Harriet Lee
Harriet Lee was an English novelist and playwright born around 1757 to a theatrical family. She grew up traveling across Great Britain due to her parents' acting careers, which exposed her to the world of theater from a young age. After her mother’s death, Lee faced financial instability and family strife, particularly due to her father's temperament and debts. In 1780, she and her sisters established a girls' school in Bath, which became a significant source of income and allowed Lee to pursue writing. Her debut novel, *The Errors of Innocence*, was published shortly after settling into the Belvidere House, where she also penned plays, including *The New Peerage*.
Despite experiencing several romantic disappointments that temporarily halted her writing, Lee ultimately became a prolific author in the late 1790s, collaborating with her sister Sophia on notable works. Although her later life was marred by personal losses, including the suicides of her sisters, Lee's literary contributions were recognized by some contemporaries, including Lord Byron, who acknowledged her influence on his work. Despite mixed critical reception during her time, Lee is celebrated for her role in the development of Gothic romance literature. She passed away on August 1, 1851, in Clifton, leaving behind a legacy intertwined with her familial and literary connections.
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Subject Terms
Harriet Lee
Playwright
- Born: c. 1757
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: August 1, 1851
- Place of death: Clifton, England
Biography
Harriet Lee was born around 1757 to actor and theater manager John Lee and actress Anna Sophia Lee. As a child, Lee and her four siblings traveled throughout Great Britain wherever their parents secured theatrical roles and management contracts. Lee’s mother died in September, 1770. Lee endured her father’s disagreeable temperament, often resulting in legal actions and loss of wages and work. His debts sometimes resulted in the family being evicted.
In late 1780, Lee and her sisters, including the playwright Sophia Lee, established a school for girls at Bath where Lee taught. Six years later, the Lee sisters, whose educational business had expanded, acquired the Belvidere House, overlooking the River Avon. Lee monitored Belvidere School students for misbehavior, scolding them for staying up past required bedtimes to observe fireworks and activities in Sydney Gardens near the opposite riverbank.
Assured of consistent income from the girls’ school, Lee pursued writing. Her first novel, The Errors of Innocence, appeared the same year Lee settled in Belvidore House. She wrote a comedic script, The New Peerage: Or, Our Eyes may Deceive Us, which the Drury Lane Theatre staged in November, 1787.
In the early 1790’s, Lee’s social life impeded her writing. Hester Thrale Piozzi, whom she considered a friend, secured Lee’s services as a companion for her ill daughter. Piozzi attempted to pair Lee romantically, but the man refused to marry Lee. The heartbroken Lee stopped writing for six years. By 1797, she prolifically produced novellas and plays, attempting to compensate for her period of inactivity. She collaborated with her sister Sophia to create The Canterbury Tales.
The next year, a second failed romance again slowed Lee’s productivity. After his wife Mary Wollstonecraft died, writer William Godwin wooed Lee. Despite her interest in Godwin’s literary activities and insights, Lee resented how he demeaned her intellectual abilities. Godwin also belittled Lee’s involvement with the Church of England. Although Lee encouraged a friendship, Godwin was uninterested in continuing a platonic relationship with her. Lee never married.
In 1799, Lee published her final novel, Constantia de Valmont. Four years later, Lee and her sisters decided to stop teaching and moved to South Lyncombe. In 1805, her sister Anna committed suicide. Her death paralyzed Lee’s creativity. Lee and her sister Sophia abandoned their home and visited their brother, George Augustus Lee, at his Manchester residence. The sisters next stayed in Monmouthshire, then settled in Clifton. Her sister Sophia’s death in 1824 profoundly affected Lee, who quit submitting her work for publication and wrote privately, mainly for solace, commemorating her deceased sisters. Lee died on August 1, 1851, at Clifton.
Although many contemporary critics disliked Lee’s work, some stated she was more talented than her sister and praised their collaborations and voices as female writers of Gothic romance literature. Readers and audiences liked Lee’s fiction and plays. Lord Byron credited Lee’s short story Kruitzner, which had appeared in The Canterbury Tales, for inspiring him when he was young and impacting his work, especially Werner: Or, The Inheritance, which he published in 1822.