UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The Corresponence of James McNeil Whistler

return to surnames beginning with ''

Harriet Martineau, 1802-1876

Nationality: English
Date of Birth: 1802.06.12
Place of Birth: Norwich
Date of Death: 1876.06.27
Place of Death: The Knoll

Identity:

Harriet Martineau was a novelist and rationalist.

Life:

An English writer and rationalist, friend of Wordsworth and member of the Darwin-Wedgwood circle, Martineau was the prototype Victorian blue-stocking, and an advocate of mesmerism and Comte's positivism. She was reviled by Ruskin in Fors Clavigera. She was a friend of Wordsworth.

Bibliography:

Nelson's Encyclopedia, n.d., [1911]; Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004.