Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Biography

Burnett was born in Manchester, England, in 1849. In 1865 her family moved to New Market, Tennessee, near Knoxville. In 1868 she began to publish her first stories in magazines such as Scribner's, and in 1877 she published her first novel, Theo.

In 1873 Frances married Swan Burnett, a physician friend from New Market. The couple had two children, sons, and spent some time living in New York and Paris before settling in Washington D.C., where Burnett set up his medical practice.

Frances Burnett achieved her earliest success in 1886 with Little Lord Fauntleroy, a novel about American children transplanted to England. With the royalties from this novel, she separated from her husband and began to travel in Europe with her two sons. While in England, she adapted Fauntleroy for the stage, a practice that she would apply to many of her later novels.

While in Europe, Burnett's oldest son, Lionel, died of consumption, prompting her to devote herself to children's novels for a time. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898 and married Stephen Townesend in 1900. This marriage was also a failure and was effectively ended in 1902 when the two separated.

Burnett divided the rest of her time between her homes in Long Island and Europe until 1914, when she took up permanent residence in the United States. She died in the US in 1924. (Tennessee Authors)

Bibliography

Drama

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Short Fiction

Sources and Links

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