Anna Sewell

Anna Sewell (30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878) was an English novelist who is known for her only book, Black Beauty, a novel about a horse. She was born into a Quaker family in Norfolk and moved to London as a baby. Her mother, Mary Wright Sewell, was the author of popular children's books. Sewell never married and always lived with her parents, in Sussex, Gloucestershire and Norfolk. A chronic illness left her leading a life of invalidism, with trips to spa resorts in England and continental Europe. She joined her mother in carrying out charitable work and also edited her mother's books. Black Beauty was written between 1871 and 1877 and published a few months before Sewell's death.

Early life

Sewell's parents, Mary Wright and Isaac Sewell, were from well-established Quaker families in Norfolk. Mary's family farmed in the area around Norwich, while Isaac's parents ran a large grocery shop in Great Yarmouth. When Mary Wright was twelve years old, her father, John Wright, gave up farming and moved to Great Yarmouth, where he became a partner in a shipping business. The family faced financial hardship after John Wright paid compensation to the victims of a fire on one of his steamboats on the River Yare, and Mary had to work as a teacher in an Essex school for several years. Her brother John Wright inherited the Dudwick Park estate in the village of Buxton near Norwich, and the rest of the family moved into Dudwick Cottage on the estate, where John Wright senior was given a small farm. Mary Wright married Isaac Sewell, who was a partner in a drapery business in Great Yarmouth, on 15 June 1819 at the Quaker Meeting House at Lamas near Buxton. The couple set up home in a small house at 26 Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, where Anna Sewell was born on 30 March 1820.