Sara Sophia Hennell (23 November 1812 – 7 March 1899) was a British author. She was a close associate of

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 ...

, Charles Christian Hennell and Caroline and

Charles Bray Charles Bray (31 January 1811 – 5 October 1884) was a prosperous British ribbon manufacturer, social reformer, philanthropist, philosopher, and phrenologist. Life Bray was born in 1811 and his education included time in the school run by ...

Early life and education

Sara Hennell was born on 23 November 1812 at 2 St Thomas's Square, Hackney. She was the seventh of eight children in the Unitarian family of James (b. 1778) and Elizabeth Hennell (''née'' Marshall). Her mother was born in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

in 1778. Her father was a partner in the Manchester merchants of Fazy & Co. Sara's eldest sister was Mary Hennell and her youngest was Caroline Bray. The sisters are considered to be the basis for the fictional Meyrick family in

'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,

married her sister Caroline. After his sister's marriage to Bray, a thoroughgoing sceptic, her brother Charles Hennell reviewed the evidences for Christian beliefs to parry his brother-in-law's argument. 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 1851, she and her mother left Hackney in London, and moved to Ivy Cottage in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in the Midlands. Ivy Cottage was adjacent to Rosehill, in which the Rosehill Circle met and where Sara's sister Cara and her husband

lived. Sara become governess to her nephew, Frank Spencer Hennell and the Brays' adopted daughter Elinor Mary who was always known as Nelly, likely

's illegitimate daughter by Hannah Steane

Friendship with George Eliot

In 1842, at Rosehill, Bray's house in Coventry, she first met Mary Ann Evans (

). They corresponded constantly for the following twelve years. Evan's endearments including "Beloved Achates" to "Cara Sposa" indicate their intimacy. Having met

David Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (; ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he explored via myth. St ...

when travelling in Germany with the Brabants in 1844, Sara declined to translate Strauss' '' Das Leben Jesu'' (Life of Jesus) and instead agreed to revise the work of her sister-in-law Rufa, and then of Evans, to whom the task of translation was passed in 1844. In 1854, Evans also consulted Hennell over her translation of Feuerbach's '' The Essence of Christianity''. At the end of their "German period", the theological and political paths of Sara and Evans diverged (Hennell was an active campaigner for women's rights), until by 1869 Evans noted herself "irritated" during her friend's increasingly rare visits. However, their association continued, and the Hennell sisters are considered to be the basis for the Meyrick sisters - Kate, Amy and Mab - in

's 1876 novel ''

''.

Publications

* ''Christianity and Infidelity'', Hall, Virtue, London, 1857 * ''Present Religion as a Faith owning Fellowship with Thought'', Trubner & Co, London, in three volumes in 1865, 1873 and 1887 * ''Thoughts in Aid of Faith'', George Manwaring, London, 1865

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennell, Sara Sophia 1812 births 1899 deaths 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers Writers from Hackney Central English religious writers