Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924

Biography

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24, 1849 in Manchester, England. She emigrated to the United States with her family in 1865. There, Frances began writing to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of nineteen. Frances Hodgson Burnett Portrait photo of Burnett in her forties Burnett in 1888 Born Frances Eliza Hodgson 24 November 1849 Cheetham, Manchester, England Died 29 October 1924 (aged 74) Plandome Manor, New York, United States Occupation Novelist, playwright Nationality English Citizenship British (from birth), United States (from 1852) Spouse Swan Burnett (m. 1873; div. 1898) Stephen Townsend (m. 1900; div. 1902) Children 2 Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-born American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (published in 1885–1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).

Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1852, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. There, Frances began writing to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of 19. In 1870, her mother died, and in 1872 she married Swan Burnett, who became a medical doctor. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their two sons were born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess. Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote "The Secret Garden." Even though she wrote more than 30 books, she is best known for her children's novels "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (published in 1885–1886), "A Little Princess" (1905), and "The Secret Garden" (1911). Burnett died on October 29, 1924.

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