Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was born in Cheetham near Manchester in England on 24 November 1849. With the death of her father in 1852 the family fell on hard times and emigrated to the United States settling near Knoxville, Tennessee. Frances began to write and be published from the age of 19, the money for which helped the family's survival. Her mother died in 1870 and two years later she married Swan Burnett, who after becoming a doctor moved them to Paris where she bore two sons before returning to live in Washington DC. She began to write novels beginning with 'That Lass o' Lowries', which was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and her reputation was set. Although prone to depression Frances enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and from the 1880s began to travel to England frequently and bought a home there in the 1890s where she wrote 'The Secret Garden', a timeless classic which we publish here. Her eldest son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1892, which caused a relapse of her depression. Frances divorced Swan Burnett in 1898 and married Stephen Townsend in 1900 but divorced him two years later. Towards the end of her life she settled in Long Island, where she died on October 29th, 1924. Frances Hodgson Burnett is buried in Roslyn Cemetery, on Long Island.

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