Author: Jewsbury, Maria Jane
Biography:
Jewsbury, Maria Jane, later Fletcher (1800-33: ODNB)
She was born at Measham, Leicestershire, to Thomas and Maria (Smith) Jewsbury. Her father was a cotton manufacturer. Although she was sent to school in Shenstone, Staffordshire, she returned home because of illness and thereafter was educated by a governess. She began writing as an adolescent but in 1818, the year of her first publication in the Coventry Herald, her father’s business failed and the family moved to Manchester. A year later her mother died in childbirth and Maria was needed to care for her siblings and the household. She still found time to write, however, and her contributions to the Manchester Gazette attracted attention from Alaric Watts who encouraged her to write for the literary annuals and gift books, and to produce her first published collection in 1825. She became friendly with the Wordsworths and Felicia Hemans. Although often tormented by feelings of guilt over her literary aspirations, she continued writing successfully in a range of genres—letters, novellas, stories, poems, and reviews which she contributed to The Athenaeum. In 1831 she agreed to marry the Rev. William Kew Fletcher despite her father’s vigorous opposition. After their marriage in 1832, the couple set sail for India (Fletcher was chaplain for the East India Company). Maria’s poems and journal entries written during her travels were published in The Athenaeum (1832-33). She contracted cholera at Poona and died there; after her death, Fletcher refused to cooperate with the family in compiling a memorial volume of her work. (ODNB 25 Feb 2020)
Other Names:
- Miss Jewsbury