Lucy Sarah Atkins Wilson

Lucy Sarah Atkins Wilson (27 December 1801 – 25 January 1863) was a British writer and editor, specializing in scientific literature for children.

Life

Sarah Atkins was born to Samuel Atkins (d. 1821) and Ester Atkins (1776–1833) on 27 December 1801, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. Born a Quaker, religion played a significant role throughout her life and had considerable influence in her writing. Her career as an author began in her early twenties, and focused on redacting and adapting literature regarding travel, history, and science for children. Her early works – The India Cabinet Opened (1821), Fruits of Enterprise (1821), and Botanical Rambles (1822), were successful, and remained in print for several editions.

Sarah Atkins married Daniel Frederick Wilson (1805–86), the Rector of Worton, Oxfordshire, on 14 December 1829. His father, Daniel Wilson, the prominent Vicar of Islington and the future Bishop of Calcutta, presided at the ceremony. Their son, also called Daniel Frederick Wilson (1830–1918), was born on 10 November 1830 and baptized on 12 December 1830 at Worton.

Atkins changed her first name to Lucy upon being baptized for her marriage to a clergyman. Her books, therefore, are attributed to various combinations of her names, including Sarah Atkins, Lucy Wilson, and Sarah Atkins Wilson. Additionally, as was common at the time, many of her books were published under pseudonyms, such as 'A Lady,' or as the author of a previous one of her works, such as 'The Author of Botanical Rambles.' Wilson mothered another eight children following their marriage, and wrote an anonymous publication detailing the efforts made as the wife of a clergyman, Hints to a Clergyman's Wife (1832). She lived in Islington, Greater London, until her death on 25 January 1863, at the age of 61. Her brief obituary in The Newcastle Courant remembers her contributions to literature, concluding that: "Her life was much devoted to works of piety and benevolence, and her loss will be deeply felt".