The Life of

Samuel Richardson

Merchant Taylor's School                                                                    Portrait of Richardson by Joseph Highmore

Born: 1682, Mackworth, Derbyshire, England

• To Samuel and Elizabeth Richardson

Childhood/Adolesence:

• Apprenticed as a boy in the printer’s shop, earned the nicknames “Gravity” and “Serious”
• Possibly attended the Merchant Taylor’s school from 1701-1702
• Anecdotes:

                  *at the age of 11 or 12 sent a letter to a widow accusing her of hypocrisy for preaching religion while,

                    “fomenting Quarrels and Disturbances by her Backbiting and Scandal”

                  *was often invited to neighbors homes to read to the women as they sewed

                              -Beginnings of his fascination with women?

• In 1706 (age 17) was forced into a printing apprenticeship for seven years under the tutelage of John Wilde
• 1715 became a citizen of London, worked with the Stationers Company for a few years before starting his own business in Salisbury Court

                        *probably printed the first six issues of the True Briton which resulted in

                        Thomas Payne’s incarceration

Married: 1721

• Wife Martha Wilde (daughter of John)
• Six children and wife died by 1733

Married again: 1733

• Elizabeth Leake, daughter of a different employer
• Six children, four reached adulthood

First publication: 1733

• The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum

Publication of Pamela: 1740

• The Pamela Media Event phenomenon
• Epistolary style
• Emphasis on virtuous and moral behavior
• Publication of Pamela II in 1741

Publication of Clarissa: 1748

• Epistolary style
• Published serially 1748-1748

• Recognized as Richardson’s best work

• Discusses moral dilemmas in the society

Publication of Sir Charles Grandison: 1753

• Epistolary style
• Attempt at supplying society with an example of a virtuous male

 Publication of Moral and Instructive Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions and Reflexions:

• 1755
• Listed moral concepts from his novels
• Emphasized the importance of morality in novels
• Admitted novel’s entertaining aspects can obscure message
• Attempt to realign his works with morality, not merely entertainment

Death: 1761

• Sickly, prone to fits and dizziness
• Dictated some of his work when he grew too weak
• Death by stroke

Posthumous details:

• Novels translated into many different languages

• Work lost some popularity in the 19^th century as sentimental novels decline in reputation
• Influenced Jane Austen, Frances Berney, Rosseau, George Eliot, etc.
• Considered “founding father” of the modern novel

Home | Salisbury Court | Biography | 18th Century Culture | Print Culture | The Pamela Media Event

Richardson and The Middle Class | The Epistolary Novel | Works Cited

Website created by Taylor Cooper, Emilee Johnson, and Jenny Plaster for Professor Tonya Howe

English 335, The 18th Century British Novel: Texts and Contexts, Washington and Lee University