Death of Mary Shelley

Death of Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was an English novelist, who is famous for writing the gothic novel ‘Frankenstein’

Mary was born in Somers Town, London.
She was the second child of the feminist philosopher, educator, and writer Mary Wollenstonecraft, and the first child of the philosopher, novelist, and journalist William Godwin.

Mary’s mother died less than a fortnight after giving birth to her.
She was raised by her father, who provided her with a rich, informal education.

Mary’s earliest years were happy, but in December 1801, her father married Mary Jane Clairmont.
His new wife was described as quick-tempered and quarrelsome, but Mary’s father was devoted to her, and the marriage was a success.

Four year old Mary, on the other hand, came to detest her stepmother.

In 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her father’s political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Mary was a frequent visitor to her mother’s grave, and it was there that she declared her undying love to the already married, Percy.

Mary and Percy left for France, and travelled through Europe.
Upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy’s child.

Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter.

They married in 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelley’s first wife, Harriet.

In late 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, near Geneva, Switzerland.

While sitting around a log fire at Byron’s villa, they amused themselves with telling each other, ghost stories.
It was here Mary Shelley conceived the idea for her novel ‘Frankenstein’

She began writing what she assumed would be a short story.
With Percy Shelley’s encouragement, she expanded this tale into her famous first novel, which was published in 1818.

The Shelley’s left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second, and third children, sadly died.
Mary gave birth to her last, and only surviving child, in 1819.

In 1822, her husband drowned, when his sailing boat sank during a storm.

A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England, and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son, and a career as a professional author.

Mary Shelley’s last years were blighted by illness.
From 1839, she suffered from headaches, and bouts of paralysis in parts of her body.
This was a cause of distress for her, as the paralysis stopped her from reading and writing.

On 1st February 1851, at Chester Square, Mary died at the age of 53, from what her physician suspected was a brain tumour.

Mary was buried with some of Percy’s heart, at St Peters churchyard, Bournemouth.

On the first anniversary of Mary Shelley’s death, her family opened her box-desk.
Inside they found locks of her dead children’s hair, a notebook she had shared with Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a copy of his poem, ‘Adonais’

One page was folded round a silk parcel, containing some of his ashes, and the remaining pieces of his heart.