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An Early Suitor of Mary Wollstonecraft
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Amongst the numerous fair ones to whom the singular Rector of Stukeley paid his addresses, was the once famous Mary Wolstonecraft [sic], distinguished during the period of the French Revolution for her democratical writings, and afterwards united to Mr. Godwin, author of St. Leon, &c. Several letters from this intellectual Amazon exist among the papers of the Rev. Gentleman.
These words interrupted a search of the newspaper files for an item about Mary Shelley. Although that search proved futile, the bit of unexpected news about her famous mother was adequate reward for the effort. For the Reverend Joshua Waterhouse, the singular Rector of Stukeley—or more accurately Little Stukeley—was an entirely new character in the drama of Mary Wollstonecraft's life, unmentioned by and apparently unknown to any of her biographers. His identity and his history were soon made clear by other issues of the London newspapers, by the Huntingdon Gazette, and by two little books occasioned by his sudden and sordid death. And knowledge of his existence and of his character throws light on certain passages in Mary Wollstonecraft's writings.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1943
References
1 The Morning Herald (London), July 23, 1827.
2 He may possibly be the person alluded to by the anonymous author of A Defence of the Character and Conduct of the Late Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Oxford, 1803), who “says that ‘though we are not expressly informed,’ there seems a probability that she had experienced a disappointment in her earlier years, and that such disappointment ‘tended to increase her irritability’.” See C. Kegan Paul, William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries (London, 1876), i, 206.
3 Narrative of the Murder of the late Rev. J. Waterhouse; with a full report of the Trial, Confession, & Execution of the Murderer; and a Biography and Anecdotes of Mr. Waterhouse and of Slade. Huntingdon: Printed and Published by T. Lovell: 1827; A Sermon Delivered at the Dissenting Chapel, Huntingdon, On Sunday, September 2, 1827, by W. Wright: occasioned by the barbarous murder of the Rev. J. Waterhouse, of Stukely [sic] Parva: and the Execution of the Confessed Criminal, Joshua Slade: with a Sketch of the Life and Character of Each. Corrected and Enlarged. Huntingdon: Printed and Sold by A. P. Wood.
4 Somerset House: Administrations, September, 1827. This information was kindly sent to me by Mr. E. H. W. Myerstein.
5 Sermon, pp. 20–21.
6 Narrative, p. 37.
7 Ibid., p. 41.
8 Sermon, p. 21.
9 Narrative, p. 39.
10 Ibid., p. 37.
11 Huntingdon Gazette, July 21, 1827.
12 Narrative, pp. 43–44.
13 A Mr. R. Carruthers, who was living in the neighborhood at the time of the murder, wrote in 1856 to Notes and Queries (ii, i, 262–263) that he regretted that he had not copied Mary's letters. Mr. Ralph M. Wardle of Cornell University writes me that he has learned through the County Librarian of Huntingdon that Waterhouse's letters are said to have been “removed to Cambridge and subsequently sold, but there appears to be no trace of the purchasers.”
14 G. F. Browne, St. Catherine's College, University of Cambridge: College Histories (London, 1902), p. 203.
15 Huntingdon Gazette, July 7, 1827. Some unsavory stories were circulated about him at the time of his murder, including the rumor that Slade was his illegitimate son, but they were never substantiated.
16 It was reported that Danvers bought for Waterhouse the living of Little Stukeley.
17 C. Kegan Paul, op. cit., i, 189–190. Mary's letters during this period of her life are dated by Paul a year too late.
18 William Godwin, Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Second Edition (London, 1798), pp. 58–59.
19 Mary Wollstonecraft, a Study in Economics and Romance (London, Martin Secker, 1911), pp. 68–71, 89. Taylor follows Kegan Paul's dates.
20 Ibid., p. 66.
21 Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (London, 1787), p. 80.
22 Ibid., pp. 82–83.
23 Ibid., pp. 84–85.
24 See, for example, what has been done by way of invention by “George R. Preedy” in This Shining Woman (London: Collins, 1937).
25 Mary, a Fiction (London, 1788), pp. 147–152.
26 Huntingdon Gazette, September 28, 1827. According to R. Carruthers (see note 13) Waterhouse's nephews “erected the tombstone with the strange inscription, thus completing the murder of the old man.” Edmund Kean saw this epitaph, copied it on the fly-leaf of his road book, and added four lines beginning,
Worse, worse than Slade, thou murderer of verse.
See Notes and Queries, iv, ix, 296.