Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1835 - 1915 - Pascal Theatre Company

Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1835 – 1915

(married name Maxwell)

Pseudonyms Mary Seyton on the stage and M.E. Braddon as a writer.

Writer, actress.

4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915

Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (née Braddon) by William Powell Frith 1865
National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Education

Privately educated.

Some Key Achievements and Interests

1852-1859 Pursued an acting career under the name ‘Mary Seyton’, mainly touring the provinces, to provide an income for herself and her mother.

1857 Was leading lady at the Surrey Theatre until she joined Chart’s company at the Theatre Royal, Brighton.

1859 Commissioned by John Gilby to write a long poem about the exploits of Garibaldi, liberator of Italy. This financial support helped her to end her acting career and dedicate her time to writing.

1860 The Loves of Arcadia, Braddon’s first licensed play, was performed at the Strand Theatre in London receiving good reviews.

By 1861 Worked as an editorial assistant for John Maxwell, publisher of periodicals, moving with her mother, into his house at 26 Mecklenburgh Square, Bloomsbury. Braddon took the role of wife (his wife not living in the family home) and cared for his children.

1861 Lady Audley’s Secret first published in serial form in Maxwell’s new magazine Robin Goodfellow, being transferred to Sixpenny Magazine. Here it reached a wide audience and the attention of different publishers who competed for copies of the novel. The novel became an immediate success and the story was adapted for the London stage.

1862 Aurora Floyd first published in serial form and later adapted for the London stage.

With the success of Lady Audley’s Secret and Aurora Floyd, Braddon became the best-selling sensation novelist of the 1860s. Her novels revealed the hypocrisy of Victorian morality and the unequal position of women.

Braddon regularly contributed to Punch and The World and many Christmas annuals.

Her success as a writer gave her and her family financial security.

1866-1876 Edited Belgravia magazine, a relatively successful publication, peaking at a circulation of 18,000 in 1868.

1878 Founded the Christmas annual publication The Mistletoe Bough.

1899 The Daily Telegraph named Lady Audley’s Secret as one of the world’s best 100 novels.

Issues

Her parents’ marriage broke down, her father being both unfaithful and financially irresponsible, so Braddon was raised solely by her mother. This separation threw a shadow over the family’s respectability in Victorian society.

The family had very limited financial means which led to Braddon, aged 17, taking work as an actor touring with her mother as chaperone.

She lived with Maxwell out of wedlock and while he was still married and bore him six children before their eventual marriage.

Living with Maxwell put an end to her relationship with Gilby who had supported her in the early stages of her writing career.

Braddon wrote prolifically while raising her own children and her step-children.

1866 Her third child died, this throwing her into a depression.

1868 The death of her sister and mother while she was pregnant severely affected her mental health.

Connection to Bloomsbury

1860s Lived at 26 Mecklenburgh Square.

Worked in the British Museum Reading Room.

Female Networks include

Anna Maria Hall, Clara & Adelaide Biddle, Elizabeth Robins, Lucy Clifford, Mary Augusta Ward, Mary Cholmondeley, Mary Gleed Tuttiett (Maxwell Grey), Rhoda Broughton, Violet Hunt.

Works Include

Over 80 novels, short stories, plays and articles.

1860 The Trail of the Serpent (initially published as Three Times Dead)

1861 Garibaldi and Other Poems

1862 Lady Audley’s Secret

1862 – 1863 John Marchmont’s Legacy

1863 Aurora Floyd

1863 Eleanor’s Victory

1864 Henry Dunbar: The Story of an Outcast

1864 The Doctor’s Wife

1866 The Lady’s Mile

1876 Joshua Haggard’s Daughter