison Helen Maria Williams and her family fled to Switzerland. While there they traveled with John Hurford Stone and Benjamin Vaughan (1751-1835), under the apparent protection of Colonel Johann-Rudolph Frey.

Williams and Stone's relationship was a highly criticized one. Though neither ever claimed the relationship to be romantic, people still thought it improper for Stone to be hanging around with Williams at the time. He was still technically married to his then wife, though they had been split for some time by that point. 

Stone was a radical political reformer, and also a publisher, and he was born in 1763. He was raised by his uncle William Hurford and had a younger brother also named William. He at one point even entered business with Williams' brother-in-law Coquerel, in which they ran a factory together for a short time

Whether the two of them were romantically connected or not is unknown, though many do believe so, it is of little consequence. Their relationship remained strong until Stone died in 1818, with him living with her and her family. After her own death in 1823, Helen Maria Williams was buried beside him in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Other Friends and Relationships:

Outside of Stone, Williams still had plenty of people with whom she informed important relations with, or who played an important part in her life. For example Colonel Johann-Rudolph Frey, who provided her and her family protection while she fled from France during the Reign of Terror.

It is difficult to find much information about Frey, but he had some power as a military man, and was a friend of Williams and liberal.

Also there was Benjamin Vaughan who she traveled with when she was traveling with Stone who she would describe as a pure and correct soul.

She also had an important, though unfriendly, relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). During his reign as emperor of France Williams was very critical of him, and his rule. Though she didn't make this criticism public, news did get back to Napoleon, and he held something of a grudge against her for it. In 1 Napoleon declared her Ode to the Peace of Amiens to be treasonous, and had her arrested for one day for its publication.

The tension was at a point where Helen Maria Williams stopped writing and publishing work while France was under his rule.

On a more positive note, she also became close friends with a very prominent German scientist named Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) in 1810, due to her involvement in translating his work on South America to English. His work is very expansive, and he has done a lot of traveling and research across the world, so translating his work would not have been an easy task.

Conclusion:

Helen Maria Williams was easily a prolific and popular writer, and while she deserved the attention she got as an individual, it is important to note that no one can do everything alone. Her life story is very much dictated by the people who were in her life, and to understand her it is important to look at them as well. In general everyone is reliant on someone or needs help at some point, and recognizing the people who have helped Williams is in no way taking away from her own abilities and skill.