The Poetry of Amelia Opie: Celebrated poet and leading anti slavery activist from the 18th century

Amelia Alderson, an only child, was born on the 12th of November 1769 in Norwich, England.

After the death of her mother the teenage Amelia became her father's housekeeper and hostess.

The young Amelia was energetic, attractive, and an admirer of fashion. She spent much of her youth writing poetry and plays and putting on local amateur theatricals. At 18 she had published anonymously `The Dangers of Coquetry'.

Amelia married in the spring of 1798 to the artist John Opie at the Church of St Mar...