Ann Radcliffe (née Ward) was born in London on the 9th July 1764, the only child of William and Ann (Oates) Ward, into a family whose “connections”, according to the

(1824), “were of the most respectable description” (Anon 89). William Ward was a haberdasher originally from Leicestershire and Ann’s mother’s family were from Derbyshire. Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd’s “Memoir”, the first biography of Radcliffe, which was prefixed to Radcliffe’s posthumous works published in 1826, also suggests that her parents were “persons of great respectability, who, though engaged in trade, were allied to families of independent fortune and high character” (Talfourd 5). Ann was christened almost five weeks after her birth on the 5th August 1764 in St.…

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Citation: Webber, Caroline. "Ann Radcliffe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3691, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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