Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell, by William John Thomson, 1832

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was a close personal friend (and later biographer) of Charlotte Bronte, and was herself a prominent writer. In 1832, she married William Gaskell (1805-1884), junior minister of a Unitarian chapel in the industrial city of Manchester. They had seven children between 1833 and 1846, but only four survived (all daughters). The death of her only son in infancy inspired her to become a writer to deal with her grief.

Works written by Elizabeth Gaskell include:

Novels:

• Mary Barton (1848)
• Ruth (1853)
• North and South (1855)
• Wives and Daughters, unfinished due to Gaskell's Author Existence Failure

Non-fiction:

• The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857)