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Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Yonge, Charlotte Mary

11.8.1823 - 24.3.1901

Born in Otterbourne, where she lived all her life, Charlotte M Yonge was a famous and successful authoress of the 19th century. Her best-selling work, which brought her world-wide fame and fortune, was The Heir of Redclyffe. But this was only one of well over a hundred books which she published in her lifetime as well as the girls’ magazine, the Monthly Packet, which were read all over the world. Her massive and wide-ranging output included several history books for children, two works of local history and numerous historical novels.

Sources

Portrait

Charlotte Mary Yonge

Albumen print of 1858 photograph by Revd Duke Yonge in the possession of the CMY Fellowship.

Contribution to county’s history

Major: Yonge based her John Keble’s Parishes on the history of Hursley and Otterbourne compiled by the Revd John Marsh, curate of Hursley, in 1808. She considerably altered and enlarged the original, using post-1808 research, and making much useful material on, for instance, the archaeology of Old Otterbourne Church, easily available. She also brought the book up to date to 1892, supplying invaluable references for historians and biographers of the Oxford Movement and its protagonists. Yonge was not only a historian; she was interested in folklore, dialect and natural history, and so included a list of old Otterbourne dialect words and phrases, a detailed account of the Otterbourne Mummers’ Play, with speeches, and a list of local birds and plants. 

Old Times at Otterbourne is a short work consisting of a collection of Yonge’s reminiscences, preceded by a short history of Otterbourne. These reminiscences are valuable both as social history and as an account of the 19th- century development of Otterbourne in general, which is missing from John Keble’s Parishes.

Minor: Two historical novels, The Armourer’s Prentices and A Reputed Changeling also introduce readers to aspects of the history of Hampshire, including respectively Hyde Abbey shortly before its dissolution, and Portchester in the seventeenth century.

Relevant published works

  • John Keble’s Parishes. London: Macmillan, 1892.

  • Old Times at Otterbourne. London, Macmillan, 1892.

  • The Armourer’s Prentices. London: Macmillan, 1884.

  • A Reputed Changeling. London: Macmillan, 1889.

Critical Comments

“…A book [John Keble’s Parishes] which ought not to be overlooked in any history of the Oxford Movement…” The Living Age: Volume 222, Issue 2881 (September 23 1899) pp 802-809

Other Comments

All her relevant published works are available on Kindle.

Contributor

Alys Blakeway

Key Words

Otterbourne, local history, dialect, folklore, historical fiction

If you are able to add anything to this entry, please send your ideas to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

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