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landofnowhereThank you all for your feedback on my review of Charles Auchester! In that post, I only gave brief biographical info on the author, Elizabeth Sara Sheppard, with the plan to do a deeper dive into the historical record on her later. Well, I've now done a deeper dive, and have discovered that much of what's been written about Sheppard's life, including in the introduction to the Gutenberg edition of Charles Auchester, is inaccurate or misleading.
The TL:DR is: Sheppard was born in 1826, not 1830. Her father did not die until after the publication of Charles Auchester, and she was teaching in her mother's school well before his death. While it's been claimed that she started Charles Auchester when she was 16, it seems pretty clear that she didn't write the later parts until 1847 at the earliest. Given this, it's unclear to what extent my description of the book as "teenage fanfic" is accurate -- but non-teenagers can write highly self-indulgent fic too, it's all good!
The main primary source I've found on Sheppard is a letter to the Atlantic Monthlyby an anonymous friend in October 1862, about half a year after Sheppard's death. It's eulogistic and doesn't go into too much detail, but the important bits are: Sheppard was a gifted kid, she taught at her mother's school despite poor health. She wrote Charles Auchester while she was a teacher, in her spare time, "without one correction, sheet after sheet, flung from her hand in the ardor of composition". The letter doesn't go into much detail about her later life. I am extremely curious as to the identity of the anonymous friend -- probably someone involved with Sheppard's mother's school (census records show quite a few teachers/visitors/students living there) -- but don't have much to go on.
There are a few other primary sources out there: thanks to a pointer from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography I've found Sheppard's baptism record, and census records from 1841 and 1851. The published collection of Disraeli's letters includes one he wrote to her in 1853 praising Charles Auchester, and footnotes include quotes from her correspondence with Disraeli and his wife Mary Anne. Unfortunately there's not too much detail there, the main interesting things I got were Sheppard deliberately chose not to publish under a female name, and that she was staying in Brighton for her health in fall 1853.
Probably the most reliable secondary source on Sheppard is The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article on her, by Elizabeth Lee and revised by Megan A. Stephan. Until 2019, they had Sheppard's birth year listed as 1830, like most other sources, but then they went and found baptism and census records indicating she was born in 1826, and also found Sheppard's parents' names which I hadn't been able to find elsewhere, so go them!
There are still a few things that I have questions about, though.
For instance, how old was Elizabeth Sheppard when she wrote Charles Auchester? The claim has been often repeated that she wrote it, or at least started it, when she was 16. An early source for this is another piece in the Atlantic, unsigned but reportedly by Harriet Prescott Spofford, an American and another forgotten 19th century bestselling author. It's an appealing story, not just because it excuses the flaws and overwrought qualities of Charles Auchester, but because it goes with the "child prodigy" mythos about Mendelssohn, who did actually create some great art at a young age -- his A Midsummer Night's Dream overture may be the greatest teenage fanwork of all time (though I'm open to other nominations). But Mendelssohn had many advantages Sheppard did not, such as having excellent mentors and not having to spend most of the day teaching school, and it's easier to be a teenage prodigy in music than in literature.
On the other hand -- the later parts of Charles Auchester include allusions to the 1847 deaths of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, so must have been written after then. And the Ph.D. thesis of Victoria Roskams suggests that Julius Benedict's 1850 memoir of Felix Mendelssohn may have been an influence on Charles Auchester, which would point to it being written even closer to its publication date of 1853. (Roskams' thesis has a bunch of interesting stuff, although I disagree with some of the specific points she makes about Charles Auchester, which I would not describe as closely following Mendelssohn's biography. But I hope she takes a closer look at Charles Auchester, since she seems interested in the intersections of queer and musical identities, and I think there's unexplored territory here.)
The way most people have reconciled this timeline -- which I believed when I wrote my last post -- was that Sheppard was born in 1830, started writing Charles Auchester in 1846 when she was 16, and finished it sometime between 1848 and 1853. The problem with this, however, as I've already noted, is that Sheppard was actually born in 1826, so for her to have started writing Charles Auchester when she was 16 would mean that she wrote the story over the course of at least 5 years, which is possible. However it doesn't really fit with her friend's description in The Atlantic that the book was written "without one correction,—sheet after sheet, flung from her hand in the ardor of composition, being picked up and read by the friend who was in all her literary secrets" -- the friend also says nothing about how old Sheppard was at the time.
So yeah, ultimately we just have insufficient information here: there are various scenarios, and certainly Sheppard could have started Charles Auchester when she was 16 (and possibly put it aside for a while), but she didn't finish it until she was at least 21, and possibly as old as 27.
I also I wish I knew more about Elizabeth Sheppard's life after her father died in 1854 and her mother in 1855 -- at that point, she was already a published author, supporting herself with her writing, and possibly still teaching, which would be Spofford's Atlantic piece described her as "the orphaned daughter of an English clergyman, and self-dependent", though the "orphaned" phrasing gives the impression that Sheppard was in her late 20s when her parents died. But we don't know where she lived, or with whom, or if she was still teaching -- so far I haven't found an 1861 census record for her, though she reportedly was unmarried and living in Brixton when she in 1862.
Finally, I'll note that when I heard that Sheppard was a clergyman's daughter, my first thought was of her being like the Bronte sisters, living in a remote country village. But Sheppard lived most of her life in Blackheath, now part of London, which at the time was a developing suburb, boosted by getting rail service in 1849.
This is all for now, but as I enjoy historical detective-work and falling down rabbit holes, you'll probably hear more later. In fact I've just been distracted by discovering that Sheppard's father John was a subscriber (basically a Kickstarter backer) to a book of hymn arrangements by organist Theophania Cecil -- yay for historical woman composer representation!
The TL:DR is: Sheppard was born in 1826, not 1830. Her father did not die until after the publication of Charles Auchester, and she was teaching in her mother's school well before his death. While it's been claimed that she started Charles Auchester when she was 16, it seems pretty clear that she didn't write the later parts until 1847 at the earliest. Given this, it's unclear to what extent my description of the book as "teenage fanfic" is accurate -- but non-teenagers can write highly self-indulgent fic too, it's all good!
The main primary source I've found on Sheppard is a letter to the Atlantic Monthlyby an anonymous friend in October 1862, about half a year after Sheppard's death. It's eulogistic and doesn't go into too much detail, but the important bits are: Sheppard was a gifted kid, she taught at her mother's school despite poor health. She wrote Charles Auchester while she was a teacher, in her spare time, "without one correction, sheet after sheet, flung from her hand in the ardor of composition". The letter doesn't go into much detail about her later life. I am extremely curious as to the identity of the anonymous friend -- probably someone involved with Sheppard's mother's school (census records show quite a few teachers/visitors/students living there) -- but don't have much to go on.
There are a few other primary sources out there: thanks to a pointer from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography I've found Sheppard's baptism record, and census records from 1841 and 1851. The published collection of Disraeli's letters includes one he wrote to her in 1853 praising Charles Auchester, and footnotes include quotes from her correspondence with Disraeli and his wife Mary Anne. Unfortunately there's not too much detail there, the main interesting things I got were Sheppard deliberately chose not to publish under a female name, and that she was staying in Brighton for her health in fall 1853.
Probably the most reliable secondary source on Sheppard is The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article on her, by Elizabeth Lee and revised by Megan A. Stephan. Until 2019, they had Sheppard's birth year listed as 1830, like most other sources, but then they went and found baptism and census records indicating she was born in 1826, and also found Sheppard's parents' names which I hadn't been able to find elsewhere, so go them!
Sheppard, Elizabeth Sara (bap. 1826, d. 1862), novelist, was born in Blackheath, Kent, and baptized at St Mary, Lewisham, on 1 February 1826, the second daughter of John Sheppard (1786-1854), a Church of England clergyman, and his wife Marianne née Mann (1802-1855). John Sheppard, who was of Jewish descent on his mother's side, had studied at St John’s College, Oxford, and was chaplain of Dartmouth Row chapel, Blackheath from 1813 until his death. Marianne mother ran a school in Lewisham, which helped to support the family after John Sheppard died without leaving provision for them. Elizabeth Sheppard was an accomplished linguist in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and German, as well as a capable musician, and taught music in her mother's school.
At the age of sixteen Sheppard began her first novel, Charles Auchester. She sent the manuscript to Benjamin Disraeli, who forwarded it to his publisher and wrote to Sheppard: 'No greater book will ever be written upon music, and it will one day be recognised as the imaginative classic of that divine art' (Atlantic Monthly, Oct 1862, 499). It was published anonymously in 1853 in three volumes, with a dedication to the author of Contarini Fleming. Like Disraeli, Sheppard used real people as characters in her novels. In Charles Auchester Seraphael is supposed to be a portrait of Felix Mendelssohn. Another novel, Counterparts, or, The Cross of Love, published in three volumes in 1854, was dedicated to Mrs Disraeli. A second edition appeared in 1866.
Sheppard published three more novels, some poetry, and two collections of children's stories. She is said to have sometimes used the pseudonym E. Berger, a French rendering of her own surname. Critical response to her work was mixed; The Athenaeum described Charles Auchester as 'displaying … a passion for music rather than a knowledge of it', though acknowledging the 'spirit and eloquence' of her first two novels (Allibone, Dict., 2075). Sheppard died, unmarried, at her home, Park Cottages, Loughborough Park, Brixton, London, on 13 March 1862, and was buried in West Norwood cemetery.
There are still a few things that I have questions about, though.
For instance, how old was Elizabeth Sheppard when she wrote Charles Auchester? The claim has been often repeated that she wrote it, or at least started it, when she was 16. An early source for this is another piece in the Atlantic, unsigned but reportedly by Harriet Prescott Spofford, an American and another forgotten 19th century bestselling author. It's an appealing story, not just because it excuses the flaws and overwrought qualities of Charles Auchester, but because it goes with the "child prodigy" mythos about Mendelssohn, who did actually create some great art at a young age -- his A Midsummer Night's Dream overture may be the greatest teenage fanwork of all time (though I'm open to other nominations). But Mendelssohn had many advantages Sheppard did not, such as having excellent mentors and not having to spend most of the day teaching school, and it's easier to be a teenage prodigy in music than in literature.
On the other hand -- the later parts of Charles Auchester include allusions to the 1847 deaths of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, so must have been written after then. And the Ph.D. thesis of Victoria Roskams suggests that Julius Benedict's 1850 memoir of Felix Mendelssohn may have been an influence on Charles Auchester, which would point to it being written even closer to its publication date of 1853. (Roskams' thesis has a bunch of interesting stuff, although I disagree with some of the specific points she makes about Charles Auchester, which I would not describe as closely following Mendelssohn's biography. But I hope she takes a closer look at Charles Auchester, since she seems interested in the intersections of queer and musical identities, and I think there's unexplored territory here.)
The way most people have reconciled this timeline -- which I believed when I wrote my last post -- was that Sheppard was born in 1830, started writing Charles Auchester in 1846 when she was 16, and finished it sometime between 1848 and 1853. The problem with this, however, as I've already noted, is that Sheppard was actually born in 1826, so for her to have started writing Charles Auchester when she was 16 would mean that she wrote the story over the course of at least 5 years, which is possible. However it doesn't really fit with her friend's description in The Atlantic that the book was written "without one correction,—sheet after sheet, flung from her hand in the ardor of composition, being picked up and read by the friend who was in all her literary secrets" -- the friend also says nothing about how old Sheppard was at the time.
So yeah, ultimately we just have insufficient information here: there are various scenarios, and certainly Sheppard could have started Charles Auchester when she was 16 (and possibly put it aside for a while), but she didn't finish it until she was at least 21, and possibly as old as 27.
I also I wish I knew more about Elizabeth Sheppard's life after her father died in 1854 and her mother in 1855 -- at that point, she was already a published author, supporting herself with her writing, and possibly still teaching, which would be Spofford's Atlantic piece described her as "the orphaned daughter of an English clergyman, and self-dependent", though the "orphaned" phrasing gives the impression that Sheppard was in her late 20s when her parents died. But we don't know where she lived, or with whom, or if she was still teaching -- so far I haven't found an 1861 census record for her, though she reportedly was unmarried and living in Brixton when she in 1862.
Finally, I'll note that when I heard that Sheppard was a clergyman's daughter, my first thought was of her being like the Bronte sisters, living in a remote country village. But Sheppard lived most of her life in Blackheath, now part of London, which at the time was a developing suburb, boosted by getting rail service in 1849.
This is all for now, but as I enjoy historical detective-work and falling down rabbit holes, you'll probably hear more later. In fact I've just been distracted by discovering that Sheppard's father John was a subscriber (basically a Kickstarter backer) to a book of hymn arrangements by organist Theophania Cecil -- yay for historical woman composer representation!