Author: Norton, Caroline (1807-77)
Title: The Sorrows of Rosalie. A Tale. With Other Poems.
Date: 1829
Biographical Information
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (sometimes writing under the pseudonym Pearce Stevenson) was born in London, England, 1808. She was the third child of Tom Sheridan, the son of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and Henrietta Sheridan (née Callander), a Scottish novelist. Her great-grandmother Frances Sheridan was also a novelist.
The family lost their fortune in 1809, when the Drury Lane theater, which was the source of the family’s income, burned to the ground. Her parents left for the Cape of Good Hope, for her father’s heath. Caroline and her siblings stayed with family in Scotland. Tom Sheridan died in 1817, while in Colonial Service. Caroline began writing at age 13, publishing her first work of fiction,The Dandies’ Rout, at a young age.
In 1827, Caroline married George Norton, with whom she would have three sons. Their marriage was unhappy, as George Norton could not provide sufficient income and was physically abusive. Caroline began to write to support the family, publishing The Sorrows of Rosalie in 1829, and The Undying One the following year. In 1831, Caroline became editor of the popular magazine La Belle Assembleé, and, later, of the English Annual (from 1834-8). During this time she was able to make an income of approximately £1,400 in a year, and was well-connected socially and politically. Her husband used her friendship with Lord Melbourne, the prime minister, to secure a minor appointment as a magistrate. By 1832, their marriage had deteriorated, and Caroline and their children often sought refuge with relatives. Caroline wrote the novels, The Wife and The Woman’s Reward, published together in 1835, based on personal experience; these novels were not popular with the reading public.
In 1836, George Norton brought an action for adultery against Caroline and Lord Melbourne, claiming damages of £10,000. The trial ended in an acquittal, but it stained Caroline’s reputation and prevented the couple from divorcing. The two separated, and Caroline fought for custody of their three sons. She wrote a political pamphlet A Plain Letter, which influenced the passing of Infant Custody bill in 1839. It was not until 1842, however, after her youngest son died in a riding accident, that Caroline and her husband reached an agreement on custody of the surviving children. Because George Norton still had complete control over her finances, including her writing income, she campaigned for women’s property rights. She wrote the pamphlets English Laws for Women (1854) and A Letter to the Queen (1855) supporting the Matrimonial Causes (Divorce) Act and Married Women’s Property Bill. Caroline subsequently wrote more novels, including the Stuart of Dunleath (1855), Lost and Saved (1863), and Old Sir Douglas (1866). She also published a number of long narrative poems: A Voice from the Factories (1836), A Child of the Islands (1845), The Dream (1840; H.N. Coleridge cited it in the Quarterly Review and pronounced her “the Byron of poetesses”), and The Lady of La Garaye (1862).
George Norton died in 1875; Caroline married Sir William Stirling-Maxwell in 1877, but died after four months of marriage. Two of her sons predeceased her, while third also died in 1877.
Sources:
Blain, Virginia, et. al. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present, Yale University Press, 1990
“Caroline Norton (1808-1877).” Edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, Caroline Norton (1808-1877), digital.library.upenn.edu/women/norton/nc-biography.html. Accessed 30 April 2018.
Perkins, Jane Grey, The Life of Mrs. Norton, London, J. Murray, 1909
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers, Oxford University Press, 1993. Todd, Janet M., editor. British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide. Continuum, 1989.
Prepared by Molly Noel, University of Nebraska, April 2018.
© Molly Noel, 2018.