Mary Anne Everett Green
Encyclopedia
Mary Anne Everett Green, née Wood, (19 July 1818 – 1 November 1895) was an English historian. After establishing a reputation for scholarship with two multi-volume books on royal ladies and noblewomen, she was invited to assist in preparing guides, or "calendars", to a collection of hitherto disorganised historical state papers. In this role of "calendars editor", she became a well-respected participant in an important mid-19th century initiative to establish a centralised national archive. She was one of the most respected female historians in Victorian
Britain.
to a Wesleyan Methodist
minister, Robert Wood, and his wife Sarah. Her father was responsible for her education, offering an extensive knowledge of history and languages, and she benefited from mixing with her parents' intellectual friends including James Everett, the minister and writer, after whom she was named.
When the family moved to London in 1841 she began researching in the British Museum
and elsewhere, and during the 1840s she worked on Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies (1846) and Lives of the Princesses of England: from the Norman Conquest (1849–1855). She had started work on this book in 1843, using private libraries like that of the rich collector Sir Thomas Phillipps, as well as archives like those at Lambeth Palace
. After her marriage to the painter George Pycock Green in 1845, they travelled for the sake of his artistic career, and she was able to research her subject further in Paris
and Antwerp. Lives of the Princesses was praised by the antiquary Dawson Turner
and by the historian Sir Francis Palgrave
among others.
Palgrave, the first Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office
(PRO), had met Green, was impressed with her scholarship, especially her knowledge of languages, and recommended her to his superior John Romilly
, the Master of the Rolls
. Romilly was continuing Lord Langdale
's work of overseeing the establishment of a national archive (the PRO), and publishing some of the documents it held. Numerous state papers which had been assembled from different locations were studied and summarised, and then the abstract
s were compiled in chronological order in the form of "calendars".
In 1854 Romilly invited Green to become an external calendars editor. In her first few years doing this work she gave birth to two of her three daughters, one of whom became the novelist Evelyn Everett-Green
. Mary Anne Everett Green's son had been born in 1847 but died in 1876. Her husband became disabled and it was important for her to earn an income. While supplementing her work at the PRO with journalism, she pursued some private research but had no time to complete a planned book on the Hanover
ian queens.
, and the three male free-lancers working on the calendars, who all had paid assistance, Green's only helper was her sister Esther, but she became the "most highly respected" and "most efficient compiler of calendars". She sometimes complained about being paid less than the men, and also disputed editorial questions with her superiors. Romilly did eventually agree to her suggestion of historical prefaces written by herself and the other editors, and these came to be seen as an essential part of the calendars. Green herself wrote 700 pages of prefaces which amount to a history of seventeenth-century England.
Over the next four decades Green edited 41 volumes starting with Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of James I
(4 volumes, 1857–9). By the time she completed Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of Elizabeth
in 1872, reviewers considered she had established a model for such work; with more detailed abstracts than many other calendars, as well as the highest standards of scholarship, her work "came to be recognized as the standard to be followed by all editors".
Like other 19th century women historians, Green tended to concentrate her work in fields seen as suited to "feminine" talents: research into queens and ladies, private lives, and the deciphering, translation and compilation of historical documents, for instance. One of her earliest books was prefaced by her asking the reader not to criticise her for having "ventured upon a field usually occupied only by the learned of the opposite sex." Her calendar prefaces, though, were an opportunity to write on broader, more "masculine" themes, like the Interregnum
, earning respect for the overall quality and "strict historical accuracy".
She was one of only three women to sign a public petition in 1851 asking the PRO to offer free access to its records for serious scholars: a request which was granted in 1852. Alongside 80 men's signatures, including those of Charles Dickens
, Macaulay
, and Carlyle
, were the women historians who depended on detailed study of freshly discovered original sources to claim authority for their work: Agnes Strickland
and Lucy Aikin
were the other two.
Green went on working at the PRO until shortly before she died, aged 77, at home in London on 1 November 1895, having passed her research on the Hanover
ian queens to her friend A. W. Ward. Her work at the PRO was continued by the niece she had trained: Sophia Crawford Lomas. Both Ward and Lomas helped ensure that her Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (1909) appeared posthumously. Other books of hers include Diary of John Rous (1856) and Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria (1857). She was also known for her philanthropy.
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
Britain.
Family and early career
Mary Anne Everett Wood was born in SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
to a Wesleyan Methodist
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
minister, Robert Wood, and his wife Sarah. Her father was responsible for her education, offering an extensive knowledge of history and languages, and she benefited from mixing with her parents' intellectual friends including James Everett, the minister and writer, after whom she was named.
When the family moved to London in 1841 she began researching in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
and elsewhere, and during the 1840s she worked on Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies (1846) and Lives of the Princesses of England: from the Norman Conquest (1849–1855). She had started work on this book in 1843, using private libraries like that of the rich collector Sir Thomas Phillipps, as well as archives like those at Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...
. After her marriage to the painter George Pycock Green in 1845, they travelled for the sake of his artistic career, and she was able to research her subject further in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Antwerp. Lives of the Princesses was praised by the antiquary Dawson Turner
Dawson Turner
Dawson Turner was an English banker, botanist and antiquary.-Life:Turner was the son of James Turner, head of the Gurney and Turner's Yarmouth Bank and Elizabeth Cotman, the only daughter of the mayor of Yarmouth, John Cotman. He was educated at North Walsham Grammar School, Norfolk and at Barton...
and by the historian Sir Francis Palgrave
Francis Palgrave
Sir Francis Palgrave FRS, born Francis Ephraim Cohen, was an English historian.- Early life :He was born in London, the son of Meyer Cohen, a Jewish stockbroker by his wife Rachel Levien Cohen . He was initially articled as a clerk to a London solicitor's firm, and remained there as chief clerk...
among others.
Palgrave, the first Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
(PRO), had met Green, was impressed with her scholarship, especially her knowledge of languages, and recommended her to his superior John Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly PC, QC , known as Sir John Romilly between 1848 and 1866, was an English Whig politician and judge. He served in Lord John Russell's first administration as Solicitor-General from 1848 to 1850 and as Attorney-General from 1850 and 1851...
, the Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
. Romilly was continuing Lord Langdale
Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale
Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale KC, PC was an English law reformer and Master of the Rolls.He was born on 18 June 1783 at Kirkby Lonsdale, three years before his brother Edward Bickersteth...
's work of overseeing the establishment of a national archive (the PRO), and publishing some of the documents it held. Numerous state papers which had been assembled from different locations were studied and summarised, and then the abstract
Abstract (summary)
An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a...
s were compiled in chronological order in the form of "calendars".
In 1854 Romilly invited Green to become an external calendars editor. In her first few years doing this work she gave birth to two of her three daughters, one of whom became the novelist Evelyn Everett-Green
Evelyn Everett-Green
Evelyn Ward Everett-Green was an English novelist who started her writing career with improving and pious stories for children, and later wrote historical fiction for older girls, and then adult romantic fiction.She wrote about 350 books: more than 200 under her own name, and others using the...
. Mary Anne Everett Green's son had been born in 1847 but died in 1876. Her husband became disabled and it was important for her to earn an income. While supplementing her work at the PRO with journalism, she pursued some private research but had no time to complete a planned book on the Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
ian queens.
Public records
Unlike the full-time employees doing similar work, such as Sir Thomas Duffus HardyThomas Duffus Hardy
Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy was an English archivist and antiquary.-Life:He was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, and belonged to a family several members of which had distinguished themselves in the British navy. Born at Port Royal in Jamaica, he crossed over to England and in...
, and the three male free-lancers working on the calendars, who all had paid assistance, Green's only helper was her sister Esther, but she became the "most highly respected" and "most efficient compiler of calendars". She sometimes complained about being paid less than the men, and also disputed editorial questions with her superiors. Romilly did eventually agree to her suggestion of historical prefaces written by herself and the other editors, and these came to be seen as an essential part of the calendars. Green herself wrote 700 pages of prefaces which amount to a history of seventeenth-century England.
Over the next four decades Green edited 41 volumes starting with Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
(4 volumes, 1857–9). By the time she completed Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1872, reviewers considered she had established a model for such work; with more detailed abstracts than many other calendars, as well as the highest standards of scholarship, her work "came to be recognized as the standard to be followed by all editors".
Like other 19th century women historians, Green tended to concentrate her work in fields seen as suited to "feminine" talents: research into queens and ladies, private lives, and the deciphering, translation and compilation of historical documents, for instance. One of her earliest books was prefaced by her asking the reader not to criticise her for having "ventured upon a field usually occupied only by the learned of the opposite sex." Her calendar prefaces, though, were an opportunity to write on broader, more "masculine" themes, like the Interregnum
English Interregnum
The English Interregnum was the period of parliamentary and military rule by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the Commonwealth of England after the English Civil War...
, earning respect for the overall quality and "strict historical accuracy".
She was one of only three women to sign a public petition in 1851 asking the PRO to offer free access to its records for serious scholars: a request which was granted in 1852. Alongside 80 men's signatures, including those of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history...
, and Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
, were the women historians who depended on detailed study of freshly discovered original sources to claim authority for their work: Agnes Strickland
Agnes Strickland
Agnes Strickland was an English historical writer and poet.-Biography:The daughter of Thomas Strickland of Reydon Hall, Suffolk, Agnes was educated by her father, and began her literary career with a poem, Worcester Field, followed by The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius...
and Lucy Aikin
Lucy Aikin
Lucy Aikin , born at Warrington, England into a distinguished literary family of prominent Unitarians, was a historical writer.-Family and education:...
were the other two.
Green went on working at the PRO until shortly before she died, aged 77, at home in London on 1 November 1895, having passed her research on the Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
ian queens to her friend A. W. Ward. Her work at the PRO was continued by the niece she had trained: Sophia Crawford Lomas. Both Ward and Lomas helped ensure that her Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (1909) appeared posthumously. Other books of hers include Diary of John Rous (1856) and Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria (1857). She was also known for her philanthropy.
Work online
- Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain: Volume 2
- Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain: Volume 3
- Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman Conquest
- Calendar of State Papers Domestic: James I, 1603-1610