Giant People:
Hesba Stretton
Hesba Stretton was a best-selling British author of the late nineteenth century who, during a prolific career spanning six decades and 23 novels, pioneered a new realistic style of fiction focussed on the plight of Victorian-era street children. In later life, she became a prominent social reformer and campaigner, influencing child labour reform and helping found the (London) National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
The Wellington Connection
Hesba Stretton (real name, Sarah Smith) was born in Wellington in 1832. The daughter of a New Street postmaster and bookseller, she worked in the family shop while cultivating a dual career as a writer before leaving for Manchester in 1863. Her fourth novel Jessica’s First Prayer (1866) sold over one and half million copies, was translated into 13 languages, and established her as a popular author whose fans included Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale.
Why Is It Important
Sarah’s work in the town centre post office brought her into contact with a wide circle of customers, in a place where both tenement slums and Georgian townhouses were a short walk from her front door. Those experiences helped shape her concerns as a writer, while her strict religious upbringing in this local cradle of Methodism strongly influenced the moral tone of her work. The surrounding Shropshire countryside also figured heavily in her early novels, and her pen name was an acronym of her siblings’ initials and the nearby town of Church Stretton, where she had many relatives.
The Wellington Connection
Hesba Stretton (real name, Sarah Smith) was born in Wellington in 1832. The daughter of a New Street postmaster and bookseller, she worked in the family shop while cultivating a dual career as a writer before leaving for Manchester in 1863. Her fourth novel Jessica’s First Prayer (1866) sold over one and half million copies, was translated into 13 languages, and established her as a popular author whose fans included Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale.
Why Is It Important
Sarah’s work in the town centre post office brought her into contact with a wide circle of customers, in a place where both tenement slums and Georgian townhouses were a short walk from her front door. Those experiences helped shape her concerns as a writer, while her strict religious upbringing in this local cradle of Methodism strongly influenced the moral tone of her work. The surrounding Shropshire countryside also figured heavily in her early novels, and her pen name was an acronym of her siblings’ initials and the nearby town of Church Stretton, where she had many relatives.
Giant Steps
At 14 New Street, a blue plaque marking Sarah’s birthplace is mounted upon the premises that housed the former Smith family business. Ill health ensured that much of her childhood education took place on the shelves of the family bookshop but she did attend Martha Cranage’s Day School for Girls, situated on the outskirts of town at Old Hall. Equidistant between the two, in New Hall Road, is the New Hall from which the street takes its name.
Supposedly the first Mission Hall in England, Sarah was directly involved in fundraising for the building and attended the laying of its foundation stone in June 1862 (which can still be seen in its façade). Around the corner in High Street is the former Methodist Church the Smith family attended.
Elsewhere
To read an appreciation of Sarah’s early years at 14 New Street, click here