Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Good Morning Everyone A new poster here! Originally from Lowedges and now living in London. Yesterday I was in Richmond, Surrey and while looking at the Local Church, I noticed a huge stone tablet on the side of it with an inscription dedicated to 'Barbara Hofland' from her friends. The thing that struck me though was that at the bottom it said 'Born At Sheffield A.D 1770', Died At Richmond. Nov 4th 1844' Since surfing the net and doing some research on this lady, It appears that she was a prolific childrens writer and wrote books and short stories to supplement her income after the family business collapsed. I was wondering if anyone on here had heard of her and could shed anymore light? I would be very interested to know which part of Sheffield she was from :-) I will try and post up a picture of the tablet that I took yesterday, if i can Many Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUFFEMS Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 This seems to be her death registration: Deaths Dec 1844 HOFLAND Barbara Richmond Surrey 4 309 Here is more information: Biographical Information about Barbara Hofland with particular relevance to The Merchant's Widow Barbara Hofland was born as Barbara Wreaks in Sheffield in 1770. Her father, Robert Wreaks, was a staple product manufacturer. She lost him when she was still an infant. After her mother quickly remarried, she was sent to live with a maiden aunt. In her early days Barbara kept a milliner's shop in Church Lane and contributed several poems to the 'Sheffield Courant' and 'Sheffield Iris'. In 1795 she contributed her first literary essay 'Characteristics of some leading inhabitants of Sheffield' to the 'Sheffield Courant'. In 1796 Barbara married Thomas Bradshaw Hoole, a Sheffield merchant, who tragically died from consumption only two years after their marriage leaving her a widow with a four month old son to take care of. Barbara was left with a 'considerable' estate, which unfortunately was soon lost through the failure of the firm with which it was involved. Her son's inheritance and her estate were wiped out. To help support herself and her son she published, with the help of a generous subscription from the people of Sheffield (some 2000 subscribers), a book of poems which for a short time made her enough money. She made enough money she was able to buy a boarding house in Harrogate. After a year of trying to make the business a success, it eventually failed, however while contending with the difficulties in which were involved with running a boarding school, she found time to make herself known as a writer of fiction. Thus achieving a short-lived independence. The following year, after ten years of widowhood, she married the struggling young artist Thomas Christopher Hofland. T. Christopher Hofland was known for his scenes overlooking Sheffield. In 1812 she published one of the novels she wrote while in Harrogate, The Clergyman's Widow; it sold 17,000 copies. The ill success of her husband's business compelled her to work even harder. By 1824 she had produced almost twenty works of fiction. Moving to London in 1811 helped increase her output, the first of these published was The Daughter-in-Law. Her next publication was her most famous to date, The Son of a Genius (1816). It well deserved this success from its genuine truth to nature, the vivid portrayal of the artistic temperament as she had observed it in her husband, and the artless but touching expression of her affection for her son by her fist marriage, whose early death from consumption cast a shadow over her life. She also wrote a spirited pamphlet on the disagreements between George IV and Queen Caroline, and, anticipation some modern developments of journalism, contributed letters of London literary gossip to provincial journals. She died on November 9, 1844 at the age of 74 in Richmond, Surrey. SOURCES: Dictionary of National Biography The Feminist Companion to Literature in England. Women Writers From the Middle Ages to Present, Pepared by Paul Wurth, University of Nebraska, December 2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillsbro Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 The books evidently continued to be published after Barbara Hofland's death - I found quite a number by visiting www.abebooks.co.uk and searching under "Mrs Hofland". Some of the books are available cheaply on a digital print-on-demand basis, so they must still have a following. Here is an example of a book published in 1845 which is available quite cheaply via abebooks. The 1841 census return shows Barbara Hofland living in Queen Street, Hammersmith with her husband Thomas, Barbara being described as an authoress and Thomas as an artist. Postscript - here's an edited scan of the 1841 census return entry: http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Hofland1841.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattricia Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 What an interesting thread this is. I must look up these links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 WOW! This is great! Many thanks all!! Any idea how I can put a picture up of the Tablet I saw yesterday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I did actually look on ebay yesterday but they only had one book which was about £24! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillsbro Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 WOW! This is great! Many thanks all!! Any idea how I can put a picture up of the Tablet I saw yesterday? If you register on a picture-hosting site such as http://photobucket.com/ you can upload JPEGs etc. and give links, as I did with the 1841 census scan. I believe there's a minimum number of posts before you can include a link (it's 5, I think - so you're well on your way!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Hi Pattricia :-) The strange thing was that I was only looking around the church because my partner was nattering to her friend on the mobile! I wanted to eat my tuna and cucumber sandwich from Tesco in peace so went and walked round the church ;-) The other strange thing was that I went to Richmond Drama School about ten years ago and walked past the church everyday and never noticed my Sheffield connection so to speak !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Thanks Hillsbro :-) I have just put it on Photobucket. I just have to make five posts before I can post the link up ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bungay Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Here it is :-) Hope it works ...... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/gravy/hofland.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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