Amelia Opie
Amelia Alderson Opie was a notable English writer and social figure born in Norwich in 1769. As the only child of a respected physician, she assumed domestic responsibilities early in life, particularly after her mother's death. In the 1790s, she became active in London's literary and political circles, mingling with prominent figures like William Wordsworth and Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1798, she married the painter John Opie, and their home became a hub for artists and writers, which further influenced her literary career.
Amelia published several successful novels, including "The Father and Daughter" and "Adeline Mowbray," the latter drawing inspiration from her friendship with Wollstonecraft. Following John Opie's death in 1807, she returned to Norwich, where she continued to write while caring for her father. Over time, Opie embraced Quakerism, which shifted her focus from imaginative writing to works aimed at moral improvement and social issues, including abolitionism. Her later works reflect her evolving beliefs and experiences, culminating in themes of loss and remembrance in pieces like "Lays for the Dead." Opie's life and writings offer insight into the intersections of literature, feminism, and social reform during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
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Subject Terms
Amelia Opie
Writer
- Born: November 12, 1769
- Birthplace: Norwich, England
- Died: December 2, 1853
Biography
Born in Norwich, England, Amelia Alderson Opie was the vivacious only child of Dr. James Alderson and Amelia Briggs Alderson. Her father, to whom she was devoted, was a noted physician of his time. After her mother’s death when she was fifteen, Amelia took over domestic responsibilities and also acted as hostess to her father’s social gatherings. Around 1794, she began annual trips to London, moving in literary circles that included both well-known Romantic writers and such political radicals as William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Attracting a number of suitors, including the artist Thomas Holcroft, who painted her portrait, Amelia agreed in 1798 to marry the recently divorced painter John Opie, who had fallen in love with her on first sight. They resided mainly in London, where the outgoing Amelia opened her home to artists and writers, including William Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott, as well as the actress Sarah Siddons. Her more retiring husband encouraged her to attend to her writing in addition to her social activities, and although she had published poetry and fiction earlier, it was the work produced after her marriage to Opie that set the pattern for her subsequent writing.
In 1801, Opie produced a novel dedicated to her father titled The Father and Daughter, which was a popular success. In 1805 she published yet another successful novel, Adeline Mowbray, based on the life of her friend, the radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. This novel significantly contributed to a family income that endured some instability as a result of her husband’s periods of depression.
The death of her husband in 1807 ended nine years of happily married life for Opie, after which she returned to Norwich to care for her father. While looking after her father and his household, she published a biography of her husband titled Memoir of John Opie, as well as a series of poems, tales, and novels. Among them was the novel Temper, published in 1812, which initiated a lifelong friendship with the poet William Hayley, whose poem had inspired her work. Her novel Madeline, published in 1822, was yet another novel that established as their heroines lively and independent women.
Opie began to uncharacteristically shun friendships and activities she had previously enjoyed after her father died in 1825. Earlier, encouraged by her friend Joseph John Gurney, she had begun to attend Quaker meetings. Shortly before her father’s death, she formally joined the Society of Friends. Although her reception into the Society of Friends raised her failing spirits, her new religious affiliation led her to abandon imaginative writing; her last novel, The Painter and His Wife, was never finished.
After becoming a Quaker, Opie preferred to write work of moral improvement, such as Illustrations of Lying, in All Its Branches. Moving in antislavery circles, Opie also wrote in support of the Abolitionist cause. In addition to much charitable work, Opie traveled a great deal, including a visit to France, which she had first visited with her husband in 1802. Visiting France at the time the archconservative Charles X fell from power, Opie took this opportunity to reaffirm her own revolutionary sympathies. Before she died, Opie also visited Cornwall, the birthplace of her husband, where she wrote Lays for the Dead, a series of remembrances of lost friends and family that were published posthumously.