Author: Fenn, Ellenor
Biography:
FENN, Ellenor, formerly FRERE (1744-1813: ESTC)
pseudonym Mrs. Lovechild
Contemporary public records are clear about the year of birth and about the spelling of her first name, though later ones often use "Eleanor" and sometimes incorrectly date her from 1743. She was born in Westhorpe, Suffolk, the third child and eldest daughter of Sheppard and Susanna (Hatley) Frere. On 1 Jan. 1766 at Bacton, Suffolk, she married John Fenn of East Dereham, Norfolk (1739-94), a Cambridge friend of her elder brother John. The marriage was childless but happy. In 1768 the couple became the guardians of a ten-year-old heiress, Mary Andrews, who lived with them until she married, and about ten years later, according to Stoker, they adopted two-year-old William, the fourth son of John Frere. (He may have been simply a favourite; at all events, he received a larger share of their estate than his siblings.) For her many nieces and nephews--one of the latter John Hookham Frere, q.v.--she began to compose educational materials, and in the early 1780s began to publish them, using the pseudonyms "Mrs. Teachwell" or "Mrs. Lovechild." Of her many titles, the most famous is Cobwebs to Catch Flies (1783), a basic reader made up of simple prose dialogues, organized for children of different ages. She was a general benefactor to families in the district, establishing a Sunday School and later a needlework school. She died on 1 Nov. 1813 at Dereham and was buried at St. Bartholomew, Finningham, Suffolk. (David Stoker, "Ellenor Fenn as 'Mrs. Teachwell' and 'Mrs. Lovechild,'" Princeton University Library Chronicle 68:3 [2007] 817-50; ancestry.co 18 Jul. 2021; findmypast.com 18 Jul. 2021; "Fenn, Sir John" and "Fenn, Ellenor," ODNB 18 Jul. 2021)
Other Names:
- Eleanor Fenn