Although Elizabeth and her husband were both Unitarians, the wedding
took place in Knutsford Parish Church, according to the legal requirements
of the time. After her marriage Mrs Gaskell never again lived in Knutsford,
but she was a frequent visitor to Knutsford and it occurs again and
again in her writings. In the words of her biographer, Annette B Hopkins:
Knutsford Parish Church
Whenever her writing is at its best, wherever there is sparkle
and humour, grace and gaiety, wherever there is a feeling for
beauty in the world of nature, for the little homely things of
every day, or profound sympathy with and understanding of the
vagaries and the tragedies of human lives, then we may be sure
the spirit of Knutsford is present.
For the first few years after she was married,
Elizabeth was busy having children (she had six, of whom four, all
girls, survived) and carrying out the duties that fell to a Minister's
wife. And as a Minister's wife in Manchester she saw much to shock
her, for the conditions of the working people in the black and pestilential
alleys of mid-century Manchester were such as we can now hardly imagine.
Whole families lived in foul, damp cellars; work was uncertain and
at best, ill paid, and in bad tines, people died - literally - from
starvation. Children were among those who suffered. In Mrs Gaskell's
own words:
Manchester's poor
Many a penny that would have gone little way enough in oatmeal
or potatoes, bought opium to still the hungry little ones and
make them forget their uneasiness in heavy, troubled sleep. It
was mother's mercy.
It
was these wretched conditions that led Mrs Gaskell to write her first
book, 'Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life'. 'Mary Barton' was
published in 1848 and it made Mrs Gaskell immediately famous, not
to say notorious. It was the first of the true Social Novels. It was
condemned for having such an 'unsuitable setting' as the Manchester
slums, and worse, it was attacked as being subversive of the established
order. According to the doctrines of the day, the hardships of the
poor were entirely the fault of their own vice and thriftlessness,
and the better off had no right to interfere with the free play of
economic forces. 'Cranford' was Mrs Gaskell's second book and the
first one to represent the sunnier side of her literary nature. It
may be seen perhaps as a reaction to the grimness of 'Mary Barton'.
It first appeared as a series of essays in Charles Dickens' magazine
'Household Words' and was published in book form in 1853.
Elizabeth Gaskell
Whenever her writing is at its best, wherever there is sparkle
and humour, grace and gaiety, wherever there is a feeling for
beauty in the world of nature, for the little homely things of
every day, or profound sympathy with and understanding of the
vagaries and the tragedies of human lives, then we may be sure
the spirit of Knutsford is present.
It
was these wretched conditions that led Mrs Gaskell to write her first
book, 'Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life'. 'Mary Barton' was
published in 1848 and it made Mrs Gaskell immediately famous, not
to say notorious. It was the first of the true Social Novels. It was
condemned for having such an 'unsuitable setting' as the Manchester
slums, and worse, it was attacked as being subversive of the established
order. According to the doctrines of the day, the hardships of the
poor were entirely the fault of their own vice and thriftlessness,
and the better off had no right to interfere with the free play of
economic forces. 'Cranford' was Mrs Gaskell's second book and the
first one to represent the sunnier side of her literary nature. It
may be seen perhaps as a reaction to the grimness of 'Mary Barton'.
It first appeared as a series of essays in Charles Dickens' magazine
'Household Words' and was published in book form in 1853. 