Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, later known as Mary Shelley, was born on August 30, 1797. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary's mother died less than two weeks after she was born, and she was raised in her early years by her father, who provided her with an informal but rich education. Despite never knowing her mother, she read her works and cherished and revered her memory. When she was four, her father married their neighbour, Mary Clairmont, but step-mother and daughter would have a difficult relationship.

In 1814, Mary caused a scandal by starting a romance with one of her father's political followers, who was already married but estranged from his wife, Percy Bysshe Shelley. They had secret meetings at the graveyard where her mother was buried and fell deeply in love, despite her father’s most outspoken disapproval. Mary, her step-sister Claire Clairmont, and Percy left England to avoid the outrage over their relationship. They travelled all through Europe, and on their return to England, Mary discovered she was pregnant with Percy's child. The couple were ostracised from society for over two years. Deeply mourning the death of their prematurely born daughter, they married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy’s first wife, Harriet.

In 1816, the couple, along with Claire Clairmont, famously spent a summer with Lord Byron and John William Polidori near Geneva, Switzerland, where Shelley conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. In 1818, the Shelleys left England, moving to Italy. They lost two more children before Mary gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. But more sadness was to come for Mary when, in 1822, her husband Percy drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm. Mary returned to England and devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. While she wrote and published several novels, Frankenstein has become, without doubt, the most successful and is synonymous with her name. She spent the last ten years of her life in poor health, suffering from several conditions, possibly due to the brain tumour that killed her at age 53.

Sources:

The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814–44, ed. Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction, Betty T. Bennett

Mary Shelley's Early Novels, Jane Blumberg