William Godwin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids William Godwin
Portrait by Henry William Pickersgill
Born	(1756-03-03)3 March 1756 Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England
Died	7 April 1836(1836-04-07) (aged 80) Westminster, London, England
Education	Hoxton Academy
Notable work	Enquiry Concerning Political Justice Things as They Are
Spouse(s)	Mary Wollstonecraft ​ ​ (m. 1797; died 1797)​ Mary Jane Clairmont ​ (m. 1801)​
Era	Modern philosophy Age of Enlightenment 19th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy British philosophy
School	Philosophical anarchism Utilitarianism
Main interests	Society Politics Ethics
Notable ideas	Anarchism Poet as legislator
Influences Burke d'Holbach Helvétius Hutcheson Locke Milton Newton Paine Rousseau Swift
Influenced Coleridge Hodgskin Read Owen Shelley Thompson Wordsworth

William Godwin (born March 3, 1756 – died April 7, 1836) was an English writer, philosopher, and novelist. He is known as one of the first people to support utilitarianism. This idea says that the best action is the one that makes the most people happy. He was also an early supporter of anarchism, which is the belief that society can work well without a government.

Godwin is most famous for two books. One was An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, which criticized government systems. The other was Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, an early mystery novel that spoke out against the special rights of rich families. Because these books were so popular, Godwin became a well-known figure in London's radical groups in the 1790s. He wrote many novels, history books, and works about population throughout his life.

Godwin faced criticism partly because he married the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft in 1797. After she died, he wrote a very open book about her life. Their daughter, Mary Shelley, later wrote the famous novel Frankenstein. She also married the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. With his second wife, Mary Jane Clairmont, Godwin started a publishing company called The Juvenile Library. This allowed his family to write and publish books for children. Godwin had a big impact on British literature and culture.

Growing Up and Learning

William Godwin was born in Wisbech, England. He was the seventh of thirteen children. His family was middle-class and followed a strict form of Calvinism, a type of Protestant Christianity. His father, John Godwin, was a minister. The family moved several times during William's childhood.

Godwin came from a long line of English Dissenters. These were Protestants who did not follow the official Church of England. They often faced religious discrimination. William was inspired by his father and grandfather to become a minister himself.

At age eleven, he became the only student of Samuel Newton, a very strict Calvinist teacher. Newton's harsh teaching methods made Godwin dislike authority for the rest of his life. However, Godwin learned to value rationalism (thinking based on reason), egalitarianism (the idea that all people are equal), and consensus decision-making (making decisions together). Even though Godwin later stopped being a Christian, he kept these ideas. He believed they made him a logical and calm person.

In 1771, Godwin left Newton's teaching. His father died the next year, and his mother encouraged him to continue his education.

College and New Ideas

At seventeen, Godwin went to the Dissenting Academy in Hoxton. This school was a center for classical liberalism, which focuses on individual rights and freedoms. Here, Godwin learned about John Locke's ideas on how the mind works and Isaac Newton's scientific methods. He also studied Francis Hutcheson's ideas about ethics. These thinkers shaped Godwin's own beliefs about how things are determined and how we see reality.

When he first started, Godwin supported the Tories, a more traditional political group. But the start of the American Revolution made him support the Whigs, who were against the government. After reading books by Jonathan Swift, he became a strong supporter of a republican government, meaning one without a king or queen.

He also learned about French philosophers. He liked Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that people are naturally good and that private property can be a problem. He also learned about Claude Adrien Helvétius's utilitarianism and Paul-Henri Thiry's materialism, which says that everything is made of matter.

In 1778, Godwin finished his studies and became a minister in Ware. He later moved to Stowmarket. There, he read The System of Nature by Paul-Henri Thiry and started believing in determinism (that all events are decided by previous causes) and materialism. After a disagreement with other ministers, he left his job and moved to London in 1782 to become a writer.

Early Writing Career

In 1783, Godwin published several works. He wrote a biography of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, and some political pamphlets supporting the Whigs. He also tried being a minister again briefly, preaching that reason should be more important than faith.

At a new school opening, Godwin gave a speech where he said that government power was "artificial." He believed that education could help end authoritarian governments. Godwin then worked as a literary critic, even reviewing books that didn't exist, just to show off his writing skills.

His work as a critic led to more jobs, including translating memoirs. In 1784, he published two romantic novels, Damon and Delia and Imogen. He also published Sketches of History, which included six of his sermons. In these sermons, he used ideas from John Milton's Paradise Lost to criticize the Christian God as a tyrant.

Since his early books didn't make much money, Godwin started writing for Whig journals. He became a political journalist for the New Annual Register. He also wrote for the Political Herald under the name "Mucius" to attack the Tories. He reported on British rule in Ireland and India. He also wrote a history of the Eighty Years' War and predicted that revolutions would spread across Europe.

After the editor of the Political Herald died, Godwin turned down an offer to become the new editor. He didn't want his writing to be controlled by a political party. Around this time, he met Thomas Holcroft, who convinced Godwin to stop believing in Christianity and become an atheist. Godwin also worked as a tutor and later became the adoptive father of a young boy named Thomas Abthorpe Cooper. This experience changed his teaching style to focus on an "open and honest relationship" with students.

When the French Revolution began, Godwin and other Radicals in Britain were very excited. They saw it as a continuation of Britain's own Glorious Revolution of 1688. Godwin joined the Revolution Society and met Richard Price. Price's ideas supported freedom of religion, representative democracy, and the right of revolution.

Price's ideas led to a debate. Edmund Burke wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France, defending traditional ideas and opposing revolution. In response, Thomas Paine published Rights of Man with Godwin's help. Godwin believed Paine's book had strong ideas that could not be stopped.

Godwin mostly stayed out of this public debate because he was busy writing his own major work on political philosophy. With financial help, he quit his journalism job to focus on this book. He wanted to combine the best ideas in political science into one clear system. After sixteen months, in February 1793, he published Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. This was during a time when the French Revolution had led to the execution of Louis XVI and the start of wars.

Marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft

William Godwin, painted by James Northcote in 1802.

Godwin first met Mary Wollstonecraft at a dinner hosted by their publisher, Joseph Johnson. Years later, Godwin remembered hearing too much from Wollstonecraft and not enough from Thomas Paine, who was also there. He didn't see her again for a few years.

During that time, Wollstonecraft lived in France to see the Revolution. She had a daughter, Fanny Imlay, with an American adventurer. Wollstonecraft traveled to Scandinavia and wrote a book about her journey, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Godwin read it and later said, "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book."

When Godwin and Wollstonecraft met again in 1796, their respect for each other grew into friendship and then love. When Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry. This was so their child would be seen as legitimate by society. Their marriage revealed that Wollstonecraft had not been married to Fanny's father. Because of this, Godwin and Wollstonecraft lost many friends. Godwin also faced criticism because he had argued against marriage in his book Political Justice.

They married on March 29, 1797, and moved into two connected houses in Somers Town. This allowed them to keep some independence. They often sent notes to each other using servants.

Their only child, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, was born on August 30, 1797. Godwin had hoped for a son and planned to name the child "William." On September 10, 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft died from problems after childbirth. Their relationship had been happy, though short. Godwin, who had been single until recently, was heartbroken. He now had to care for two young girls: baby Mary and toddler Fanny.

When Mary was three, Godwin left his daughters with James Marshall while he traveled to Ireland. His letters show how much he cared for them. He wanted to make sure his daughters felt safe and secure.

Second Marriage and Publishing

In 1801, Godwin married his neighbor, Mary Jane Clairmont. She brought her two children, Charles and Claire, into the family. A journalist named H.N. Brailsford later wrote that Mary Jane was "a worldly woman" who didn't care much for philosophy. While Fanny eventually got along with Clairmont, Mary's relationship with her stepmother was difficult. Mary wrote that thinking of Mrs. Godwin made her feel "something very analogous to disgust."

In 1805, the Godwins opened a shop and publishing house called the Juvenile Library. This was important in the history of children's literature. Godwin wrote children's books about Bible stories and ancient history. Using the pen name Edward Baldwin, he wrote many books for children. These included a version of Jack and the Beanstalk and a biography of the artist William Mulready, who illustrated books for them.

They also published books by family friends, like the first book by Margaret King, who had been a student of Mary Wollstonecraft. They published famous works that are still in print today, such as Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. The Juvenile Library also translated books from other European authors. The first English version of The Swiss Family Robinson was translated and edited by them. This business was the family's main source of income for many years.

Godwin's Children

Mary Wollstonecraft, painted by John Opie around 1797.

The oldest of Godwin's children was Fanny Imlay (1794–1816), who died young. Charles Gaulis Clairmont became a professor of English literature at Vienna University. News of his sudden death in 1849 saddened Maximilian. Mary Godwin (1797–1851) became famous as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Half a year younger than Mary was Claire Clairmont, Mary Jane's only daughter. Mary Jane showed favoritism towards Claire. The youngest child, and the only one from the second marriage, was William Godwin the Younger (1803–1832). Godwin sent him to various schools. He eventually became a writer but died at age 29. He left a novel manuscript, which Godwin had published.

All of Godwin's children who lived to adulthood became writers or educators. They continued the legacy of their parents. Only two of them had children who survived: Percy Florence Shelley, and the son and daughter of Charles. Godwin was not happy about the birth of Allegra Byron, but Claire's only child died at age five.

Godwin had high hopes for Mary. He gave her a more challenging education than most women of her time. He described her as "very intelligent" and wanted her to be a writer. However, Godwin stopped supporting Mary when she grew up and started a relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Mary's first two novels, Frankenstein and Mathilda, may show her feelings about her childhood. Both books explore the father's role in a child's life and how much control a father has over a child's future. Shelley's last two novels, Lodore and Falkner, look at the father-daughter relationship again. She wrote them when she was raising her only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley, alone and supporting her aging father. In these novels, the daughter gains control over the father by becoming the traditional mother figure he needs.

Later Life and Death

In his later years, Godwin was given a special job as Office Keeper and Yeoman Usher of the Receipt of the Exchequer. This job came with a place to live in New Palace Yard, which was part of the Palace of Westminster (where the Houses of Parliament are). One of his duties was to make sure the chimneys of these large buildings were cleaned. On October 16, 1832, a fire broke out, and most of the Palace burned down.

Godwin expected support and comfort from his daughter Mary in his later years. Two of the five children he had raised had died before him, and two others lived abroad. Mary met his expectations and cared for him until he died in 1836.

Legacy and Memorials

Godwin was buried next to Mary Wollstonecraft in the graveyard of St Pancras Church, where they had married. His second wife was also buried there later. The three share a gravestone. In the 1850s, Mary Shelley's only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley, moved Godwin and Wollstonecraft's remains to his family tomb at St Peter's Church in Bournemouth.

The original writings for many of Godwin's famous works are kept in the Forster Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum's writings for Political Justice and Caleb Williams were put online in 2017. They are now part of the Shelley-Godwin Archive.

His birthplace, Wisbech, has two memorials for him. A street was named Godwin Close in his honor. A wall plaque is on a building next to the Angles Theatre in Alexandra Road.

Key Works and Ideas

Political Justice and Caleb Williams

In 1793, during the French Revolution, Godwin published his major work on political science, Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness. The first part of this book was a critique of the state, similar to ideas by Edmund Burke. Godwin said Burke influenced this part. The rest of the book shares Godwin's positive ideas for how an anarchist society (or one with very little government) could work.

Political Justice was very important at the time. After books by Burke and Paine, Godwin's was the most popular response to the French Revolution. Many people saw Godwin's work as a balanced view between the strong ideas of Burke and Paine. Prime Minister William Pitt famously said there was no need to ban it. He thought it was too expensive for most British people to buy. However, many "corresponding societies" shared the book or read it aloud to people who couldn't read. It eventually sold over 4,000 copies and made Godwin famous.

Godwin also published a popular novel, Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams. This book tells the story of a servant who discovers a dark secret about his rich master, Falkland. The servant is then forced to run away because of what he knows. Caleb Williams is considered one of the first thrillers. Godwin joked that readers finished in one night what took him over a year to write. The book also shows a clear picture of the justice system in England and Wales at that time. Godwin's writing method was also influential: he started with the ending of Caleb being chased and then worked backward to create the plot. Famous writers like Dickens and Poe admired this clever approach.

Political Writings and Reputation

In 1794, some of Godwin's friends, who were called British Jacobins, faced a treason trial. Godwin wrote Cursory Strictures to defend them. He strongly argued that the idea of "constructive treason" allowed a judge to call almost any behavior treason. His arguments helped the Jacobins win and be found not guilty.

However, Godwin's own reputation was later damaged after 1798 by conservative newspapers. This was partly because he wrote a very open biography of his late wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, called Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Godwin was very stubborn in his beliefs. He lived almost secretly for 30 years because of his reputation. However, his book Political Justice greatly influenced writers like Shelley and Kropotkin. It stands alongside works like Milton's Areopagitica and Rousseau's Émile as an important anarchist and libertarian text.

Debate with Malthus

In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population. He wrote it to respond to Godwin's ideas about making society perfect. Malthus argued that populations tend to grow when there is plenty of food. He believed that only problems like food shortages, disease, or war could stop population growth. So, in his view, poverty was always going to be a part of society.

Malthus suggested that in ideal conditions, the population could double every 25 years. But he said that the food supply could not keep doubling at the same speed for even 50 years.

In Political Justice, Godwin had agreed that a better standard of living could cause population pressure. But he saw a clear way to avoid problems: "project a change in the structure of human action, if not of human nature." In his 1798 essay, Malthus disagreed with this idea of changing human nature.

Godwin also believed that new technology would help change human nature. He thought that more technology would mean people spent less time working. This would give them more time to develop their "intellectual and moral faculties." Instead of population growing very fast, Godwin believed that people's moral improvement would grow even faster than the population. Godwin imagined a perfect society where people would live sustainably and share things freely.

In July 1820, Godwin published Of Population to argue against Malthus's ideas. Godwin's main point was against Malthus's idea that population grows very quickly. Godwin believed that for the population to double every twenty-five years, every married couple would need to have at least eight children, even with childhood deaths. Godwin himself was one of thirteen children, but he didn't see most couples in his time having eight children.

Major Works

• Damon and Delia, A Tale (1784)
• Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793)
• Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794)
• The Enquirer (1797; revised 1823)
• Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798)
• St. Leon (1799)
• Life of Geoffrey Chaucer (1804)
• Fleetwood (1805)
• The Pantheon: Or, Ancient History of the Gods of Greece and Rome (1814)
• Lives Of Edward And John Philips, Nephews And Pupils Of Milton (1815)
• Mandeville (1817)
• Life of Lady Jane Grey, and of Lord Guildford Dudley, Her Husband (1824)
• History of the Commonwealth (book) (1824–1828)
• Cloudesley: A Tale (1830)
• Thoughts on Man, his Nature, Productions, and Discoveries, Interspersed with some particulars respecting the author (1831)
• Deloraine (1833)
• Lives of the Necromancers (1834)
• Transfusion (1835)

Family Tree

See also

• Godwin-Shelley family tree