Mary Berry (writer, born 1763) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mary Berry
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From a bust of Mary Berry created by Anne Seymour Damer
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| Born | 16 March 1763 Kirkbridge, North Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 20 November 1852 (aged 89) |
Mary Berry (born March 16, 1763 – died November 20, 1852) was an English writer from Kirkbridge, North Yorkshire. She is famous for her letters and journals, especially Social Life in England and France from the French Revolution (published in 1831) and Journals and Correspondence (published after she died in 1865). Mary became well-known because of her close friendship with Horace Walpole. After he died, she, her sister, and her father inherited his collection of writings.
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Mary Berry's Early Life
Mary Berry was born in Kirkbridge, North Yorkshire, on March 16, 1763. Her younger sister, Agnes, was born about 14 months later, on May 29, 1764. Agnes became Mary's closest friend throughout her life.
Their father, Robert Berry, was the nephew of a successful Scottish merchant. Robert inherited a lot of money and bought a large property in Scotland. He had worked for his uncle, a rich merchant, in London. In 1762, he married his distant cousin, Miss Seaton. After giving birth to Mary and Agnes, their mother died in 1767 during childbirth.
After their mother's death, the two girls were cared for by their grandmother, Mrs. Seaton, in Yorkshire. In 1770, they moved to College House in Chiswick. Their governess (a private teacher) got married in 1776, so the girls then taught themselves. For their religious lessons, Mary read a Psalm to her grandmother each morning. She also read a Saturday paper from Spectator every Sunday.
In 1781, their great-uncle, Mr. Ferguson, died at age 93. He left money to both Robert and his younger brother, William. In 1783, Robert Berry and his two daughters traveled abroad. They visited Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. Mary took on the role of a protective mother to Agnes and a guide for her father.
Mary Berry's Adult Life
Mary Berry started writing Journals and Correspondence while she was in Florence, Italy, in 1783. However, she did not finish writing it until 70 years later. After a long stay in Italy, their trip ended. They returned home through France to England in June 1786.
Mary and her sister Agnes became very good friends with Horace Walpole. They first met him in the winter of 1788. At that time, Walpole was over 70 years old. He wrote in a letter that he was charmed by them when they met at his friend Lady Herries's house. Walpole grew very fond of the two sisters. He often praised them and showed them great affection. In his letters, Walpole called them his "twin wives." He even wrote books just for them and dedicated other writings to them. For their entertainment, he wrote Reminiscences of the Courts of George I and II (1789).
In 1789, he helped the sisters settle in Teddington. Two years later, in 1791, he convinced them to move into Little Strawberry Hill. This house was once owned by his friend Kitty Clive, a famous actress. The sisters lived there for many years.
In 1779, a Mr. Bowman wanted to marry Mary. She later wrote that she "suffered as people do" at sixteen from this. She "resisted and dropped" the idea because it was "wisely disapproved of."
General Charles O'Hara, who was the governor of Gibraltar, met Mary in Italy in 1784. They became engaged before he left England for Gibraltar in November 1795. Mary was not ready to leave England right away to be his wife. This led to them slowly growing apart. Their engagement finally ended in April 1796.
Walpole died on March 2, 1797. He left both Mary and Agnes £4,000 and Little Strawberry Hill House, where they lived. He also left Robert, Mary, and Agnes Berry his printed works and a box of handwritten papers. They were allowed to publish these papers if they wished.
In 1802, Berry went to Paris. During her visit, she met Napoleon at the Tuileries palace. Later that year, she returned to France with her sister and father. They then traveled to Nice, Switzerland, and Germany. They returned to England in September 1803.
Mary Berry's Literary Work
In 1798, Mary published five volumes of the Works of Horace Walpole. These were from the handwritten papers Walpole had left to the Berry family. She said her father, Robert, edited the work. But Mary actually did most of the work herself, except for a small part in the introduction that mentioned her.
Berry then wrote a five-act comedy play called Fashionable Friends. She used Walpole’s name for it. Berry, her father, and her sister performed the play at Strawberry Hill, Walpole's home. Later, the play moved to Drury Lane Theatre in May 1802. The play was not successful and closed after three nights. Some people thought its "morality" was too loose.
Other works she published include Walpole’s The Mysterious Mother. She also wrote another play of her own, a farce called The Martins. This play was never printed or performed on stage.
In 1810, Berry published four volumes of letters from Madame du Deffand to Horace Walpole. These letters were written between 1766 and 1780. Mary added her own notes to them. She also included letters de Deffand wrote to Voltaire between 1759 and 1775. Mary received £200 for this work.
On May 18, 1817, Robert Berry died. He left his daughters with very little money. In 1819, Mary Berry published Some Account of the Life of Rachel Wriothesley, Lady Russell. This book included letters from Lady Russell to her husband, Lord William Russell, from 1672 to 1682. It also had other letters. Mary published this work from the original papers, which were owned by the Duke of Devonshire.
Berry published the first part of her most famous work, A Comparative View of the Social Life of England and France from the Restoration of Charles the Second to the French Revolution, in 1828. The second part, Social Life in England and France from the French Revolution in 1789 to that of July 1830, came out in March 1831. It was later reissued as a whole book in 1844. This new edition had a new title: England and France: a comparative View of the Social Condition of both Countries. It also included Fashionable Friends and her other writings.
A collection of Berry’s works and letters was published after her death in 1865. It was called Extracts from the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry from 1783 to 1852. Lady Theresa Lewis edited this collection.
Mary Berry's Later Years and Death
Mary Berry only had one serious illness during her life. This was a very bad attack of bilious fever in 1825. She died of old age around midnight on November 20, 1852, at 89 years old. Her sister, Agnes, had died in January of the same year. Both sisters are buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Petersham.
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St Peter's Church, Petersham, where Mary and Agnes Berry are buried.
