Biographical Essay [Rachel Sargent]

Sarah Harriet Burney: A Life of Constant Comparison

By Rachel Sargeant

Born August 29th, 1772, Sarah Harriet Burney was one of two children born to musician and composer Charles Burney and his second wife, Elizabeth Burney (Brown, 2006). Younger than the six children from her father’s first marriage by almost twenty years, her early life was transitory and by result, lonely. Writing was not only a way to make an income, but also a means of connection. With a tumultuous home life and little funds, her works were never allowed to sit in the limelight but were instead overshadowed by her older, more famous – and scandalous - siblings.

Sarah was brought up in Norfolk until 1775, when she travelled to join her father’s house in London. Frances described her as “one of the most innocent, artless, queer little things you ever saw” (Wikimedia, 2021) but wrote favourably about her disposition. Her many stepsiblings included Bluestockings satirical writer Frances ‘Fanny’ Burney, naval navigator James Burney, scholar Charles Burney, letter writer Susanna Phillips, and half-sister novelist Elizabeth Meeke. Much tension arose from the poorly blended families, and her relationships with her siblings and parents suffered. In 1781 she was sent to Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, to complete her education, studying French, Italian, drawing, and music (Brown, 2006). By 1787, she was the only child left in the house, and her isolation was only furthered by her mother’s death in 1796. In 1798, she left her father’s home to live with her half-brother James, who scandalously had left his wife and three children. Speculations of a sexual relationship were never proven, but nonetheless their household struggled socially and financially. They moved between Bristol and London as Sarah bounced between finding paying work and nursing her elderly father in Chelsea.

Deciding she would never marry, Sarah instead began working the unglamourous life as a governess. A governess was a teacher who lived with their employer, responsible for educating the daughters of higher-status families in reading, writing, geography, and other accomplishments such as dancing, piano, and drawing (Hughes, 2014). It was the only respectable job for a higher-class woman who found themselves needing to work, but to be a governess was to constantly be alone – governesses held a social position that did not allow them to sit with the family, but were not considered low-status enough to sit with the servants (Hughes, 2014). Since she lived with them, Burney was further isolated from family, marriage prospects, and other job opportunities, relying solely on the employer-employee relationship for company. Despite only having rudimentary schooling herself, Sarah was incredibly intellectual. A vicarious reader from her isolated younger years, she spoke fluent French and keep up to date on women’s writing styles (Brown, 2006). In 1804, she took her first position with the Wilbraham family, but returned to the Royal Hospital in 1807 to care for her father, where she stayed until his death in 1814. She took several more salaried positions in the 1820s, starting with being a companion to Charlotte Ann Gregor, a young heiress in poor health, in 1821. Burney’s own sickness made her quit, but again she took a position as a governess in 1822 with the family of Lord Crewe. Due to clashing with Lady Crewe over her daughters’ education and a lack of funds from the family, she ended up resigning in 1829 and travelling to Italy the next year (Brown, 2006). Her journey was considered eccentric, but she had a sociable few months in Rome before she travelled to Florence, spending three years living with her niece Charlotte Barrett. It is unclear if there was a falling-out between the aunt and niece, but Sarah’s correspondence with Charlotte cooled during this time, and she moved back to England in 1833 (Wikimedia, 2021). The last decade of her life she spent writing more novels and moving between boarding houses in Bath and Cheltenham. Moving to Belgrave House in 1841, Sarah Burney died three years later in 1844 and was buried in the graveyard at St. Mary’s.

Over her life, Sarah authored seven works of fiction including the novels Clarentine (1796), Geraldine Fauconberg (1808), Traits of Nature (1812), Tales of Fancy: The Shipwreck (1816), Tales of Fancy: Country Neighbours (1820), The Romance of Private Life: The Renunciation (1839) and The Hermitage (1839). Her novels brought her a modest reputation and a small income, appearing first under the pseudonym “Caroline Burney” until Traits of Nature, which was published under her own name to great success (Wikimedia, 2021). Her letters are the musings of a lonely author, where it is inferred she was undervalued as both a writer and as a family member after having multiple fallings-out with close friends. In the letter found in Upcott’s album, she pleads to a Mr. and Mrs. Paris for companionship after a period of illness. Burney penned this letter in 1841, approximately a week before she left for Belgrave House in Cheltenham, saying“[she] shall seize the earliest opportunity of paying [her] personal devoirs to Mrs. Paris” before leaving London. She says she would “enjoy a visit from [them] much more in [her] own habitation” due to the lack of privacy the public house will grant her. Considering Burney was even more isolated in the final years of her life from moving to the country, her letter shows the desperation for friendly contact, likely some of the last she will have before she leaves. Despite being in a family of creatives, her gothics and melodramas were not supported by her father, and her motifs of “orphaned children, implacable fathers, harsh mothers, spiteful sisters, and domineering brothers” (Clarke, 2006) are suggestive of her own family experiences. Her works were constantly compared to her older and more famous sister, Frances, also known as Mme D’Arblay, who the family “ardently promoted” (Wikimedia, 2021).

Though apparently close, Sarah and Fanny had a complicated relationship on a variety of levels. Despite the age gap and the fame gap, Sarah’s relationship with Fanny seems to have been a fond one. Frances wrote of Sarah, “Sarah is…a great comfort to me” (Clark, 2006), and tried to reconcile the family after Sarah and James abruptly left their father’s home together despite knowing the social faux pas it was putting on her and James’ wife. As they both grew older, their correspondence cooled, but they remained friendly despite the constant competition of their novels. Critics drew comparisons to Frances’ work, specifically to the characters in Evelina (1778) and Cecilia (1792). A reviewer said the characters were like "old acquaintances only in new situations" (Clark, 2016), rather than original works. Jane Austen herself snidely commented “’We [the Austen family] are reading 'Clarentine,' & are surprised to find how foolish it is’” (Clark, 2016). That’s not to say that Sarah’s works were not enjoyed or did not find success – reviewers called Clarentine “accomplished” (Wikimedia, 2021), Traits of Nature sold out within four months, and there were American editions and German and French translations of her works. Her novels incorporated deeper levels of domesticity that gives the modern reader a window into the changes affecting early Victorian society, mainly the shifts in upper-class education and literature trending towards more didactic works.

Sarah Burney’s life is full of periods of loneliness and constant family intrusion. From taking care of her elderly parents to being in the shadow of her elder sister, her lack of means and status meant she never had a flourishing social circle or career. Though she had a positive reputation, her writing was summed up, ironically in the memoir of her father, as “a still younger sister followed the track of Madame D['Arblay]., with considerable, though not equal success” (Clark, 2006).

Works Cited

Brown, Susan, et al. “Sarah Harriet Burney.” The Orlando Project, Cambridge University Press, 2006, http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=burnsa.y=0&submit.x=0&name_entry=Burney, Sarah Harriet&subform=1&results_type=entries.

Burney, Sarah. Letter to Mr. & Mrs. Paris. March 30, 1841. William Upcott album. Published 1833.

Clarke, Lorna J. “Burney, Sarah Harriet (1772–1844), Writer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2006, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-4081.

Hughes, K. “The Figure of the Governess.” Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians, British Library, 2014, https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-figure-of-the-governess

Wikimedia. “Sarah Burney.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Burney.