Esther Copley was an English religious tractarian

Tract (literature)

A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...

 and children's writer.

Life

She was the youngest daughter of a silk manufacturer, Peter Beuzeville (1741-1812), and his wife, Mary Griffith Meredith (1744-1811), who were of Huguenot origin. She married in 1809 the Oxford cleric James Philip Hewlett (1779/80-1820), who was curate of St. Aldate's

St Aldate's Church

St Aldate's is a Church of England parish church in the centre of Oxford, in the Deanery and Diocese of Oxford. The church is on the street named St Aldate's, opposite Christ Church and next door to Pembroke College. The church has a large congregation and has a staff team of about 35 which...

 and chaplain of the Oxford University

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 colleges of Magdalen

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

 and New College

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

. They had two sons, who also become Anglican clerics, and a daughter. In 1827 she married William Copley (1796-1857), a Baptist minister in Oxford, whose chapel she had joined. They moved later to St. Helier, Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

, then Eythorne, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, but they separated in 1843, perhaps due to Copley's alcoholism, which had already involved her in writing his sermons for him.

Writings

Esther was a prolific author of children's books, tracts

Tract (literature)

A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...

, and books on domestic economy

Home Economics

Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...

. Cottage Comforts (1825), addressed to the working people, went into scores of editions, for example. Among several other works on domestic matters was the pamphlet Hints on the Cholera morbus (1832), on how to prevent and treat the disease. Her stories for children were mainly didactic, designed to make them thrifty and good by providing examples of moral behavior. She also wrote longer, non-fiction works for children, including Scripture Natural History for Youth (1828) and a 500-page History of Slavery and its Abolition (1836).

Commemoration

Esther Copley was buried in Eythorne, but in 1996, a plaque to her and her extended family was erected in the United Reformed church, Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

, Oxfordshire, where she and her parents had moved in the early years of the 19th century.

Reference

• The information is taken from Rosemary Mitchell, "Copley , Esther (1786–1851)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford: OUP, 2004). http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55930. Subscription required, accessed 8 May 2010. This cites Lewis, D. M., ed., The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, 1730–1860, (Oxford, 1995), "Biographical sketch of Mrs Copley". In: Copley, E.: The Complete Cottage Cookery. 11th edn (London: William Wesley, 1859), pp. v–x, and Baptist sources.