Agnes Strickland
Agnes Strickland was an English historical writer and poet. She is particularly remembered for her Lives of the Queens of England.
Biography
Formative years
The daughter of Thomas Strickland and his wife Elizabeth, Agnes was born in Rotherhithe, at that time in Surrey, where her father was employed as a manager of the Greenland Dock. She was christened at St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe on 18 August 1796. The family subsequently moved to Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, and then Stowe House, near Bungay, Suffolk, before settling in 1808 at Reydon Hall, Reydon, near Southwold, also in Suffolk. Agnes' siblings were Elizabeth, Sarah, Jane Margaret, Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, Thomas, and Samuel Strickland. Agnes and her elder sister, Elizabeth, were educated by their father to a standard more usual for boys at that time. All of the children except Sarah and Tom eventually became writers.Agnes began her literary career with a poem, Worcester Field, followed by The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius. Abandoning poetry, she produced Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children, The Pilgrims of Walsingham, and Tales and Stories from History.
Historical biographies
By the early 1830s, Agnes and Elizabeth Strickland had decided to collaborate on a series of popular history biographies of the queens of England, eventually numbering 12 volumes. They were reading historical manuscripts at the British Museum Library every day.Much of the Strickland sisters' historical research and writing was done by Elizabeth. Elizabeth, however, refused all publicity and, in an agreement between the two sisters, Agnes was named as the sole author. Their biographical works are fine representations of the biographies written by Victorian women, many of which focused on female subjects and included aspects of social history such as dress, manners, and diet.
The Lives of the Queens of England was very popular and sold well. By 1854, it had reached its fourth edition.
When the Queens of England collection was complete, the pair continued their work with Lives of the Queens of Scotland.
Strickland's researches were laborious and conscientious as she relied on studying archived material for information, and she remains a useful source. Her style is engaging and anecdotal, not as objective as most modern historians, but it gives valuable insight into the mores of her own time.