| StorageSite | UCL Special Collections |
| Level | Item |
| Reference Number | MS OGDEN/79 |
| Title | Martineau, "England and Her Soldiers" Manuscript |
| Date | 1859 |
| Description | Manuscript copy of Harriet Martineau's 'England and Her Soldiers', in her own hand, 1859.
"England and Her Soldiers" is a literary account of the Crimean War. The text was written by Martineau and drew on Florence Nightingale's statistical studies of the causes of mortality during the war. Recognising that statistical reports were not an accessible format to the lay reader, the data gathered by Nightingale is interspersed with Martineau's text. In the published version, large diagrams are included to illustrate key points, includng Nightingale's famous 'Rose Diagram'. Note that this manuscript does not include the diagrams.
With a note on the first page inscribed from Martineau to Mr Barton, who requested this copy of the manuscript. Martineau explains that due to her ill health she is unable to produce a better copy. |
| Extent | 1 folder |
| AdminHistory | Harriet Martineau was born in 1802 to Thomas Martineau, a textile manufacturer of Norwich, and his wife Elizabeth nee Rankin. The Martineaus were Unitarians of Huguenot ancestry. Harriet was educated at home and later at school in classics, languages, literature, philosophy and history. Her family's fortunes suffered in the stock market crash of 1825 and she turned to writing and needlework to earn a living for her family.
She wrote on religious subjects, and reviews; wrote for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; produced a successful series illustrating political economy, 1832-1834; continued to write, producing numerous books and articles on religious and philosophical subjects, travel, political economy, and other contemporary issues; died, 1876. Publications include: 'England and her Soldiers' (London, 1859), with Florence Nightingale. |
| CustodialHistory | Presented to Mr Barton by the author. Later part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |
| Acquisition | Part of the C K Ogden Library acquired by UCL in 1953. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| AccessConditions | The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. |
| Related Material | University College London Special Collections also holds 13 letters from Harriet Martineau to Lord Brougham, 1832-1836, 1858, and undated, a copy letter to T Coates, 1832, a copy letter to the committee of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1833, and a copy letter to Miss Carpenter, 1866 (Ref: BROUGHAM HB); 24 letters to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1831-1834 (Ref: SDUK); three letters to Sir Edwin Chadwick [late 1830s-early 1840s] and a letter to her from Chadwick, 1843 (Ref: CHADWICK 1362, 2181/1); her autobiography (published in London, 1877), with 11 letters to William Tait, 1832--1837, inserted (Ref: MS OGDEN 101); an undated letter to Mrs Joseph Parkes (Ref: PARKES 33).
Correspondence and papers of Harriet Martineau are also held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections; Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; Oxford University, Harris Manchester College Library; Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department; London Guildhall University, The Women's Library; Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle Headquarters; Cumbria Record Office, Kendal; Dorset Record Office; Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies; Liverpool Record Office and Local History Service; Wordsworth Library, Ambleside; Armitt Library and Museum, Ambleside; Lambton Park, Chester-le-street; National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division; Trinity College Dublin; and, in the USA, Boston Public Library; Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Harvard University, Houghton Library; Huntington Library, San Marino, California. For further details see the National Register of Archives and 'Location register of English literary manuscripts and letters: eighteenth and nineteenth centuries' (1995). |
| FindingAids | Handlist at University College London Special Collections. |