Author: Barbauld, Anna Laetitia
Biography:
BARBAULD, Anna Laetitia, formerly Aikin (1743-1825: ODNB)
Poet, essayist, educator. Daughter of John Aikin, DD, and Jane (Jennings) Aikin, she was born on 20 June 1743 at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire. Her father was a tutor in the dissenting academy at Warrington; he taught her Latin and some Greek, and she was a voracious reader. With the encouragement and sometimes the collaboration of her brother John Aikin (q.v.), she began early to publish poems and essays, ranging from the burlesque through the political to the devotional. She married a graduate of the academy, the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld, at Warrington on 26 May 1774, and together they ran a successful boys' school in Palgrave, Suffolk: her best-known writings were contributions to early-childhood education arising from her experience there. In 1777, having no children of their own, they adopted her brother's second son, Charles Rochemont Aikin. After her husband's death by suicide in 1808 Barbauld undertook an edition of novels in English, The British Novelists, in 50 volumes (1810). Part of a close-knit family, she also had a wide literary acquaintance, particularly in dissenting circles. She died at Stoke Newington of asthma on 9 Mar. 1825 and was buried with her brother at St. Mary's parish church there. Her niece Lucy Aikin (q.v.) edited her Works with a memoir in 1825. (RPW; ODNB 6 Nov. 2017; findmypast.com 4 July 2025) HJ
Other Names:
- A. L. Barbauld
- Anna Laetitia Aikin, i.e. Mrs. Barbauld
- Anna Letitia Barbauld
- Barbauld
- Mrs. Barbauld