Frances Trollope
Who was Frances Trollope?
English novelist (1779-1863)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Frances Trollope (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Frances Milton Trollope, known as Fanny Trollope, was born on March 10, 1779, in Bristol, England. She was the daughter of the Reverend William Milton, a clergyman who also invented things as a hobby. She received a solid education, which was rare for women at the time, and developed literary and intellectual interests that later shaped her career. In 1809, she married Thomas Anthony Trollope, a barrister, and they settled into family life, raising seven children. Two of their sons, Thomas Adolphus and Anthony, became famous writers.
Frances Trollope started writing in her fifties mainly because she needed money. Her husband's legal career didn't succeed, and the family faced growing debts. In 1827, she traveled to the United States with several of her children, partially to support a utopian community project in Tennessee linked to reformer Frances Wright, and partially to try to improve the family's finances through business. The project failed, but her observations of American society during her travels were invaluable. Her book, Domestic Manners of the Americans, published in 1832, was an instant hit in both the US and the UK, praised and criticized for its sharp, often satirical look at American social customs and democratic culture.
The success of Domestic Manners of the Americans kickstarted her literary career. Over the next three decades, Trollope wrote more than forty novels and travel books. She wrote with a keen sense of social issues, tackling some of the biggest topics of her time. Her novel Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw (1836) is an early strong anti-slavery work, and some scholars think it influenced Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her novel Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy (1840) is known as the first industrial novel in English, showing the harsh conditions faced by child laborers in the English textile industry.
Trollope's personal life was tough. She lost several children to tuberculosis, and her husband died in 1835 after years of decline. Despite these hardships, she continued writing prolifically, often to support herself and her sick family members. After her husband's death, she spent more time abroad, especially in Italy, where she eventually settled. She died in Florence on October 6, 1863, at the age of eighty-four.
During her life, Trollope was one of the most widely read authors in England, but her reputation took a hit after her death, partly because critics tended to overlook women writers. In 1839, The New Monthly Magazine noted that no author of the time was so widely read, admired, and criticized. Modern reevaluation has regained her place as an important voice in nineteenth-century literature, with works that range from travel writing to social commentary and fiction, all written with a strong moral perspective.
Before Fame
Frances Milton grew up in Bristol and later in Hampshire, England, as the daughter of a Church of England clergyman. She received a broad education at home and was known in her youth for her lively wit and intellectual curiosity. After marrying Thomas Anthony Trollope in 1809, she spent nearly twenty years managing a household and raising children, and during this time, she didn't write much of importance.
It was financial desperation, not early ambition, that pushed her into writing. Her husband's financial troubles forced her to look for income wherever she could. Her trip to America from 1827 to 1831, fueled by a mix of idealism and financial hope, provided the material for Domestic Manners of the Americans, which she published at fifty-three. The success of that book opened the door to a second career lasting over thirty years.
Key Achievements
- Published Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), one of the most widely read and debated travel accounts of the nineteenth century.
- Wrote Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw (1836), an early abolitionist novel credited with influencing Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- Authored Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy (1840), recognized as the first industrial novel in English literature.
- Produced more than forty books across multiple genres, sustaining a major literary career that began at age fifty-three.
- Raised two sons, Thomas Adolphus and Anthony Trollope, both of whom became significant figures in Victorian literature.
Did You Know?
- 01.Frances Trollope did not publish her first book until she was fifty-three years old, making her one of the most successful late-blooming authors of the nineteenth century.
- 02.Her anti-slavery novel Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw (1836) preceded Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin by fifteen years and is believed by some scholars to have directly influenced it.
- 03.Her son Anthony Trollope, who became one of the most celebrated Victorian novelists, described his mother working at her writing desk in the early morning hours before the rest of the household awoke, driven by the constant pressure of debt.
- 04.Domestic Manners of the Americans caused such controversy in the United States that the term 'Mrs. Trollope' briefly entered American slang as a byword for an unflattering foreign critic.
- 05.Frances Trollope wrote more than forty books in total and supported her family almost entirely through her earnings as an author during the last three decades of her life.