{{Short description|English biographer, novelist and poet}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} '''Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger''' (baptised on 15 June 1775 at West Camel, Somerset, died on 9 January 1827 in London) was an English biographer, novelist and poet.<ref>ODNB entry: [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2093 Retrieved 10 March 2011. Subscription required.]</ref> Some of her poetry had a strong social message.
thumb|Stipple engraving of Elizabeth Benger
==Early life and education== Elizabeth was the daughter of John Benger or Benjey and his wife Elizabeth (Chambers) Benger.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Benger, Elizabeth Ogilvy |url=https://jacksonbibliography.library.utoronto.ca/author/details/benger-elizabeth-ogilvy/1084 |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=jacksonbibliography.library.utoronto.ca}}</ref> Her father was a tradesman in Wells. He became a Royal Navy purser in 1782 and the family lived mainly in Chatham, Kent until 1797.<ref>[http://www.mocavo.com/Dictionary-of-National-Biography-Volume-4/351511/234 Dictionary of National Biography Volume 4]mocavo.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083345/http://www.mocavo.com/Dictionary-of-National-Biography-Volume-4/351511/234 |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> According to a fellow writer, Lucy Aikin, Elizabeth early showed "an ardour for knowledge, a passion for literature". She was allowed at the age of twelve to attend a local boys' school to learn Latin,<ref>L. Aikin: "Memoir of Miss Benger" In:''Memoirs, Miscellanies, and Letters...'' (London: Longman, 1864). Quoted in ODNB entry.</ref> and the next year had a poem published, ''The Female Geniad''.<ref>Reprinted as ''The Female Geniad, a poem written at the age of thirteen'' (London: T. Hookham etc., 1791).</ref> This featured "female theologians, scholars, and preachers such as Cassandra del Fides, Isabella of Barcelona, and Issona of Verona, alongside Cornelia, as historic women to inspire 'the British fair' of her day."<ref>Emma Major: Madam Britannia. Women, Church, & Nation 1712–1812. (Oxford: OUP, 2012), p. 313. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i_yyxKRCP3MC&dq=geniad+define&pg=PA313 Retrieved 18 January 2013.]</ref> It was preceded by a customarily apologetic preface that "deploys innocence with great sophistication," as recent commentators put it. "The voice... is the voice of cultural authority."<ref>''Opening the Nursery Door. Reading, Writing and Childhood 1600–1900''. ed. Mary Hilton etc. (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 1997) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JjIEahAnnMYC&dq=geniad+define&pg=PT155 Retrieved 18 January 2013.]</ref>
==Career== Impoverished after the death of her father in 1796, the family moved to Devizes, Wiltshire, and then to London in 1802, where Benger made the acquaintance of several literary figures. These included the novelists Jane and Anna Maria Porter, and the poet Caroline Champion de Crespigny, a former mistress of Lord Byron. She later became known to John Aikin and his daughter Lucy, the poet and children's writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Sarah Wesley, the writer daughter of the prominent Methodist Charles Wesley, and the novelist and actress Elizabeth Inchbald. She made a poorer impression on Charles and Mary Lamb,<ref>''Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb'', ed. E. W. Marrs, Vol 1 (Ithaca, NY/London: Cornell UP, 1975), p. 198.</ref> and on the diarist Henry Crabb Robinson, who described her as "ludicrously fidgety" at a party where Wordsworth was present.<ref>ODNB entry.</ref>
Elizabeth wanted to become a playwright, but she had no success and soon turned to poetry with a social message. "The Abolition of the Slave Trade" appeared in 1809, with verse by James Montgomery and James Grahame on the same subject.<ref>''Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade'' (London: T. Bensley, 1809). Frontispiece: [http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/content/catalogues/eList_7.pdf Retrieved 10 March 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090543/http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/content/catalogues/eList_7.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}.</ref> Then came two novels, the second of which was also translated into French.<ref>''Marian'' (1812) and ''The Heart and the Fancy, or Valsinore'' (London: Longman & Co., 1813).</ref>
She later turned to non-fiction, translating from German and introducing a volume of letters by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock,<ref>''Klopstock and his friends. A series of familiar letters, written between the years 1750 and 1803'' (London, 1814).</ref> and to writing and compiling competent biographical materials on Elizabeth Hamilton, John Tobin, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Anne Boleyn and Mary, Queen of Scots between 1818 and 1825. After that, her health began to fail. She was collecting materials for a life of Henry IV of France when she died on 9 January 1827.<ref>''Memoirs of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton. With a selection from her correspondence, and other unpublished writings'' (London: Longman, 1818); ''Memoirs of John Tobin ... With a selection from his unpublished writings'' (London: Longman, 1820); ''Memoirs of the Life of Anne Boleyn, Queen of Henry VIII'' (London: Longman, 1821); ''Memoirs of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots'' (London: Longman, 1823); ''Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of King James the First. Including sketches of the state of society in Holland and Germany, in the 17th century'' (London: Longman, 1825); ODNB entry and British Library catalogue.</ref>
==Works== * ''The Female Geniad; a Poem. Inscribed to Mrs. Crespigny. By Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger, of Portsmouth; written at the age of thirteen.'' (1791) * ''Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; written by James Montgomery, James Grahame, and E. Benger. Embellished with engravings from pictures painted by R. Smirke, Esq. R.A.'' (1809) * ''The West-Indies, by James Montgomery and other poems, on the abolition of the slave-trade, by James Grahame, and E. Benger.'' (1810) * ''Marian. A Novel. In Three Volumes.'' (1812) * ''The Heart and the Fancy; or, Valsinore. A Tale. By Miss Benger. In Two Volumes.'' (1813) * ''Klopstock and His Friends: A Series of Familiar Letters, written between the years 1750 and 1803. Translated from the German, with a Biographical Introduction. bu Miss Benger.'' (1814) * ''Memoirs of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton. With a selection from her correspondence, and other unpublished writings.'' (1818) * ''Memoirs of Mr. John Tobin, Author of The Honey-Moon. With a Selection from his unpublished writings. By Miss Benger, Author of Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton.'' (1820) * ''Memoirs of the Life of Anne Boleyn, Queen of Henry VIII. By Miss Benger. Author of Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton, John Tobin, &c. In Two Volumes.'' (1821) * ''Memoirs of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots. By Miss Benger, Author of "Memoirs of Anne Boleyn," "Mrs. Hamilton," &c. &c. In Two Volumes.'' (1823) * ''Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, Daughter of King James the First. Including Sketches of the state of Society in Holland and Germany, in the 17th century. By Miss Benger, Author of Memoirs of Anne Boleyn, Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scotts, &c. &c. In Two Volumes.'' (1825) * ''The Laurel. Fugitive Poetry of the XIXth Century.'' (1830)
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Benger, Elizabeth}} Category:1775 births Category:1827 deaths Category:19th-century English non-fiction writers Category:English translators Category:Women of the Regency era Category:British biographers Category:19th-century English women poets Category:19th-century English women novelists Category:19th-century English novelists Category:People from Chatham, Kent Category:People from Wells, Somerset Category:Writers from Kent Category:Writers from Somerset Category:English abolitionists Category:People from South Somerset (district)