84,PLYMOUTH GROVE

84 Plymouth Grove in Manchester.


Cross Street Unitarian Chapel.


Elizabeth Gaskell

The Reverend William Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell's grave in Knutsford, Cheshire. Knutsford was the original inspiration for Cranford.Elizabeth died in1865 whilst visiting a house she had bought in Holybourne in Hampshire, about a mile north of Alton and three miles from Chawton where Jane Austen lived. She was 55 years old.Her body was brought back to Knutsford for burial.



 

Her novels, Cranford and Wives and Daughters are about the social manners of the time.

She came to Manchester in 1832 as the wife of the Unitarian minister of Cross Street Unitarian Chapel. At their home in Plymouth Grove, they entertained Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray the novelist, who wrote Vanity Fair a portrait of English society, John Ruskin the art critic, social thinker, poet and artist and Thomas Carlyle the Scottish satirical writer, essayist and historian. The theme of social conscience and awareness of the state of society links this group of writers.

When her daughter, Margaret,died,the last of the family, a sale catalogue of the contents of the house was made. This catalogue is in Manchester’s archives and is often the most requested item from researchers into the life of Elizabeth Gaskell. It is available with a box of cuttings on request. Manchester’s collection is the leading collection of printed resources about Elizabeth Gaskell.

The collection contains manuscripts of the short story, How The Fourth Floor Came To Crowley Castle and some other fragments of writing. Music manuscripts, books begun in her school days and giving evidence about her education and character. Letters in manuscript, include letters about the cotton famine that she wrote to Vernon Lushington. The letters give a description of the conditions people suffered in the mills. There are other letters available in Manchester’s Central library.

Personal items are in the collection, including autographed first editions and guide books that she used on her travels around Europe. There are over 230 editions of her novels in the collection including first editions, translations, American editions and the latest edited texts. Biographies, periodical articles, dissertations, boxes of photographs, newspaper cuttings and this collection is being added to all the time. There are her husband, the Reverend William Gaskell’s, sermons, hymns and cuttings including a complete run of The Unitarian Examiner, which he edited.

In 2008 Manchester City Council gave the go ahead for 84 Plymouth Grove to get a 2.5 million pound upgrade. It is one of the few Regency Style Villas left in Manchester. The work carried out was to repair dry rot, provide a new roof, new drains and lime plaster on the exterior walls. The original features were restored.

The work is now completed, the house is used for a wide range of community events, exhibitions and meetings.

To celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Gaskell, Manchester City Council has created a special Elizabeth Gaskell award to add to their 2010 Womens Awards. It will be presented to a group or individual woman that has promoted the role of women in public life and has made a significant contribution to charities and humanitarianism.

• 1.) Elizabeth Gaskell’s life and times: Vic – Jane Austen’s World

Novels/Biography

• 2.) Mary Barton (1848) Book: Kelly – Jane Austen Sequel Examiner
• 3.) Cranford (2007) Movie: Laura – The Calico Critic
• 4.) Ruth (1853) Book: Joanna – Regency Romantic
• 5.) North and South (1854–5) Book: Laurel Ann – Austenprose
• 6.) North and South (2004) Movie: Maria – Fly High
• 7.) Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) Book: Courtney – Stiletto Storytime
• 8.) Wives and Daughters (1865) Book: Katherine – November’s Autumn
• 9.) Wives and Daughters (1999) Movie: Elaine – Random Jottings
• 10.) The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) Book & (1973) Movie, The Brontes of Haworth: JaneGS – Reading, Writing, Working, Playing

Novellas

• 11. Mr. Harrison’s Confessions (1851) Book: Alexandra – The Sleepless Reader
• 12. My Lady Ludlow (1859) Book: Alexandra – The Sleepless Reader
• 13. Cousin Phillis (1864) Book: Alexandra – The Sleepless Reader

Resources

• 14.) Your Gaskell Library – Links to MP3′s, ebooks, audio books, other downloads and reading resources available online: Janite Deb -Jane Austen in Vermont
• 15.) Plymouth Grove – A visit to Elizabeth Gaskell’s home in Manchester: Tony Grant – London Calling