Susannah Gunning

Pam Perkins (University of Manitoba)

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), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born c. 1740
Died 1800
Activity 1763-1800

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Poet

Resources

Gunning's Works

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Susannah Minifie Gunning, the daughter of a Somerset Clergyman, was born in 1739 or 1740. She had at least one sister, Margaret, with whom she published two novels,

The History of Lady Frances S. and Lady Caroline S.

(1763) and

The Picture

(1766); both are typical of the sentimental fiction of the 1760s and 70s, filled with melodrama, high emotion, and lengthy declarations of fine feeling. Aside from the fact that she published these novels, along with several others written on her own, almost nothing is known about Susannah Minifie before her 1768 marriage to John Gunning, an officer in the British army. Nor is anything known about her early married life. John Gunning fought in the American Revolution and achieved some distinction, eventually rising to the rank of general. He might have…

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916 words

Citation: Perkins, Pam. "Susannah Gunning". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1915, accessed 25 November 2024.]