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Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) orphaned and poor at the age of sixteen, nonetheless developed into an inspiring and original educational reformer of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, a period of great intellectual vitality and cultural change. Enabled through the help of friends and colleagues she founded the Parents’ National Educational Union (PNEU) in 1887 and established the ‘The House of Education’, the Teacher Training College for women in Ambleside in 1892. The clarity and coherence of her applied philosophy of education established the foundation for a simple, stimulating and deeply satisfying enjoyment of learning for children of all ages in countless homes and schools in Britain and the world. In her biography, Essex Cholmondeley draws on her own experiences of Mason’s teaching, as well as her extensive literary output, to unfold her life and work. Whilst she and Elsie Kitching lacked full details of Mason’s family history, a warm and lively personality emerges, able to inspire other people with her own splendid vision.
This book provides a necessary critical reappraisal of one of the most challenging and subversive of nineteenth-century women writers.
George and Emily Eden were a devoted sibling pair. Both unmarried, they were accepted as a mildly unconventional couple by friends in the dynastically conscious governing class. George (1784-1849) entered politics as a Whig to replace his elder brother, who had been groomed for success but drowned in the Thames off Westminster one January night in 1810. Four years later George inherited his father’s peerage as 2nd Baron Auckland. In 1835 he was appointed Governor-General of India, and Emily (1797-1869), although reluctant to leave her close friend, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, went with him. A witty and perceptive writer, who later published a distinctively voiced pair of novels, Emily chronicled the Indian period, as she did her entire adult life, in letters. Allen traces the development of her closeness to George, their interlocking private and public lives and the events that impacted on them, including the Afghan disaster of January 1842 and the mixture of blame and forbearance that George attracted at home. A poignant coda describes Emily’s final twenty years as Victorian invalid, author, and observer of the political scene.
The Little Book of Essex is packed full of entertaining bite-sized pieces of historic and contemporary trivia that come together to make essential reading for visitors and locals alike. It can be described as a compendium of frivolity, a reference book of little-known facts, or a wacky guide to one of England's most colourful counties. Dip in randomly, or read consecutively, there are no rules. Be amused and amazed at the stories and history of Essex's landscape, towns, villages, heritage, buildings and, above all, its people.
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