Maria Louisa Charlesworth (1 October 1819 – 16 October 1880) was an English author of children's religious books and religious tracts.

Life

Maria Louisa Charlesworth was born 1 October 1819 at The Rectory, Blakenham Parva,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Charlesworth (née Beddome, 1783–1869) and the Revd. John Charlesworth B.D. (1782-1864), an Evangelical clergyman, who was Rector of Flowton,

when Maria was born. He later became Rector of

St Mildred, Bread Street The church of St Mildred, Bread Street, stood on the east side of Bread Street in the Bread Street Ward of the City of London. It was dedicated to the 7th century Saint Mildred the Virgin, daughter of Merewald, sub-king of the West Mercians. ...

, a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

parish where Maria lived with him in the Rectory, at

St Nicholas Olave St Nicholas Olave was a church in the City of London, on the west side of Bread Street Hill in Queenhithe Ward. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and was never rebuilt. Instead the parish was united with that of St Nicholas Cole Abbey ...

. As a visitor to the poor in her father's parishes from a young age, Maria drew on these experiences for her first book, ''The Female Visitor to the Poor'' (1846), as well as for her most popular publication, the fictionalised ''Ministering Children'' (1854) and its sequel published in 1867. Set in a town modelled on

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, ''Ministering Children'' circulated over 300,000 copies during her lifetime and was designed to teach children by example. It was especially popular as a 'Reward Book' for Sunday School prizes and was also translated into French, German and Swedish.'Charlesworth, Maria Louisa', in Louise Shattock, ''The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers'', p. 99 On her father's death in 1864 Maria Charlesworth lived for a while with her brother, the Revd. Samuel Beddome Charlesworth, who was Rector of St Anne's,

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...

. She established St Stephen's

ragged school Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th-century Great Britain, Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts and intended for society's most impoverished youngste ...

and a mission in

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

. In 1864 she retired to Nutfield in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, where she lived at Church Hill House with her elderly mother who died in 1869. She is credited with persuading the Reverend Francis Pocock, a former curate to the Bishop of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, to establish

Monkton Combe School Monkton Combe School is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school), in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somerset, England. History Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd. Francis Pocock, a former curate ...

, near

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 ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in 1868, to educate boys to become missionaries. Her three nephews were among Pocock's first pupils: none of the three entered the church or became missionaries. Maria died in

Nutfield, Surrey Nutfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It lies in the Weald immediately south of the Greensand Ridge and has a Nutfield railway station, railway station at South Nutfield which is one stop from Redhi ...

, on Saturday 16 October 1880, aged 61 and was buried at St Peter & St Paul, Nutfield on 21 October 1880. Her brother conducted her burial service. She left an estate valued at almost £6000 with her brother as sole executor.

Selected works

*''The Female Visitor to the Poor'', 1846 (later revised and published as ''The Cottage and its Visitor'', 1856) *''A Book for the Cottage: the History of Mary and her Family'', 1848 *''Letters to a Child'', 1849 - also ''The Beautiful Home, and other Letters to a Child.'' *''Letters to a Friend under Affliction'', 1849 *''The Light of Life'', 1850 *''Sunday Afternoons in the Nursery: familiar narratives from the Book of Genesis'', 1853 (selected chapters from this were published as Reward Books) *''Ministering Children, a tale dedicated to childhood'', 1854. Different stories from this book were also published as separate volumes, including ''Patience or, the Sunshine of the Heart; Ruth and Patience; The Blind Man's Child; Ruth and Little Jane or, Blossoms of the Heart; Charley and Edith or, How two selfish children were made a blessing to a lame boy'' and others *''The Basket Maker's Shop: a sequel to Ministering Children'' *''Africa's Mountain Valley: the Church in Regent's Town, West Africa'', 1856 *''The Sabbath given, the Sabbath lost'', 1856 *''The Ministry of Life'', 1858 *''India and the East, or a Voice from the Zenana'', 1860 *''England's Yeomen, or Life in a Farm in the Nineteenth Century'', 1861 (the title of this publication is widely but incorrectly quoted both in the Dictionary of National Biography and on the internet as "From Life in the Nineteenth Century") *''The Sailor's Choice: Little Lenny's friends on the shore. Enlarged from The Ministry of Life'', 1863 *''Nurse Brame: or, how a cold heart was warmed by learning to feel for others,'' 1866 *''Ministering Children: A Sequel'', 1867 *''The Last Command of Jesus Christ'', 1869 *''Where Dwellest Thou? or the Inner Home'', 1871 *''Eden and Heaven'', 1872 *''Oliver of the Mill: a tale'', 1876 *''The Old Looking-Glass, or Mrs. Dorothy Cope's Recollections of Service'', 1878, reprinted as *''The Broken Looking-glass'', 1880 *''Sunday Afternoons in the Nursery, or Familiar Narratives from the Book of Genesis'', 1885. *''Heavenly Counsel in daily portions: Readings on the Gospel of St. Matthew. Being notes from the bible classes of M. L. Charlesworth. Edited by H rrietMaria Barclay'', 1883. *''They Too: Elija and Elisha. Being addresses by Maria Louisa Charlesworth. Edited by H M Barclay,'' 1885

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlesworth, Maria Louisa 1819 births 1880 deaths 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers English children's writers English religious writers English women religious writers