Lucy Lyttelton Cameron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lucy Lyttelton Cameron | |
|---|---|
 Nosegay of Honeysuckles by Lucy Lyttelton Cameron, 1825 print | |
| Born | 29 April 1781 Stanford-on-Teme, UK |
| Died | 6 September 1858 (aged 77) Swaby, UK |
| Genre | Children's fiction |
Lucy Lyttelton Cameron (29 April 1781 – 6 September 1858, née Butt) was a British magazine editor and a writer for children with religious themes.
Lucy Lyttelton Cameron was born in Stanford-on-Teme, taking her name from her godmother Lady Lucy Fortescue Lyttelton. Her mother was born Martha Sherwood and her father George Butt[1] was the vicar in Stanford at her birth and a minor poet. Her father was well connected and he became George III's Chaplain-in-Ordinary in 1783.[2] Her father took positions at several different churches, although he died in 1795, having returned to Stanford.
In childhood she studied French, Italian and Greek. Between 1792 and 1797 she attended Reading Abbey Girls' School, depicted in the novel Emma by another former pupil, Jane Austen. She and her sister Mary (later Mary Martha Sherwood) had a strict upbringing and if it was not for her supposed delicacy then she would have been required to wear a backboard and an iron ring, like her sister, to improve her posture.[3]
Through her family's connection to Gerrard Andrewes, who by 1802 was vicar of St James's Church, Piccadilly, Lucy was introduced to London cultural figures such as the Bluestocking Elizabeth Carter and Humphry Davy, the inventor. In Bristol she met writers Hannah More and Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck.[4]
The year after leaving school she wrote The History of Margaret Whyte, or, The life and death of a good child, joining her sister, who was already published.[3] By this time she was living with her mother in Bridgnorth. Both of the daughters taught at Sunday School, which is where their writings were targeted.[3]
