Hannah Cowley

Antje Blank (University of Glasgow)

Ed. by Janet Todd, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 14 Mar 1743
Died 11 Mar 1809
Activity 1763-1809

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Resources

Hannah Cowley was born Hannah Parkhouse in Tiverton in 1743. Her father Philip Parkhouse, a bookseller with a classical schooling, provided his daughter with a comprehensive education that was rare for young women of her time. Furthermore the shelves in her father’s shop supplied her with all recent publications, and, it seems, she was a voracious reader: her published writings show her well versed in works of classical mythology, Restoration and early eighteenth-century drama, Enlightenment philosophy, political debates, history and military campaigns.

In 1772 she married Thomas Cowley, the son of a Cockermouth bookseller. Income was scarce in their new household: her husband brought home a meagre annual salary of fifty pounds earned at the Stamp Office, which he supplemented with another fifty earned through journalistic work. Hence three years into the marriage, Hannah Cowley...

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1867 words

Citation: Blank, Antje. "Hannah Cowley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1046, accessed 09 June 2026.]