Blanche Isabella Atkinson (March 1847 – October 1911) was an English novelist and author of children's books. She is also noted for her correspondence and friendship with the influential art critic

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and po ...

Life and works

Born in

Aigburth Aigburth () is a suburb of Liverpool, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Garston, Mossley Hill, and Toxteth. Etymology The name Aigburth comes from Old Norse ''eik'' and ''berg'', meaning ''oak-tree hill ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, England Blanche Atkinson was the daughter of a prosperous

soap manufacturer, Jonathan Atkinson. An avid reader of Ruskin's '' Fors Clavigera'' letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain, Atkinson posted in March 1873 her first subscription, along with a note of appreciation of his work. At the time their correspondence began, Atkinson was 27 and Ruskin 54. During the first three years of their friendship, she received a hundred letters from Ruskin; forty others were written between the years 1876 and probably 1886. In 1873 she became a Companion in Ruskin's political group, the

Guild of St George The Guild of St George is a charitable Education Trust, based in England but with a worldwide membership, which tries to uphold the values and put into practice the ideas of its founder, John Ruskin (1819–1900). History Ruskin, a Victorian p ...

, which attempted to put some of his ideas into practice by setting up Utopian communities. Ruskin printed in ''Fors'' extracts from some of her letters dealing with the squalor of slum life in industrial cities and the devastation of the countryside caused by industrialisation. Atkinson's interest in the social conditions of the poor led Ruskin to introduce her by letter to

Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical t ...

. After reading an article she had written for mill workers, Ruskin encouraged Atkinson to write a short story, so that he could assess it. She subsequently published three novels: ''The Web of Life, or the Story of Peter Holgate's Love'' (1889), ''They Have Their Reward'' (1890), and ''A Commonplace Girl'' (1895). Her children's books include ''Rosalinda and Other Fairy Tales'' (with Anna Cross, 1890), ''The Real Princess'' (1894), ''Dick's Hero'' (1899), ''Tom Leslie's Secret and What Came of it'' (1900) and ''Jack's Baby'' (1904). Her non-fiction includes ''What Are the Duties of Selbornians?'' (1895) and ''Ruskin's Social Experiment at Barmouth'' (1900). Atkinson edited two works by the Irish feminist and social reformer

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti- vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy gro ...

: ''Life of Frances Power Cobbe as Told by Herself'' (1904) and ''The Duties of Women: A Course of Lectures by Frances Power Cobbe'' (1905). In the latter part of her life, Atkinson lived at Tynffynnon,1911 Census the home of Mrs

Fanny Talbot Fanny Talbot (née) Browne (1824–1917) was a landowner and philanthropist, and a friend and correspondent of the influential art critic John Ruskin. She is noted for donating the first property— of land known as Cliff of Light (''Dinas Oleu ...

(1824–1917), a wealthy landowner who had donated land and cottages in

Barmouth Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merioneths ...

to John Ruskin's Guild of St. George. Atkinson died in October 1911 at

Dolgelly Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnyd ...

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

. She never married.

References

External links

*''Ruskin's Social Experiment at Barmouth'' https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25091476M/Ruskin%27s_social_experiment_at_Barmouth *''Life of Frances Power Cobbe as Told by Herself'': https://archive.org/details/lifefrancespowe02atkigoog *''Dick’s Hero'' http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00082671/00001/1j *''Rosalinda and Other Fairy Tales'' http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00079881/00001/1j {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Blanche 1847 births 1911 deaths 19th-century English novelists English children's writers English women novelists Victorian women writers English feminist writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers