# Mrs Markham > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mrs_Markham > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mrs_Markham.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Markham > Source revision: 1356478428 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Use British English|date=December 2015}} '''Elizabeth Penrose''' (3 August 1780 – 24 January 1837), known by her [pseudonym](/source/pseudonym) '''Mrs Markham''', was an English writer. ==Life== Elizabeth Penrose [nee Cartwright] was the second daughter{{cite book | title= A history of England from the first invasion by the Romans down to the present time |author= Mrs Markham |publisher= John Murray |year= 1878}} of [Edmund Cartwright](/source/Edmund_Cartwright), the inventor of the [power loom](/source/power_loom), and Alice Whittaker (daughter of Richard Whittaker of Doncaster).{{Cite ODNB|title=Penrose [née Cartwright], Elizabeth [pseud. Mrs Markham] (c. 1779–1837), writer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-21889|year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/21889|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=2020-04-30|last1=Mitchell |first1=Rosemary }} She was born at her father's rectory at [Goadby Marwood](/source/Goadby_Marwood), [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire). Her mother died in 1785, and after the father's second marriage in 1790, she was sent to Manor School in York and spent much of her childhood with paternal relatives. In 1814, she married [Reverend John Penrose](/source/John_Penrose_(clergyman)), a country clergyman in [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire) and a voluminous [theological](/source/theology) writer. During her girlhood, Mrs Penrose had frequently stayed with close relatives and guardians, the Misses Cartwright, at Mirfield Hall, [Markham](/source/East_Markham), a village in [Nottinghamshire](/source/Nottinghamshire). She met her husband in the village, and used its name as the ''nom de plume'' of "Mrs Markham", under which she gained celebrity as a writer of history and other books for the young.{{sfn|Lee|1894}} ==Works== The best known of her books was ''A History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans to the End of the Reign of George III'' (1823), which went through numerous editions. In 1828, she published a ''History of France''. Both these works enjoyed a wide popularity in America as well as in England. The distinctive characteristic of Mrs Markham's histories was the elimination of all the "horrors" of history, and of the complications of [party politics](/source/party_politics), as being unsuitable for the youthful mind; and the addition to each chapter of "Conversations" between a fictitious group consisting of teacher and pupils bearing upon the subject matter.{{sfn|Lee|1894}} Her less well-known works were ''Amusements of Westernheath, or Moral Stories for Children'' (2 volumes, 1824); ''A Visit to the Zoological Gardens'' (1829); two volumes of stories entitled ''The New Children's Friend'' (1832); ''Historical Conversations for Young People'' (1836); ''Sermons for Children'' (1837).{{sfn|Lee|1894}} ==Family== Mrs Markham had three sons, including the architect [Francis Crammer Penrose](/source/Francis_Penrose) (father of [Emily Penrose](/source/Emily_Penrose)), and died at [Lincoln](/source/Lincoln%2C_Lincolnshire) on 24 January 1837 and was buried in Lincoln Minster.{{sfn|Lee|1894}} There is a stained glass window to her memory in East Markham Church. ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== {{Wikisource|works=both|Elizabeth Penrose|Mrs Markham}} {{Portal|Children's literature}} * {{cite DNB|wstitle=Penrose, Elizabeth |first=Elizabeth|last=Lee|volume=44}} * {{EB1911|wstitle=Markham, Mrs|volume=17|page=735}} * [Samuel Smiles](/source/Samuel_Smiles), ''A Publisher and his Friends'' (2 volumes, London, 1891) * [G. C. Boase](/source/G._C._Boase) and [W. P. Courtney](/source/W._P._Courtney), ''Bibliotheca Cornubiensis'' (3 volumes, London, 1874–1882). {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Markham, Mrs}} Category:1780 births Category:1837 deaths Category:People from the Borough of Melton Category:19th-century English women writers Category:English women children's writers Category:English women historians Category:Writers from Leicestershire Category:19th-century English historians --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mrs Markham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Markham) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Markham?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.