Henrietta Maria Bowdler (1750–1830), commonly called Mrs. Harriet Bowdler, was an English religious author and literary expurgator, notably of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Family

Bowdler was born in

Conington, Huntingdonshire Conington (Conington All Saints, or "Conington-juxta-Petriburg") is a village and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. Conington lies about 6 miles (10 km) south of Peterborough and 2 miles (3 km) north of S ...

, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Stuart Bowdler, and sister of John Bowdler and

Thomas Bowdler Thomas Bowdler (; 11 July 1754 – 24 February 1825) was an English physician known for publishing '' The Family Shakespeare'', an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's plays edited by his sister Henrietta Maria Bowdler. The two sought ...

the elders. Her sister Jane was the author of an anonymous, posthumously published series of religious ''Poems and Essays'', (2 vols., Bath, 1786), which appeared in many editions.

Writing

Bowdler's own ''Sermons on the Doctrines and Duties of Christianity'' appeared anonymously and passed through nearly 50 editions.

Beilby Porteus Beilby Porteus (or Porteous; 8 May 1731 – 13 May 1809), successively Bishop of Chester and of Bishop of London, London, was a Church of England reform movement, reformer and a leading Abolitionism#Great Britain, abolitionist in England. He w ...

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

, believed they were written by a clergyman, and is said to have offered their author, through the publishers, a living in his diocese. Bowdler is thought to have done most of the editing of the first expurgated edition of Shakespeare's works, ''The Family Shakspeare'' (1807).ODNB: M. Clare Loughlin-Chow, "Bowdler, Henrietta Maria (1750–1830)
Retrieved 15 March 2014, pay-walled.
/ref> She removed anything which seemed irreverent or immoral, deleting about 10% of the original works. The resulting edition was published under the name of her brother,

, after whom this type of treatment came to be known as bowdlerisation. In 1810 Bowdler edited ''Fragments in Prose and Verse by the late Miss Elizabeth Smith'', which was very popular in religious circles. A novel by Bowdler, "Pen Tamar, or the History of an Old Maid", was issued shortly after her death. She died at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

on 25 February 1830.

Bluestocking

Although it is unclear whether she was a regular member of the

Blue Stockings Society The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century that emphasised education and mutual cooperation. It was founded in the early 1750s by Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Vesey and ...

, there has survived a description of Harriet as a young lady by

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, (; 23 April 175121 June 1814), known as Sir Gilbert Elliott, 4th Baronet until 1797, and the Lord Minto from 1797 to 1813, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Comm ...

: "She is, I believe, a blue-stocking, but what the colour of that part of her dress is must be mere conjecture, as you will easily believe when I tell you that... she said she never looked at he dancers in operasbut always kept her eyes shut the whole time, and when I asked her why, she said it was so indelicate she could not bear to look."Quoted from ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''m ...

'' (1830) in Noel Perrin: ''Dr. Bowdler's Legacy...'' (New York: Atheneum, 1969), p. 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowdler, Henrietta Maria 1750 births 1830 deaths 18th-century English writers 19th-century English novelists Anglican writers English women novelists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 18th-century English women writers People from Huntingdonshire English religious writers English women religious writers British censors Members of the Blue Stockings Society