Jennifer Sheila Uglow (, (accessed 5 February 2008).
(accessed 19 August 2022). born 1947) is an English biographer, historian, critic and publisher. She was an editorial director of

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...

. She has written critically acclaimed biographies of

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer detailed studies of Victorian era, Victoria ...

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraving, wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, ...

, and

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

, and a history and joint biography of the

Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophy, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly b ...

, among others, and has also compiled ''The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography''. She won the 2002

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

and the 2003 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for ''The Lunar Men: The Friends who Made the Future 1730–1810'', and her works have twice been shortlisted for the

Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

. She is a past president of the Alliance of Literary Societies and has also chaired the Council of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

Personal life

Uglow was brought up in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and later

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. She attended

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College (CLC) is a private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding and day school for girls aged 11 or older in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school was established in 1853 to provide "a sound academic edu ...

(1958–64) and St Anne's College,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. After gaining a first in English, she took a BLitt. In 1971, she married Steve Uglow, professor emeritus at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

; the couple have two sons and two daughters. As of 2015, Uglow lives at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in Kent.Jenny Uglow website
(accessed 5 February 2008).

Career

Uglow has worked in publishing since leaving university. Until 2013 she was editorial director of the publishing company

, an imprint of

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. She is an honorary visiting professor at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, vice-president of the Gaskell Society and a trustee of the Wordsworth Trust. She was formerly a member of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

's Advisory Group for the Humanities.

Biographies

Uglow compiled an encyclopaedia of biographies of prominent women, first published in 1982; the work is currently in its fourth edition and contains more than 2,000 biographies, though later versions have involved other editors. Uglow later wrote: Her first full-length biographies, depicting the Victorian women writers

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

(1987) and

(1993), continue her interest in documenting women and reflect her literary background. Gaskell scholar Angus Easson describes ''Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories'' as "the best current biography" of the author, and ''The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Gaskell'' refers to it as "authoritative". William Hogarth - Gin Lane

Subsequent works have moved further into the past, with subjects including 18th century author

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...

(1995), and artists

(1997) and

(2006). The scientists and engineers of the

, including Erasmus Darwin,

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton ( ; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and silversmith. He was a business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the par ...

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

and

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indu ...

, are the subject of her prize-winning work ''The Lunar Men'' (2003). Uglow's biographies have been particularly praised for their vivid, detailed recreation of the time and place in which their subjects lived. "No one gives us the feel of past life as she does" writes A. S. Byatt of ''Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick'', and a review of ''The Lunar Men'' in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' claims "never has the eighteenth century come so much to life." Reviewing ''Hogarth: A Life and a World'',

Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...

wrote, "She depicts the city at first hand, almost as if she herself had been wandering through Hogarth's engravings." Frances Spalding considers ''Nature's Engraver'' to be "immeasurably enriched by Uglow's canny grasp of period detail." David Chandler, however, complains that "Uglow tends to amass detail on quotable detail, when sometimes one would like a little more taut synthesis, more interrogation of those details." Bewick Thomas Barn Owl Tyto alba

Uglow's depiction of scientific thought has also been praised; A. S. Byatt, for example, describes ''The Lunar Men'' as "full of ..the real sense that scientific curiosity is as exciting as any 'artistic' pursuit." Her discussion of art has gained a more mixed reception. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' art critic

Michael Kimmelman Michael Kimmelman (born May 8, 1958) is the Architecture criticism, architecture critic for ''The New York Times'' and has written about public housing and homelessness, public space, landscape architecture, community development and equity, infr ...

complains that Uglow overvalues Hogarth's paintings and neglects his artistic associates in favour of his literary ones. On the other hand, Helen Macdonald, reviewing ''Nature's Engraver'', considers that it is "in her descriptions of the physical process of artistic creation, and her musings on individual engravings, that Uglow is at her most energetic and fluid."

Other writing and editing

Uglow's non-biographical writing includes a history of gardening in Britain, written for the bicentenary of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

in 2004, which Uglow describes as a "labour of love". She is also a reviewer for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'' and ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''.RSA Lectures: Jenny Uglow
(accessed 5 February 2008). Uglow has edited collections of writings by

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of t ...

(1973) and

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

(1997), as well as co-editing a set of essays about

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

(1997). She has also written introductions to several works by

Radio, television and film

Uglow presented ''The Poet of Albion'', a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme on

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

, part of a series marking the 250th anniversary of the poet's birth; the programme emphasised Blake's radicalism. She has also twice appeared on the Radio 4 discussion programme, '' In Our Time''. She acted as a historical consultant on several period dramas for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, including '' Wives and Daughters'' (1999), '' Daniel Deronda'' (2002), '' He Knew He Was Right'' (2004), '' North and South'' (2004), ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode Serial (literature), serial between 12 March 1852 and 12 September 1853. The novel has many characters and several subplots, and is told partly by th ...

'' (2005) and '' Cranford'' (2007), as well as for the films ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

'' (2005) and '' Miss Potter'' (2006).

Awards and honours

''The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future 1730–1810'' won the

for biography (2002), and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for history of the

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

(2003). Her biographies ''Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories'' and ''Hogarth: A Life and a World'' were both shortlisted for the

for biography, and several of her books have reached the shortlist or longlist of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction. According to the charity Booktrust, ''Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick'' was the nonfiction work most often selected as "book of the year" by critics in 2006. ''In These Times'', her study of the home front during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize in 2014. Uglow is a fellow of the

. She is a past chair of its Council, and as of 2017, serves as one of its vice-presidents. She was awarded the society's Benson Medal in 2012. She has been awarded honorary degrees by the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, Staffordshire University and

Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...

. In 2008, she was awarded the OBE for services to literature and publishing. In 2010, she succeeded Aeronwy Thomas as president of the Alliance of Literary Societies.The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum: News
(accessed 16 January 2013). For ''Mr Lear'', Uglow was awarded with the Hawthornden Prize in 2018.

Bibliography

Books

;Biographies and studies *''George Eliot'', Little, Brown Book Group Limited, 1987,
''Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories''
Faber & Faber, 1993, *''Henry Fielding'' Northcote House Publishers, Limited, 1995, *''Hogarth: A Life and a World'', Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997, *''Dr Johnson, His Club and Other Friends'', National Portrait Gallery, 1998, * *''Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography'' (later editions with Maggy Hendry; 4th edn; 2005) *; University of Chicago Press, 2009, *''Words and Pictures: Writers, Artists and a Peculiarly British Tradition'', Faber, 2008; Faber & Faber, 2011, * *; Macmillan, 2013, * ** U.S. edition: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015. *''Mr. Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense.'' London: Faber & Faber, Limited, 2017. First U.S. edition: New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2018. . *''Sybil & Cyril: Cutting Through Time''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022. ISBN 9780374272128. ;Other nonfiction *; Random House, 2012, ; ;As editor *''Walter Pater: Essays on Literature and Art'' (1973) *''Shaking a Leg: Collected Writings'' (by

) Chatto & Windus, 1997, *''The Vintage Book of Ghosts'' (1997) *''Cultural Babbage: Technology, Time and Invention'' (with Francis Spufford; 1997)

Articles

* *Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow" (review of Miranda Seymour, ''In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace'', Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.; and hristopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice">Ursula_Martin.html" ;"title="hristopher Hollings, Ursula Martin">hristopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, ''Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist'', Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.), ''

'', vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.

Critical studies and reviews of Uglow's work

;''In these times'' * * ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

Jenny Uglow website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uglow, Jenny 1947 births Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford English women biographers English biographers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire British social historians

Personal life

Career

Biographies

Other writing and editing

Radio, television and film

Awards and honours

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Critical studies and reviews of Uglow's work

See also

References

External links