Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) - Find a Grave Memorial

Author. Her work focused on the struggles of the Irish peasants during the late 18th Century up to the Great Irish Famine in the 1840s. The second of 16 children born to writer and inventor Richard Lovell Edgeworth, she began writing when she was 14 and away at boarding school in London. She and her father had a very close relationship, however, history has been critical of the way Richard Edgeworth insisted he edit his daughter's work. Maria wanted to have stories with morals in them, and the stories she would tell her younger brothers and sisters were made into the book "The Parents Assistant". She also published "Letters for Literary Ladies", which was a plea for women's education reform, and "Castle Rackrent", among others. She never married, and spent her final years with her large family in Edgeworthstown, Ireland. In 1845 the first signs of famine were showing in Ireland. Maria Edgeworth tried to help the peasants by having a large quantity of flour and rice sent over from Boston to give out to the starving. The Edgeworth family also starved during the famine and barely survived. She died at the age of 82 in 1849.

Bio by: Lisa