Howitt, William

(1792-1879), Howitt, Mary (Botham) (1799-1888)

   Miscellaneous writers. William H. was b. at Heanor, Derbyshire, and was apprenticed to a builder; Mary was b. at Coleford, Gloucestershire; they m. in 1821, and settled at Hanley, where they carried on business as chemists. Two years later they removed to Nottingham, where they remained for 12 years, and where much of their literary work was accomplished. Thereafter they lived successively at Esher, London, Heidelberg, and Rome, at the last of which they both d. Their literary work, which was very voluminous, was done partly in conjunction, partly independently, and covered a considerable variety of subjects--poetry, fiction, history, translations, and social and economical subjects. Useful and pleasing in its day, little of it is likely to survive. William's works include A History of Priestcraft (1833), Rural Life in England (1837), Visits to Remarkable Places, Homes and Haunts of the Poets, Land, Labour, and Gold (1855), Rural Life in Germany, History of the Supernatural, and History of Discovery in Australia. Mary translated the Swedish novels of Frederica Bremer, H.C. Andersen's Improvisatore, and wrote novels, including Wood Leighton and The Cost of Caergwyn, many successful tales and poems for children, and a History of the United States. Their joint productions include The Forest Minstrel, Book of the Seasons, and Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain. Both brought up as Quakers, they left that communion in 1847, and became believers in spiritualism; and in 1882 Mary joined the Church of Rome.