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Frances
Trollope
English Critic of
American Domestic Life
1778-1863
While Frances Trollope was a respected author in
England , she has not been a favorite of most
Americans. She is best known by Americans for
her unflattering portrait of the young nation in
“Domestic Manners of Americans”, which she wrote
after a living in the United States for three
years.
Francis Trollope was the daughter of a clergyman
born in Hampshire , England , in 1780. She was
married to a prominent lawyer and together they
had six children. When she was fifty-two years
old, her husband’s business failed and the
family came to Cincinnati , Ohio seeking to
restore their wealth by selling luxury imported
goods. At this time Francis turned to writing
books. She believed that novels should deal with
important social issues and she stayed true to
that ideal her entire writing career. Francis
gained financial success with her first volume
and continued to write until far advanced in
years. Her novels were very popular and it
wasn’t long before she was able to pay off her
husband’s debts.
Francis was a keen observer, especially of
faults, and she described what she saw in a most
scathing manner. In her “Domestic Life of the
Americans” she pictured Americans as coarse,
selfish, intemperate, insincere, indelicate, and
generally ridiculous. The descriptions were
overdrawn and were a bitter medicine to the
people she described, while they provided a vast
fund of amusement to the English. Even though it
was harsh, America probably profited from Mrs.
Trollope’s satire.
After a few years she renewed her attack on
America by writing “The Adventures of Jonathan
Jefferson Whitlaw”. This was well founded in
fact, for she pictured the miseries of the
blacks in the Southern States. “The Vicar of
Wrexhill”, a novel that tackled the subject of
church corruption is counted by most as her best
work. Other books came at the rate of two or
more a year. she wrote “A Visit to Italy ” in
much the same caustic style as her books about
America , but people had too much reverence for
that classical country and did not appreciate
her ridicule as they did when she dealt with the
new nation of America .
At length she proceeded to satirize people of
her own land in “Hargrave”, dealing with a man
of fashion, “Jessie Phillips”, dealing with the
new poor-laws, and “The Lauringtons”, dealing
with the “superior people” of society.
In 1839, Francis became involved child labor
campaigns. After visiting several factories in
Manchester and Bradford , Trollope wrote the
novel “Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy”. She
was highly criticized for this work, many
considering it vulgar and in bad taste,
believing it encouraged people to hate factory
owners. Some even suggested that Francis be sent
to prison for writing it!
Among her most successful novels were “The Widow
Barnaby” and “The Widow Married”. By the time
she died in 1863, Francis Trollope had written
forty books. Her son, Anthony Trollope
(1815-1882) was also a successful novelist whose
books dealt with English politics, society, and
the civil service. He is still widely-read
today.
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