Biography of Eliza Haywood
Elizabeth Fowler was born around 1693 to a family of modest income. Her father, a small town shopkeeper, was her primary caretaker and over the course of her education she would be introduced to "far more liberal conceptions than was ordinarily allowed to persons of her sex." Certainly, as was the case with Aphra Behn and Delarivier Manly (the other two members of what scholars of the 17th and 18th century refer to as the "fair triumvirate of wit") Eliza immersed herself in a myriad of practices and pursuits of knowledge common in the English society of which they were a crucial part. For example, after her marriage to one Reverend Valentine Haywood in 1710 and the birth of her first son Charles in 1711, Haywood would take to the stage to make her living as most Restoration females did. In 1715, Haywood became the third triumvirate to delve into the world of theater with her debut in Timon of Athens (picture to the right) at the Smock Alley House in Dublin (Eliza Haywood Biography). Haywood became a regular performer at the London-based Lincoln Inn Fields by 1717 but ultimately forfeited her acting career due to "limited success." Playwriting would prove a more robust vocation until her decision to become a novelist around 1719 with the publication of her first work Love in Excess or the Fatal Enquiry. It was as a novelist that Haywood would find her most success and solidify her reputation (for better or worse). During her relatively long life (up until her death in 1756) Haywood produced an upward of 60 works that would survey a range of intriguing and controversial subjects including, but not limited to, scandal, romance, and history. One of her most notable works touching base on a number of such themes was Fantomina or Love in a Maze originally published in 1725. Aside from her having had two more children (the first with William Hatchett and the last with Richard Savage) very little else is known about Haywood. With varying accounts of her biography in circulation (many of which come from Haywood herself), scholars either disagree or refute certain "facts" leading to a very hazy account of her life and times (Britannica).
Later Life
By 1751, Haywood had become a well known writer and playwright of her time. Her novel The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless was referred to by Delilah Beasley as "Haywood's longest, most carefully crafted, and most enduringly popular work of fiction…. Its cleverly conceived protagonist is effectively portrayed as a type of the good-hearted but naive and careless girl, and the story centers on her often ridiculous and embarrassing experiences as she makes her entrance into society." By 1753, Haywood tried her hand for the second time at a dual narrative with The History of Jemmy and Jenny Jessamy . Her novels that ascribed to this nature, are said to have set the precedent for later English women writers such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. They wrote novels focusing on the domestic world to which most women of that generation were restricted. The mid-twentieth century revival of interest in Austen's novels, along with interest in the British women writers who preceded her, led to a rediscovery of Haywood's works, which were largely forgotten after her death on February 25, 1756, in London.
Works Cited
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Eliza Haywood (British Author)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/257882/Eliza-Haywood>.
"World Biography." Eliza Haywood Biography. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Fl-Ka/Haywood-
Eliza.html>.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Eliza Haywood (British Author)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/257882/Eliza-Haywood>.
"World Biography." Eliza Haywood Biography. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Fl-Ka/Haywood-
Eliza.html>.