Strickland, AGNES

Strickland, AGNES, historian, was born at Reydon Hall near Southwold, Suffolk, August 19, 1806. She had begun verse-making ere her twelfth year, and had issued several volumes of poetry when the idea occurred to her of writing historical biographies of the queens of England. The suggestion came from some interesting biographies of female sovereigns written for a periodical by her sister Elizabeth (1794-1875). A start was made, and the first two volumes were published by Colburn and had a rapid sale; a misunderstanding between author and publisher was healed by Colburn's offer of £150 per volume until the work was completed (12 vols. 1840-48; new ed. 6 vols. 1864-65; abridged ed. 1867). In the production of this work she was assisted by her sister Elizabeth, though only the name of Agnes appears on the title-page. The work was dedicated to Queen Victoria, and as each volume appeared its picturesque style and anecdotal character made it a general favourite, though the Quarterly Review complained of a poverty of style and an equally pervading feebleness of thought, while the Times said it possessed 'the fascination of a romance united to the integrity of a history.' Miss Strickland, whose volumes give vivid pictures of the court and domestic life of the various periods, had strong opinions as to ecclesiastical government and royal prerogative, and was a partisan of the Stuarts. A civil list pension was conferred upon her in 1870. She died 8th July 1874. Agnes Strickland also wrote several novels and juvenile tales. Other works, written jointly with her sister Elizabeth, were Lives of the Queens of Scotland (1850-59), Lives of the Seven Bishops (1866), Lives of the Tudor Princesses (1868). The remaining works from the pen of Agnes were Victoria from Birth to Bridal (1840); Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, in whose innocence she believed (1842-43; new ed. 1864); Bachelor Kings of England (1861); Lives of the Last Four Stuart Princesses (1872). Her Life of Mary Queen of Scots (2 vols. 1873) was a redaction from the volumes in the Queens of Scotland. See Life, by her sister Jane (1887).