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CHARLOTTE'S STORY
Charlotte wrote her own story and published it herself. It was never intended to be a work of art. She wanted to raise a little money to furnish a cottage for her old age. Probably a few hundred copies were printed, and only one or two have survived. Luckily another woman, a poet and local historian called Frances Marshall came across the book, and, inspired by this extraordinary life, she checked the facts with the help of countless libraries and archivists, and discovered that Charlotte had told the truth about her own life.
Charlotte wrote her own story and published it herself. It was never intended to be a work of art. She wanted to raise a little money to furnish a cottage for her old age. Probably a few hundred copies were printed, and only one or two have survived. |
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Luckily another woman, a poet and local historian called Frances Marshall came across the book, and, inspired by this extraordinary life, she checked the facts with the help of countless libraries and archivists, and discovered that Charlotte had told the truth about her own life. Born into a well-to-do family in the North, Charlotte eloped with an actor and was disinherited. At first the couple worked together as actors with a touring theatre; and though for a while they settled in her home town of Wigton, her husband's death forced Charlotte and her six children back on the road. It was an exciting, but precarious hand to mouth existence, travelling sometimes on foot, sometimes by coach, always in the North. Players were seen as scarcely respectable people, living outside settled society. They were threatened not just by bad weather, impassable roads, lack of money, but also by vigilantes who tried to shut down their shows and run them out of town. The north of England sounds like the Wild West. In these conditions Charlotte needed the protection of a second husband. She married again. In all she had seventeen children, acting sometimes until she was on the point of giving birth. She worked on the stage, until she was seventy years old. She lived to be ninety. These are the facts. What gives her writing its vitality is the character of Charlotte herself. She had a keen sense of humour and an even stronger sense of justice. She developed from a headstrong girl into a vigorous, independent and compassionate woman. The book gives us more than facts. It gives us the thoughts and feelings of a real woman. That woman could be living today. Without the record she herself made, Charlotte would have become one of the vast invisible population of the dead. Such people belong to our heritage and we need to know about them, because without an understanding of the past, it is impossible to create a better future. In the same way, people living now will contribute their own stories for future generations – not the mere facts, but the impressions that together make up the whole picture. Our project is one such attempt. Charlotte never presumed to be an artist, but her driving need to provide for herself, has given us a rare insight into her life and our own past. Maureen Lawrence |
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