Ellen Weeton (1776–1850), also known as Nelly or Nellie Weeton, and by the married name Mrs Stock, was a
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
school mistress,
woman letter writer and governess who was the author of ''Journal of a Governess'', two volumes describing her life as a governess in the years 1807–1825.
Life
Weeton was born in
Up Holland
Up Holland (or Upholland) is a village in Skelmersdale and is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the West Lancashire district, in the county of Lancashire, England, west of Wigan. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...
in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
on Christmas Day 1776 (or around 1777 according to some sources).
She was baptised "Nelly" at
St John the Evangelist's Church, Lancaster. She was named after her father's ship at his request. Her father was away when she was baptised.
(Some sources call her "Ellen".) Her father
transported slaves and worked for
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
s.
She was very well educated for a woman of the time,
and was employed throughout her life as a school mistress and governess, one of the few respectable occupations available to a woman during this period.
She is known for writing letters to her brother whom she held in very high regard when she started to copy the letters into a journal.
Weeton was well travelled, visiting Yorkshire, the Lake District, North Wales, the Isle of Man, and London.
She was also a keen walker, and her exploits included an ascent of
Snowdon
Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...
, which she climbed alone in June 1825, aged 48.
On the Isle of Man, she records walking 35 miles in a day, and ascending
Greeba.
Marriage
She married Aaron Stock at Holy Trinity Parish Church in Liverpool in 1814.
A daughter, Mary, was born the following year. She had married him at the suggestion of her brother and it worked out poorly. Her new husband abused her and in time he demanded a separation threatening that he would have her confined to an asylum if she disagreed.
[
In 1821, Stock appeared in court for an assault on Weeton; she and her husband formally separated. Due to this, Weeton surrendered custody of her daughter, whom she would not see again until 1828.]
Published work
Weeton published nothing in her lifetime. Four volumes of her correspondence and some journals were gathered in 1936 and 1939 by Edward Hall,
Death and legacy
She died in 1849 and she left her journals to her church minister. They reappeared in a book shop in Wigan in 1925 where they were found by Edward Hall.[ He edited them and they were published two volumes as ''Miss Weeton: a Journal of a Governess'' in 1936.]
References
Further reading
* Kerri Andrews: ''Wanderers : a history of women walking'', London : Reaktion Books, 2020,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeton, Ellen
1776 births
Women of the Regency era
English governesses
19th-century English women educators
19th-century English educators
Walkers of the United Kingdom
1849 deaths
Writers from Lancaster, Lancashire
19th-century British letter writers
People from Up Holland