Mary Hennell (23 May 1802 – 16 March 1843) was a 19th-century British reforming writer from a notable family of writers.

Life

Hennell was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 1802. She was the eldest daughter of the Unitarian family of James and Elizabeth Hennell (born Marshall). Her mother had been born in Loughborough in the East Midlands in 1778 and had the maiden name of Marshall. Her father was born in 1778 and he had become a partner in the Manchester merchants of Fazy & Co. Sara's younger sisters included the writers

Sara Sara may refer to: People * Sara (given name), a feminine given name People with the given name * Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator * Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer * Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...

and Caroline Hennell. The sisters are considered to be the basis for the fictional Meyrick family in

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

's 1876 novel ''

Daniel Deronda ''Daniel Deronda'' is a novel by English author George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann Evans, first published in eight parts (books) February to September 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the Victorian society of ...

''. In 1836, Charles Bray married her sister Caroline. After his sister's marriage to Bray, an enthusiastic sceptic, her brother Charles Hennell reviewed the evidences for Christian beliefs with the aim of parrying his brother-in-law's arguments. The result of the examination was that he became a sceptic himself, and in 1838 published an ''Enquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity'' in defence of his conclusions. Sara also increasingly became a sceptic too. In 1841 Charles Bray published ''The Philosophy of Necessity'' and this included an appendix written by Mary. This was titled ''An outline of the various social systems and communities which have been founded on the principle of co-operation'' and this was later made into a publication in its right in 1844. The new version had a lengthy preface that described British social conditions.J. M. Scott, ‘Hennell, Mary (1802–1843)’, rev. C. A. Creffield, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 24 Jan 2015
/ref> Hennell also wrote an entry for ''Ribbons'' in the

Penny Cyclopaedia ''The Penny Cyclopædia'' published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was a multi-volume encyclopedia edited by George Long (scholar), George Long and published by Charles Knight (publisher), Charles Knight alongside the ''Penn ...

. The entry drew on the expertise she had gained from her family's involvement in the manufacture of ribbons. Her uncle, Samuel Hennell, manufactured ribbons in Coventry as did the family of Charles Bray. Hennell died in Hackney in 1843 from tuberculosis.

Tribute

Her name is included in the Reformers’ Memorial, which was added to

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

in 1885.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennell, Mary 1802 births 1843 deaths Writers from Manchester 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers