Esther Copley, Esther Hewlett or sometimes Esther Hewlett Copley (née Esther Beuzeville, 10 May 1786 – 17 July 1851) was an English religious

tractarian The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Uni ...

and a prolific author, publishing children's books, tracts, sacred history and biography.

Life

Copley was the youngest daughter of a silk manufacturer, Peter Beuzeville (1741–1812), and his wife, Mary Griffith Meredith (1744–1811), who were both of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

origin. On her father's retirement, the family moved to

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

, where in 1809 she married the Oxford cleric James Philip Hewlett (1779/80–1820), curate of St. Aldate's, Oxford, and chaplain of the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...

colleges of Magdalen and New College. They had three sons, two of whom also become Anglican clerics, and two daughters who married two brothers: Esther Beuzeville Hewlett married Ebenezer Sargent and Emma Hewlett married George Eliel Sargent. As a widow, Esther married in 1827 William Copley (1796–1857), a Baptist minister in Oxford, whose chapel she had already joined. They moved later to

St. Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island's total popul ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, then to Eythorne,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, but they separated in 1843, perhaps due to Copley's alcoholism, which had already involved her in writing his sermons for him. Esther is buried in the Eythorne Baptist churchyard.Rosemary Mitchell, "Copley, Esther (1786–1851)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2004
Retrieved 6 August 2016.
/ref>

Writings

Esther was a prolific author of children's books,

tracts Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

, and books on

domestic economy Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

. ''Cottage Comforts'' (1825), addressed to the labouring classes, had reached 24 edition by 1864, for example. Among several works on domestic matters was the pamphlet ''Hints on the

Cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

morbus'' (1832), on how to prevent and treat the disease. Copley's stories for children were mainly didactic, designed to make them thrifty and good by providing examples of moral behaviour. She has been compared to writers such as

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...

and

Eliza Meteyard Eliza Meteyard (1816–1879) was an English writer. She was known for journalism, essays, novels, and biographies, particularly as an authority on Wedgwood pottery and its creator. She did living writing for periodicals. Life The daughter of W ...

who used fiction in similar ways. She also wrote longer, non-fiction works for children, including ''Scripture Natural History for Youth'' (1828) and a 500-page ''History of Slavery and its Abolition'' (1836), which derived slavery from human sinfulness.Marion Ann Taylor and Heather E. Weir: ''Let Her Speak for Herself: Nineteenth-century Women Writing on the Women of Genesis'' (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006), p. 32. ''Family Experiences and Home Secrets'' (1851) incorporated three earlier books, in which a family is shown to prosper through hard work, foresight and benevolence. Copley's recipe book Cottage Cookery (1859) included instructions on how to make stews, broths, pies and pudding and was aimed at poor wives. In the chapter on 'Frugality and Cheap Cookery' she suggests sending out children to gather wild fruits and drying strawberry leaves to make tea. Jill Norman, in her review of Cottage Cookery, points out that although there are many sensible suggestions in the book "as the daughter of a silk manufacturer, Copley had no experience of the struggle to feed a family on a few shillings a week with minimal cooking facilities, and sometimes even no fire."

Commemoration

Esther Copley was buried at Eythorne Baptist Church under a tree near the gate,Sargent family history
Retrieved 11 October 2014.
/ref> In 1996, a plaque commemorating her and her extended family was erected in the United Reformed church, Henley-on-Thames, where she and her parents had moved in the early years of the 19th century.

Bibliography

* * * * *Esther Copley (1859
Cottage Cookery.
Groombridge & Sons.

Sources

*Rosemary Mitchell, "Copley , Esther (1786–1851)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. (Oxford: OUP, 2004)

Subscription required, accessed 8 May 2010. This cites D. M. Lewis, ed., ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, 1730–1860'', (Oxford, 1995), "Biographical sketch of Mrs Copley". In: Copley, E.: ''The Complete Cottage Cookery''. 11th ed. (London: William Wesley, 1859), pp. v–x, and Baptist sources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Esther 1786 births 1851 deaths Baptist writers English Baptists English women non-fiction writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers English children's writers English people of French descent English self-help writers English women children's writers 19th-century Baptists People from Eythorne People from Henley-on-Thames Writers from Oxfordshire