Camilla Toulmin Crosland
Camilla Toulmin Crosland was a 19th-century writer and literary figure whose life story resonates with themes of resilience and creativity. Born into a family that faced significant challenges following the death of her father when she was eight, Crosland helped support her family by leaving school at thirteen to write poetry and prose. Her early works, including "The Little Berlin Wool Worker," showcased her ability to blend narrative with practical knowledge, such as needlework. Throughout the 1840s, she published several full-length works and became a literary editor, establishing a fruitful career despite personal hardships.
In 1848, she married Newton Crosland, which allowed her to attain a degree of financial stability, yet she continued to face health issues later in life, including asthma and heart problems. Despite her deteriorating health, Crosland remained committed to her writing, translating notable works and completing her autobiography at the age of eighty. Her legacy includes a stained glass window dedicated to her memory at St. Albans Cathedral, symbolizing her contributions to literature and the lasting impact she had on her contemporaries. Crosland is remembered for her prolific output and the diverse themes reflected in her poetry and prose.
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Subject Terms
Camilla Toulmin Crosland
Poet
- Born: June 9, 1812
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: February 16, 1895
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Camilla Toulmin Crosland’s childhood has been compared to that of the March girls in Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women. All was well with her family until, when she was eight, Crosland lost her father. Her mother then struggled valiantly to support herself and her two daughters, at first running a boarding house and, after it failed, living off of relatives and friends—and needlework. Crosland left school at thirteen and began writing poetry for periodicals to help support her family. Ever resourceful, she also began publishing prose, starting with The Little Berlin Wool Worker (1844), which intermingled fictional narrative with needlework history, illustrations, and instructions.
By the mid-1840’s, Crosland had published three full-length works as well as scores of individual poems and tales. She had also launched a career as a literary editor. Then, in 1848, she married Newton Crosland, a clerk, who saw himself as rescuing the frail thirty-four-year-old writer and her mother. Now securely middle-class, Crosland continued to drive herself to write. She also pursued, with her husband, interests in spiritualism, travel, and astrology until 1874, when her always precarious health began to deteriorate. Suffering from asthma, heart problems, and incipient blindness, Crosland nonetheless kept writing, translating the works of Victor Hugo and working on her autobiography, which she completed when she was eighty, two years before she died. When St. Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire was restored after her death, a stained glass window featuring St. Catherine of Siena was dedicated to Crosland’s memory. Crosland is remembered for her productivity, versatility, and longevity, and for poems that reflect nearly every aspect of her times.