Letters from Mary Clarke (Madame Julius Mohl)
Description
Mary Clarke Mohl (born Mary Elizabeth Clarke) was a lively correspondent of Elizabeth Jesser Reid, who was one of the few British women that Mohl deemed consequential and intelligent enough to merit attention.
Born to an upper class family, Mohl and her mother went to live in France after the death of her father when Mohl was eight. They only had a small income, but distinguished themselves as gifted hostesses, whose home attracted Paris’s leading intellectuals. Mohl retained close ties with Britain, often visiting her sister at Cold Overton in Leicestershire, from which many of her letters to Reid are written. However, she preferred the social freedoms, and the higher intellectual and conversational standards she found in France, where her guests included writers Ivan Turgenev, George Eliot, and Mrs Gaskell, who wrote part of Wives and Daughters at her home on the Rue du Bac in Paris; her stay is discussed here. One of her closest friends was Florence Nightingale, also a close friend of Reid; Mohl’s letters to Reid often discuss Nightingale. She married the German orientalist Julius Mohl in 1847; theirs was a devoted marriage, and they are buried together in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Mohl’s letters to Reid range across a variety of political, social and personal topics. She offers advice about the health problems of their mutual friend the writer Harriet Martineau, and discusses relations between men and women. She also gives a lengthy report on the Revolution of 1848, with which she very much disagreed. While not directly involved in women’s education, she voices strong opinions on what girls should be taught in order to be independent. Mohl and Reid’s correspondence continued until Reid’s death in 1866.
Further information on Mohl:
Waddington, Patrick. "Mohl [née Clarke], Mary Elizabeth (1793–1883), salon hostess and author." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 04, 2007. Oxford University Press. Date of access 26 Sep. 2019.
Schofield, Hugh. “The Most Fashionable Englishwoman in Paris.” BBC News Magazine. 18 March 2017. Date of access 26 Sep. 2019.
Born to an upper class family, Mohl and her mother went to live in France after the death of her father when Mohl was eight. They only had a small income, but distinguished themselves as gifted hostesses, whose home attracted Paris’s leading intellectuals. Mohl retained close ties with Britain, often visiting her sister at Cold Overton in Leicestershire, from which many of her letters to Reid are written. However, she preferred the social freedoms, and the higher intellectual and conversational standards she found in France, where her guests included writers Ivan Turgenev, George Eliot, and Mrs Gaskell, who wrote part of Wives and Daughters at her home on the Rue du Bac in Paris; her stay is discussed here. One of her closest friends was Florence Nightingale, also a close friend of Reid; Mohl’s letters to Reid often discuss Nightingale. She married the German orientalist Julius Mohl in 1847; theirs was a devoted marriage, and they are buried together in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Mohl’s letters to Reid range across a variety of political, social and personal topics. She offers advice about the health problems of their mutual friend the writer Harriet Martineau, and discusses relations between men and women. She also gives a lengthy report on the Revolution of 1848, with which she very much disagreed. While not directly involved in women’s education, she voices strong opinions on what girls should be taught in order to be independent. Mohl and Reid’s correspondence continued until Reid’s death in 1866.
Further information on Mohl:
Waddington, Patrick. "Mohl [née Clarke], Mary Elizabeth (1793–1883), salon hostess and author." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 04, 2007. Oxford University Press. Date of access 26 Sep. 2019.
Schofield, Hugh. “The Most Fashionable Englishwoman in Paris.” BBC News Magazine. 18 March 2017. Date of access 26 Sep. 2019.
Collection Items
BC RF/103/10/1: Letter giving advice, 12 March 1839
Letter giving advice as EJR is about to travel on the continent [with Harriet Martineau] - remembers that 'we found damp sheets in every Inn along the Rhine'. Sends a letter of introduction to the Sismondis. She hopes EJR will be 'indulgent to the…
BC RF/103/10/2: Letter to EJR in Lausanne, Switzerland, 4 May 1839
Letter to EJR in Lausanne, Switzerland, asking when she will arrive in Paris. The Princess Belgioioso would put off leaving Paris in order to meet her.
BC RF/103/10/3: Letter from Cold Overton Hall, 28 September 1839
Letter from Cold Overton Hall, reporting that 'Mother wishes to spend the winter here' and MC doesn't expect to be in London until 18th or 20th October. She very much likes the Nightingales, especially Miss Julia. At Cold Overton, she is in…