Author: Guppy, Sarah
Biography:
GUPPY, Sarah, formerly BEACH, later COOTE (1770-1852: ODNB)
The first edition of Essays on Various Subjects (London, 1796) is not included in this bibliography because it does not include any verse other than a few quoted stanzas from earlier writers. The essays were written by Sarah Guppy’s friend, Mary de la Garde, who was baptised in Grouville, Jersey, on 11 Mar. 1752, the daughter of the Rev. Charles de la Garde and his wife Mary le Hardy. She never married. Her only other publication, The Candid Friend; Addressed to a Young Gentleman, was published in 1797. Mary de la Garde died in Clifton, Gloucestershire on 2 Feb. 1800. Guppy contributed the verses which were published with the posthumous second edition of de la Garde’s essays in 1800. She was born at Birmingham to Richard Beach, a merchant, and his wife Mary Padmore and baptised at St. Philip’s church on 5 Nov. 1770. She married Samuel Guppy, a brass and iron founder, on 22 Feb. 1795 at St. Stephen’s, Bristol, Gloucestershire; they had six children and were associated with the Unitarian chapel in Bristol. She may have been involved in her husband’s business and she also began writing. Her Instructive and Entertaining Dialogues for Children was published in about 1800 and an 1807 improving pamphlet aimed at female servants is also attributed to her. In 1811 she obtained a patent for a type of suspension bridge she had designed; this was the first of a number of innovative designs she developed. She also corresponded with Arthur Young, the agriculturist, and with Lord Liverpool about sanitary improvements to Smithfield market in London. She and Samuel separated in about 1818 although on his death in May 1830 she inherited by the terms of his will. Guppy married for a second time on 29 Jan. 1837 but her new husband, Charles Coote (1797-1853), was a gambler who soon spent her money. As Sarah Coote she took out a number of new patents; although these did little to ease her financial difficulties, she was publicly recognised for her scientific inventions. She died at home in Richmond Hill, Clifton, on 24 Aug. 1852. She was buried in St. Andrew’s churchyard, Bristol, with her daughter, Grace, who had died in 1838. (ODNB 8 Nov. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 8 Nov. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 8 Nov. 2024; National Archives UK PROB -11-1338-202)
Other Names:
- Mrs. [Sarah] Guppy