Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Early life and family

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born the youngest of three children on 4 October 1835 in Soho, London. In 1840 her mother, Fanny (White) Braddon, left Braddon's father, Henry Braddon, due to his infidelities. Her brother, Edward Braddon, left for India in 1847. He eventually moved to Australia, where he became Premier of Tasmania.^[3] That same year her sister, Maggie Braddon, married Antonion Cartighoni and moved to Naples.^[5] Braddon and her mother moved to the English provinces in 1852, where she began a career in acting to support herself and her mother.

Acting

Between 1852 and 1860, Braddon worked as an actor.^[5] She travelled the provinces as an actress under the supervision of her mother. She acted in a variety of dramas, including Shakespearean plays, pantomimes, comedies, burlesques, and topical dramas about India and the Crimea. Braddon also took roles in well-known melodramas such as Black-Eyed Susan and Charles Reade's works, which would later be transformed into sensation novels. Despite her enthusiasm and dedication towards theatre, she gradually turned her focus towards writing novels due to a lack of leading roles and mixed performance reviews. Many of the roles she played were minor, yet profitable enough to support herself and her mother.^[6][7]

As an actress, Braddon befriended Clara and Adelaide Biddles. Adelaide noted that Braddon was an avid reader, and that her interest in acting waned as she began writing novels.^[7]

Relationship with John Maxwell

Braddon met John Maxwell (1824–1895), a publisher of periodicals, in April 1861 and moved in with him later that year.^[8] However, Maxwell was already married with five children to Mary Ann Crowley. Crowley lived with her family while Maxwell and Braddon lived as husband and wife. In 1864, Maxwell attempted to legitimize their relationship by telling the newspapers that they were legally married. However, Crowley's brother-in-law Richard Brinsley Knowles exposed Maxwell's lie by informing the papers that Crowley was alive.^[3] Crowley died in 1874, allowing Braddon and Maxwell to marry at St. Bride's Church on Fleet Street.

Braddon acted as a stepmother to Maxwell and Crowley's five children, and had six additional children with Maxwell. Their names were Gerald, Fanny, Francis, William, Winifred Rosalie, and Edward Herry Harrington.^{[citation needed]}

Death and legacy

Braddon died on 4 February 1915 in Richmond (then in Surrey) and is interred in Richmond Cemetery.^[9] Richmond parish church has a commemorative plaque in Braddon's honor titled "Miss Braddon". In 1936, her home, Lichfield House, was replaced by a block of flats known as Lichfield Court. A number of nearby streets are named after characters in her novels – her husband was a property developer in the area.^[10]

Her eldest daughter, Fanny Margaret Maxwell (1863–1955), married the naturalist Edmund Selous on 13 January 1886. In 1923, Fanny founded and became the first president of a local branch of the Woman's Institute in Wyke Castle.^[11] Her second eldest son was the novelist William Babington Maxwell (1866–1939).

Michael Sadleir wrote a critical essay on Braddon's work in his book Things Past in 1944.^[8] In 2014, the Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association was founded to pay tribute to Braddon's life and work.^[12]

Magazine editing

Braddon was a magazine publisher in addition to her position as a writer.^[14] She founded the magazine Belgravia in 1866, which presented readers with serialised sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, biographies, and essays on fashion, history and science.^{[citation needed]} The magazine also featured illustrations and was accessible to a broader audience.^[15] Braddon's work in Belgravia improved the reputation of the sensation genre by showcasing it in an intentional way. Literary scholar Kate Mattacks argues that Braddon was trapped in the sensational formula of Lady Audley's Secret-- stories that maintained her income but hurt her artistic credibility. However, some scholars have argued that examining Braddon's work in Belgravia makes it clear that Braddon's use of sensation was a deliberate and empowering choice rather than a limitation to her authorship.^[4]

Braddon also edited the Temple Bar magazine.^{[citation needed]}