Hannah Cowley

Antje Blank (University of Glasgow)

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 p

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First published 29 April 2004

Citation: Blank, Antje. "Hannah Cowley". The Literary Encyclopedia. 29 April 2004

[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1046, accessed 30 July 2010.]

Life, Works and Times

Dates:

1743 to 1809 (Life Span)
1763 to 1809 (Activity Span)

Places:

England (Birth)
England (Primary Activity)

Activities:

Dramatist/ Playwright (Primary)
Poet (Primary)