Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European

Elizabeth Craven was an English traveller and writer who deserves to be better known. She was born in London in 1750, at the height of the Georgian era, and died at Naples in 1828. She wrote plays, novels, poems and letters in English and sometimes in French. 
She was a witty, satirical social observer with a keen interest in the rights of women.
A new biography published by Vernon Press sheds light on many fascinating details of her writings and her life, with its many events, friendships, scandals and love affairs. 
The portrait shown here on the cover picture is by Ozias Humphry and is in the National Portrait Gallery although it is actually owned by the Tate.  The exact date is unknown. There are no records of Humphry meeting her until the 1790s, but the piled-up hairstyle and costume would be more characteristic of  c1780, when Craven was aged thirty. The painting captures her refined features and intelligence, with a hint of playfulness in the smile.

Craven was a contemporary of Jane Austen, and like Jane Austen responded often with irony to the situations she encountered. However, they could not have been more different in other ways. Jane Austen never married or had children, and lived a restricted life within the very narrow bounds of her family and their stern moral code. She had no choice. Elizabeth Craven was married at sixteen, had seven children, mixed in high society, travelled through a dozen countries, and often transgressed the boundaries of virtue and feminine behaviour. Jane Austen longed for passion and had to dream of it. Elizabeth Craven experienced it and all the problems it brought. Unravelling the stormy love life of this neglected, and much underrated, writer was one of the pleasures of writing this book.