Home > William Howitt

He was born at Heanor, Derbyshire. His parents were Quakers, and he was educated at the Friends public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire. In 1814 he published a poem on the Influence of Nature and Poetry on National Spirit. He married, in 1821, Mary Botham , who like himself was a Quaker and a poet. William and Mary Howitt collaborated throughout a long literary career, the first of their joint productions being The Forest Minstrels and other Poems (1821).

In 1831 William Howitt produced a work resulting naturally from his habits of observation and his genuine love of nature. It was a history of the changes in the face of the outside world in the different months of the year, and was entitled The Book of the Seasons, or the Calendar of Nature (1831). His Popular History of Priestcraft (1833) won him the favour of active Liberals and the office of alderman in Nottingham, where the Howitts had made their home.

They moved in 1837Events January 10 DePauw University founded in Greencastle, Indiana January 26 Michigan is admitted as the 26th U. State February 8 Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate February 11 Americ to EsherEsher is a town in Surrey, England near the River Mole. It grew as a stop on the A3 road, although it has long been bypassed. In the sixteenth century, Henry VIII of England commandeered the area as a royal hunting ground, and the town remained wealthy., and became friends with Elizabeth GaskellElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ( September 29, 1810, London, England November 12, 1865, Holybourne, Hampshire, England, UK), often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell was a British novelist. She was born Elizabeth Stevenson in London in 1810. Her mother Eliza, and her husband. In 1840 they went to HeidelbergHeidelberg (halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt) is a city in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. As of 2002, there are 140,000 people living on the city's 109 km2. Heidelberg Castle, Heiliggeist Church and the Old Bridge Heidelberg lies on the river Neckar a, primarily for the education of their children, remaining in Germany for two years. In 18411841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 26 The United Kingdom occupies Hong Kong. Later during the year, the first census of the island recorded a population of about 7,500. February 18 The first ongoing f William Howitt produced, under the pseudonym of Dr Cornelius, The Student Life of Germany, the first of a series of works on German social life and institutions. Mary Howitt devoted herself to ScandinaviaScandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label "Scandinavia" reflects the culturaln literature, and between 1842Events February 21 John J. Greenough patents the sewing machine. March 5 Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution and 1863Events January-March January 1 Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War. January 1 The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska January 8 Ground is broken in Sacramen she translated the novels of Frederika Bremer and many of the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. With her husband she wrote in 1852 The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe. In June of that year William Howitt, with two of his sons, set sail for Australia, where he spent two years in the goldfields. The results of his travels appeared in A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia (1854), Land, Labor and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria (1855) and Tallangetta, the Squaller's Home (1837).

On his return to England Howitt had settled at Highgate and resumed his indefatigable book-making. From 1856 to 1862 he was engaged on Cassell's Illustrated History of England, and from 1861 to 1864 he and his wife worked at the Ruined Abbevs and Castles of Great Britain. The Howitts had left the Society of Friends in 1847, and became interested in spiritualism. In 1863 appeared The History of the Super-natural in all Ages and Nations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal Faith, by William Howitt. He added his own conclusions from a practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven years.

From 1870 onwards Howitt spent the summers in Tirol and the winters in Rome, where he died. Mary Howitt was much affected by his death, and in 1882 she joined the Roman Catholic Church, towards which she had been gradually moving during her connection with spiritualism. She died at Rome on January 30, 1888.

The Howitts are remembered for their untiring efforts to provide wholesome and instructive literature. Their son, Alfred William Howitt , made himself a name by his explorations in Australia. Anna Mary Howitt married Alaric Alfred Watts, and was the author of Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation (1883). Mary Howitt's autobiography was edited by her daughter, Margaret Howitt, in 1889. William Howitt wrote some fifty books, and his wife's publications, inclusive of translations, number over a hundred.