Anna Eliza Bray

Anna Eliza Bray, engraving from frontispiece of Autobiography. Click to enlarge.

Anna Eliza Bray (1790-1883) was a writer of considerable output, which included biographies, historical novels and topographic works. Born Anna Eliza Kempe, she was first married to the historical draughtsman and antiquarian Charles Alfred Stothard, with whom she travelled widely until his death in 1821 from a fall while sketching a church ceiling in Beer Ferrers, Devon (as documented by Anna in the 1823 Memoirs, including original journals, letters, papers, and antiquarian tracts, of the late Charles Alfred Stothard). Although born in Newington, Surrey, she had family connections in Devon and Cornwall; during frequent visits, she met her second husband, the Reverend Edward Atkyns Bray, vicar of Tavistock, also an antiquarian, who she married in 1822.

A number of Anna Eliza Bray's books are Devon-related, those of most specific Devon interest being the 1836 A description of the part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy: its natural history, manners, customs, superstitions, scenery, antiquities, biography of eminent persons, &c. &c. in a series of letters to Robert Southey, esq and the three-volume Traditions, legends, superstitions, and sketches of Devonshire on the borders of the Tamar and the Tavy, illustrative of its manners, customs, history, antiquities, scenery, and natural history (volume 1 / volume 2 / volume 3). The 1854 A peep at the pixies: or, Legends of the west also looks at Devon folklore (her cousin Christina Rossetti used it as a source for her poem Goblin Market) and several of her novels have Devon settings: Fitz of Fitz-Ford; a legend of Devon (1830), Warleigh; or, The fatal oak. A legend of Devon (1834), and Hartland Forest (1884). See the Internet Archive for these and other of Bray's works online, including her autobiography.

A footnote to the story of Eliza Elizabeth Bray is that of Mary Maria Colling, who led a short and rather disadvantaged life as a servant in Tavistock. Nevertheless, she displayed a talent for poetry, whch was collected and published by Mrs Bray, her employer and mentor, in a single volume, the 1831 Fables and other pieces in verse. It received good reviews: see The Gentleman's magazine and London Literary Gazette. Webrarian has collated the story of her discovery as a poet - Mary Maria Colling - as documented in the letters between Mrs Bray and Robert Southey.
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