Janet Catherine North (known as Catherine) was born at Hastings on 26 August 1837. She was the daughter of Frederick North and his second wife Mrs. Janet Shuttleworth, née Marjoribanks. Catherine's father, who was the Liberal MP for Hastings, owned Rougham Hall in Norfolk. Catherine's mother died in 1855 when she was 18.
In 1863 Catherine was visiting Switzerland, where she met John Addington Symonds. Born in Clifton, Bristol in 1840, John was the only son of surgeon John Addington Symonds Sr. and his wife Harriet Sykes. He had been a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford in 1862/3, but then his health collapsed following an affair with a young male chorister. His health problems were diagnosed as resulting from sexual repression, and he was advised to attempt the "cure" of marriage. They married on 10 November 1864 at St Clement's Church in Hastings. They had four daughters: Janet Harriet, Charlotte Mary, Margaret, and Katherine Symonds.
In 1869 Catherine and John Symonds agreed to a platonic marriage, and that he would continue have male companions. The couple had many literary friends, and in that year Edward Lear wrote The Owl and the Pussy Cat for their four-year-old daughter Janet. Notwithstanding their now platonic marriage, Catherine gave birth to their youngest daughter Katharine in 1875.
John became very ill with bronchitis and the family went abroad in 1878, settling permanently in Davos in Switzerland in 1880. Catherine and other English ladies set up a private home there for 14 invalids suffering from lung trouble. In 1884 Henry James used some details of the relationship between Catherine and her husband as the starting-point for the short story The Author of Beltraffio.
In April 1893, while John was in Rome on a lecture tour he caught influenza. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome on 22 April. Catherine returned to England, where three of her daughters married.
Obituary from The Times on 8 September 1913:
MRS. J. A. SYMONDS.
The death took place on Saturday, at 11, Bardwell Road, Oxford, at the age of 76. Janet Catherine, widow of John Addington Symonds, and daughter of the late Frederick North, M.P.
Mrs. Symonds met her husband at a time when Symonds, worn out in mind and body by his academic achievements at Oxford, had developed the consumptive tendencies inherent in his mother's family. He sought refuge in Switzerland and spent the winter in Italy. On August 16, 1864, they exchanged betrothal rings on the summit of Piz Languard, and they were married on November 10 at St. Clement's Church, Hastings, going to live in Albion-street, and afterwards in Norfolk Square, London. Symonds's pulmonary troubles, however, became worse, and even before 1878, from which time he spent the greater part of his life at Davos, he made several tours abroad. Mrs. Symonds was the sister of Marianne North, who painted the remarkable series of pictures of flora which are housed in Kew Gardens. In the execution of this work Miss North visited many foreign countries between 1871 and 1879, when she offered to present the drawings to Kew and to build a gallery at her own expense. At the suggestion of Charles Darwin she made further voyages to Australasia, and finally returned to England in 1886, when she rearranged the Kew Gallery. Miss North wrote her autobiography under the title "Recollections of a Happy Life," and this work, edited by Mrs. Symonds, appeared in 1892.
Source of above bio and obituary from St. Sepulchres Cemetery
In 1863 Catherine was visiting Switzerland, where she met John Addington Symonds. Born in Clifton, Bristol in 1840, John was the only son of surgeon John Addington Symonds Sr. and his wife Harriet Sykes. He had been a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford in 1862/3, but then his health collapsed following an affair with a young male chorister. His health problems were diagnosed as resulting from sexual repression, and he was advised to attempt the "cure" of marriage. They married on 10 November 1864 at St Clement's Church in Hastings. They had four daughters: Janet Harriet, Charlotte Mary, Margaret, and Katherine Symonds.
In 1869 Catherine and John Symonds agreed to a platonic marriage, and that he would continue have male companions. The couple had many literary friends, and in that year Edward Lear wrote The Owl and the Pussy Cat for their four-year-old daughter Janet. Notwithstanding their now platonic marriage, Catherine gave birth to their youngest daughter Katharine in 1875.
John became very ill with bronchitis and the family went abroad in 1878, settling permanently in Davos in Switzerland in 1880. Catherine and other English ladies set up a private home there for 14 invalids suffering from lung trouble. In 1884 Henry James used some details of the relationship between Catherine and her husband as the starting-point for the short story The Author of Beltraffio.
In April 1893, while John was in Rome on a lecture tour he caught influenza. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome on 22 April. Catherine returned to England, where three of her daughters married.
Obituary from The Times on 8 September 1913:
MRS. J. A. SYMONDS.
The death took place on Saturday, at 11, Bardwell Road, Oxford, at the age of 76. Janet Catherine, widow of John Addington Symonds, and daughter of the late Frederick North, M.P.
Mrs. Symonds met her husband at a time when Symonds, worn out in mind and body by his academic achievements at Oxford, had developed the consumptive tendencies inherent in his mother's family. He sought refuge in Switzerland and spent the winter in Italy. On August 16, 1864, they exchanged betrothal rings on the summit of Piz Languard, and they were married on November 10 at St. Clement's Church, Hastings, going to live in Albion-street, and afterwards in Norfolk Square, London. Symonds's pulmonary troubles, however, became worse, and even before 1878, from which time he spent the greater part of his life at Davos, he made several tours abroad. Mrs. Symonds was the sister of Marianne North, who painted the remarkable series of pictures of flora which are housed in Kew Gardens. In the execution of this work Miss North visited many foreign countries between 1871 and 1879, when she offered to present the drawings to Kew and to build a gallery at her own expense. At the suggestion of Charles Darwin she made further voyages to Australasia, and finally returned to England in 1886, when she rearranged the Kew Gallery. Miss North wrote her autobiography under the title "Recollections of a Happy Life," and this work, edited by Mrs. Symonds, appeared in 1892.
Source of above bio and obituary from St. Sepulchres Cemetery
Janet Catherine North (known as Catherine) was born at Hastings on 26 August 1837. She was the daughter of Frederick North and his second wife Mrs. Janet Shuttleworth, née Marjoribanks. Catherine's father, who was the Liberal MP for Hastings, owned Rougham Hall in Norfolk. Catherine's mother died in 1855 when she was 18.
In 1863 Catherine was visiting Switzerland, where she met John Addington Symonds. Born in Clifton, Bristol in 1840, John was the only son of surgeon John Addington Symonds Sr. and his wife Harriet Sykes. He had been a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford in 1862/3, but then his health collapsed following an affair with a young male chorister. His health problems were diagnosed as resulting from sexual repression, and he was advised to attempt the "cure" of marriage. They married on 10 November 1864 at St Clement's Church in Hastings. They had four daughters: Janet Harriet, Charlotte Mary, Margaret, and Katherine Symonds.
In 1869 Catherine and John Symonds agreed to a platonic marriage, and that he would continue have male companions. The couple had many literary friends, and in that year Edward Lear wrote The Owl and the Pussy Cat for their four-year-old daughter Janet. Notwithstanding their now platonic marriage, Catherine gave birth to their youngest daughter Katharine in 1875.
John became very ill with bronchitis and the family went abroad in 1878, settling permanently in Davos in Switzerland in 1880. Catherine and other English ladies set up a private home there for 14 invalids suffering from lung trouble. In 1884 Henry James used some details of the relationship between Catherine and her husband as the starting-point for the short story The Author of Beltraffio.
In April 1893, while John was in Rome on a lecture tour he caught influenza. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome on 22 April. Catherine returned to England, where three of her daughters married.
Obituary from The Times on 8 September 1913:
MRS. J. A. SYMONDS.
The death took place on Saturday, at 11, Bardwell Road, Oxford, at the age of 76. Janet Catherine, widow of John Addington Symonds, and daughter of the late Frederick North, M.P.
Mrs. Symonds met her husband at a time when Symonds, worn out in mind and body by his academic achievements at Oxford, had developed the consumptive tendencies inherent in his mother's family. He sought refuge in Switzerland and spent the winter in Italy. On August 16, 1864, they exchanged betrothal rings on the summit of Piz Languard, and they were married on November 10 at St. Clement's Church, Hastings, going to live in Albion-street, and afterwards in Norfolk Square, London. Symonds's pulmonary troubles, however, became worse, and even before 1878, from which time he spent the greater part of his life at Davos, he made several tours abroad. Mrs. Symonds was the sister of Marianne North, who painted the remarkable series of pictures of flora which are housed in Kew Gardens. In the execution of this work Miss North visited many foreign countries between 1871 and 1879, when she offered to present the drawings to Kew and to build a gallery at her own expense. At the suggestion of Charles Darwin she made further voyages to Australasia, and finally returned to England in 1886, when she rearranged the Kew Gallery. Miss North wrote her autobiography under the title "Recollections of a Happy Life," and this work, edited by Mrs. Symonds, appeared in 1892.
Source of above bio and obituary from St. Sepulchres Cemetery
In 1863 Catherine was visiting Switzerland, where she met John Addington Symonds. Born in Clifton, Bristol in 1840, John was the only son of surgeon John Addington Symonds Sr. and his wife Harriet Sykes. He had been a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford in 1862/3, but then his health collapsed following an affair with a young male chorister. His health problems were diagnosed as resulting from sexual repression, and he was advised to attempt the "cure" of marriage. They married on 10 November 1864 at St Clement's Church in Hastings. They had four daughters: Janet Harriet, Charlotte Mary, Margaret, and Katherine Symonds.
In 1869 Catherine and John Symonds agreed to a platonic marriage, and that he would continue have male companions. The couple had many literary friends, and in that year Edward Lear wrote The Owl and the Pussy Cat for their four-year-old daughter Janet. Notwithstanding their now platonic marriage, Catherine gave birth to their youngest daughter Katharine in 1875.
John became very ill with bronchitis and the family went abroad in 1878, settling permanently in Davos in Switzerland in 1880. Catherine and other English ladies set up a private home there for 14 invalids suffering from lung trouble. In 1884 Henry James used some details of the relationship between Catherine and her husband as the starting-point for the short story The Author of Beltraffio.
In April 1893, while John was in Rome on a lecture tour he caught influenza. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome on 22 April. Catherine returned to England, where three of her daughters married.
Obituary from The Times on 8 September 1913:
MRS. J. A. SYMONDS.
The death took place on Saturday, at 11, Bardwell Road, Oxford, at the age of 76. Janet Catherine, widow of John Addington Symonds, and daughter of the late Frederick North, M.P.
Mrs. Symonds met her husband at a time when Symonds, worn out in mind and body by his academic achievements at Oxford, had developed the consumptive tendencies inherent in his mother's family. He sought refuge in Switzerland and spent the winter in Italy. On August 16, 1864, they exchanged betrothal rings on the summit of Piz Languard, and they were married on November 10 at St. Clement's Church, Hastings, going to live in Albion-street, and afterwards in Norfolk Square, London. Symonds's pulmonary troubles, however, became worse, and even before 1878, from which time he spent the greater part of his life at Davos, he made several tours abroad. Mrs. Symonds was the sister of Marianne North, who painted the remarkable series of pictures of flora which are housed in Kew Gardens. In the execution of this work Miss North visited many foreign countries between 1871 and 1879, when she offered to present the drawings to Kew and to build a gallery at her own expense. At the suggestion of Charles Darwin she made further voyages to Australasia, and finally returned to England in 1886, when she rearranged the Kew Gallery. Miss North wrote her autobiography under the title "Recollections of a Happy Life," and this work, edited by Mrs. Symonds, appeared in 1892.
Source of above bio and obituary from St. Sepulchres Cemetery
Inscription
JANET CATHERINE SYMONDS
Daughter of FREDERICK NORTH
of ROUGHAM HALL, NORFOLK
And Wife of
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS
Born Augt 26, 1837 Died Sep 6, 1913
Back of marker:
AD 1913
NOBLE LOVING TRUE
Gravesite Details
Inscription courtesy of St. Sepulchre's Cemetery
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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