Ellin Devis (December 1746 – February 1820), also known as Eilen Devis or Ellin Davis, was a schoolmistress and author of ''The Accidence'' (1775), a popular eighteenth-century grammar.

Biography

Ellin Devis was the daughter of Arthur Devis (1712-1787) and Elizabeth Faulkner (1723-1788), who had a total of twenty-two children, sixteen of whom did not survive their infancy. The surviving six children included Ellin and her siblings Frances Devis (1751-17?), Thomas Anthony Devis (1756-1810), Arthur William Devis (1762-1822), Elizabeth Devis (1764-1825), and Ann Devis (1766-1822). She came from an artistic family: her father Arthur was known for his

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s, her brother Arthur for historical portraits, and her brother Thomas for landscape paintings.

Career

Devis's ''The Accidence'' (1775) may have been the first English grammar written specifically for female students. Devis's grammar was recommended by her peers as a general introduction to

Robert Lowth Robert Lowth ( ; 27 November 1710 – 3 November 1787) was an English clergyman and academic who served as the Bishop of Oxford, Bishop of St Davids, Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of Englis ...

’s '' Short Introduction to English Grammar'' (1762). Devis taught at several schools in fashionable areas of London, and her pupils include

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and a significant figure in the evolution of the novel i ...

Frances Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post of "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Meckle ...

and her sister Susannah,

Hester Thrale Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821)Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January 1740. The pro ...

and later her daughter Cecilia Piozzi. While Devis was mistress of the Queen’s Square school in Bloomsbury, England, it was known as “the Young Ladies

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

.” Devis's unique teaching style was successful, and at the time of her death in 1820, she had earned enough to own the school.

Works

* ''The Accidence'' or ''First Rudiments of English Grammar Designed for the use of Young Ladies'' (1775) * ''Miscellaneous lessons: designed for the use of young ladies'' (1782) * ''The Infant's Miscellany'' (1778)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devis, Ellin 1746 births 1820 deaths Linguists of English 18th-century English writers 18th-century English women writers Schoolteachers from London 18th-century English educators 19th-century English educators