Author: Bentley, Elizabeth
Biography:
BENTLEY, Elizabeth (1767-1839: ODNB)
She was the daughter of Daniel Bentley, a journeyman cordwainer, and his second wife Elizabeth Lawrence and was baptised in Norwich on 26 Nov. 1767. Her parents had married at All Saints church, Norwich, on 25 Jan. 1765. Bentley’s brief memoir, prefixed to her Poems of 1821, states that her father suffered a stroke in about 1777 and, having lost the use of his right side, became a peddler of gardening supplies and then a bookkeeper before his death in Jan. 1783. At the time of her first application to the RLF in Dec. 1799 Bentley was caring for her mother and earning small amounts by teaching children to read. Some of her verse was published in periodicals including GM and the Norfolk Chronicle. The RLF awarded her 15 guineas; she applied twice more and was given £20 in 1818 and £15 in 1829. The subscription lists to her volumes of Poems indicate that she had wealthy supporters both in Norwich and further afield. Other writers, including William Cowper (q.v.), admired her verse. She died at Doughty Hospital, an almshouse, in Norwich on 13 Apr. 1839 and was buried in St. Stephen’s churchyard on 17 Apr. (ODNB 3 Apr. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 3 Apr. 2023; findmypast.co.uk 3 Apr. 2023; Poems…of Elizabeth Bentley of Norwich [1821]; J. J. Colman, Bibliotheca Norfolciensis [1896]; RLF file 79)
Other Names:
- E. Bentley
- Mrs. Bentley