Mary Lamb

Mary Lamb was born in London in 1764, the third of seven children of John and Elizabeth Lamb, servants of a barrister who lived in the Inner Temple; only she and two brothers, John and Charles, survived childhood. She learned about books and writers from her father and had little formal schooling, and she worked as a seamstress to help support the family. Mary suffered from a serious mental illness. In 1796, during a breakdown, she fatally stabbed her mother. Her brother Charles, a clerk at the East India House and later a well-known essayist, took responsibility for her care, and for the rest of her life she lived with him when she was well and in private mental facilities when she was ill. Together they hosted a literary circle in London that included William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For the publisher William Godwin they wrote Tales from Shakespeare (1807), retelling twenty of the plays in prose for children; Mary wrote the comedies and Charles the tragedies. They also wrote Mrs. Leicester's School. Mary outlived Charles and died in 1847.

Mary Lamb is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Faith not well documented. Source: Wikipedia