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Corvey 'Adopt an Author' Lady Morgan, Sydney Owenson |
The Corvey Project at Sheffield Hallam University |
Biography of Lady Morgan, Sidney Owenson by Maxine Robins
‘Mythopoeia was a family trait’ states Thomas Flanagan (Flanagan, 1976: 113) about the Owenson family. The birth of Sydney Owenson was no exception; there is a discrepancy of sixteen years in the birth dates given for her, somewhere between 1770 and 1786. As her father’s name, Robert Owenson, started to appear on theatre play bills in Ireland around the mid 1770’s the general consensus, however, is that she was born on 25th December 1775-6, on a mail boat crossing from England to Ireland. Sydney’s father was an Irish actor, comedian and theatre manager. His original name was MacOwen but he anglicised it in a bid to further his career in England. He married Jane Hill, a Methodist daughter of a Shrewsbury tradesman.
Sydney and her younger sister Olivia spent much of their childhood mixing with theatre society in Sligo and Dublin. They received an education at Madame Terson’s Huguenot school at Clontarf and then went on to finishing school in Dublin. By the age of fourteen Sydney had already written a volume of poems which were to appear in 1801 as Poems dedicated by permission to the Countess of Moira. She later refers to this book as Poems by a Young Lady between the age of twelve and fourteen.
Jane Owenson died in 1789 and paternal bankruptcy forced the eldest daughter to undertake employment as a governess to give some financial support to her remaining family. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Sydney appears to have enjoyed this work and was popular with her employers, forging a lifelong friendship with Mrs Featherstone during her first position at Bracklin Castle, Westmeath. She left this post and went on to work for the Crawfords at Fort William, County Tipperary, where she was ‘treated with respect and consideration’(Campbell, 1988: 46). During this period Owenson managed to find time to work on two novels; St. Clair and The Novice of St. Dominick.
Much to her father’s delight she ended her career as a governess, leaving the Crawford household, and rejoined her family where she resumed her writing. In 1805 she had Twelve Original Hibernian Melodies in London published with the help of her friend Alicia Lefanu. She took up lodgings with Olivia and wrote the book that she became renowned for; The Wild Irish Girl, in 1806. This was the first of her national novels and is described as a book that ‘contained everything which polite England wished to hear about Ireland’(Brady and Cleeve, 1985: 169). The book was contentious enough, however, to repel many Dublin publishers. Richard Phillips originally offered Owenson £200 for the first edition and a further £50 for the second and third editions but then had a change of heart, stating in writing to her ‘The sentiments enunciated are too strongly opposed to the English interest in Ireland, and I must withdraw from my original offer’(Campbell, 1988: 63). On hearing that Maria Egdworth’s publisher Joseph Johnson was going to make a rival bid and offer her £300 for the copyright, Phillips immediately changed his mind back again and raised his offer by £50. The book was published for two years and ran into seven editions.
Sydney’s success ensured that her popularity and her society became highly sought after. So much so that in 1809 she was invited to stay with the Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn at Baron’s Court. It was there that she met her future husband Charles Morgan. Sydney, not as enthusiastic about the match as Morgan, or Lady Abercorn, went back to stay with her family in Dublin for what was intended to be a short visit. This brief visit stretched to three months, her excuse being first her father’s ill health and then her own. When she finally returned to the Abercorn household she was taken by surprise one day by Lady Abercorn who led her upstairs where she found the family chaplain ready to marry her to her betrothed there and then, and so it was on 20th January, 1812 ‘the Wild Irish Girl was married past redemption’(M, II: 143). Much to Sydney’s delight the Marquis and Marchioness had arranged for a knighthood for Morgan as a wedding gift. Sydney Owenson now became Lady Morgan.
The newlyweds resided at the Abercorn’s for a year before moving back to Dublin. The death of Sydney’s father shortly after their marriage had affected her sister’s health and she wanted to be near to her. The Morgans bought a house in the fashionable Kildare Sreet. Lady Morgan’s popularity grew and she became ‘the centre of Dublin’s political and literary life for some time.’(Brady and Cleeve, 1985: 169). She had O’Donnel, A National Tale, published in 1814, for which she was paid £500. It was the first of her works to have an Irish Catholic hero. Despite it being savagely reviewed by the critic John Wilson Croker, it became a best seller. In 1815 Lady Morgan travelled to France, and upon her return she published France (1817), again to savage reviews. One critic wrote that it was ‘bad taste, bombastic and nonsense’ and that her work showed ‘ignorance of the French language and manners, general ignorance, Jacobinism, falsehood, licentiousness and impiety’. He goes on to state, ‘These, we admit, are no light accusations of the work; but we undertake, as we have said, to prove them from Lady Morgan’s own mouth.’(Adburgham, 1982: 253). This outburst, though written by Gifford, was credited to Croker. Florence McCarthy (1819) her third national novel, was published shortly after this. In it she seeks revenge on Croker through the character of Mr. Crawford. Her publisher, Henry Coburn, then commissioned her to write a book on Italy in the same vein as France. He offered her £2,000 for the completed work. Lady Morgan and her husband spent more than a year travelling in Italy, where she was presented to the Pope. The result of this tour was published in 1821 to yet more bad reviews. The London Quarterly Review wrote: ‘…every page teems with errors of all kinds, from the most disgusting down to the most ludicrous…homogeneous stupidity…pervades the work.’(Adburgham, 1972: 254). Lord Byron, however, defended the book calling it ‘fearless and excellent’(Brady and Cleeve, 1985: 170). The book was widely read and translated into French but it was banned by the Pope in Italy, the King of Sardinia and Piedmont and the Emperor of Austria.
Lady Morgan went on to write many more books including The Life of Salvator Rosa (1823) and the book which is often hailed as her best work The O’Briens and The O’Flaherties (1827). In 1837, Lord Melbourne gave her a literary pension of £300 ‘in acknowledgement of the services rendered by her to the world of letters’ (Stephen and Lee, 1917: 926) and she became the first woman to receive such an award, narrowly beating Laetitia Landon who was awarded a pension of £100 the same year.
In 1839 the Morgans moved to London. Sir Charles died in 1843. Lady Morgan’s career as an author ended due to the failure of her eyesight. This was not the case for her social life as there is mention, in her memoirs, of her having given ‘a musical morning party’ on St. Patrick’s day 1859 (M, III: 297)). She died on 16th of April 1859. Having no children she left a considerable fortune to her nieces. She bequeathed her papers to W. Hepworth Dixon and her memoirs were published in 1863.
A journalist and good friend of Lady Morgan’s, S. C. Hall, wrote this poignant eulogy which reveals the essence of her personality:
She was created for society, enjoyed and lived in society to the last. Nothing annoyed her so much as being invited to a small party. She liked the crowded room, the loud announcement, and the celebrity she had earned. Her vanity was charming; it was different from every other vanity. It was naïve, so original, and she admitted it with the frankness of a child. "I know I am vain, but I have a right to be so. It is not put off and on, like my rouge." And again: " Look at the number of books I have written! Did ever woman move in a brighter sphere than I do? My dear I have three invitations to dinner today; one from a duchess, another from a countess, and a third from a diplomatist - I will not tell you who - a very naughty man, who, of course, keeps the best society in London. Now what right have I, my father's daughter, to this? What am I? A pensioned scribbler! Yet I have gifts that Queens might covet . . . Princes and Princesses, celebrities of all kinds, have presented me with the souvenirs you see around me, and they would make a wiser woman vain." (Adburgham, 1972: 255)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adburgham, A, 1972, Women in Print: Writing Women and Women’s Magazines from the Restoration to the Accession of Victoria. London, Allen & Unwin.
Brady, A.M. and Cleeve, B, 1985, A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers. Ireland, The Lilliput Press Ltd.
Campbell, M, 1988, Lady Morgan The Life and Times of Sydney Owenson. Great Britain, Pandora Press.
Flanagan, T, 1976, The Irish Novelists 1800-1850. Conneticut, Greenwood Press.
Hepworth Dixon, W, (ed), 1863, Lady Morgan’s Memoirs: Autobiography, Diaries and Correspondence. Volumes II & III, Tauchnitz, Leipzig.
Stephen, Sir Leslie and Lee, Sir Sidney, (ed), 1917, Dictionary of National Biography. London, Oxford University Press.
