Vignettes in Verses: 'For one, That might entirely prove the picture of my thought''

Mary Matilda Betham, more usually known as Matilda Betham was born on 16th November 1776, the eldest of fourteen children to the Rev. William Betham and Mary Damant. Matilda was and raised in Stonham Aspal and had a very happy childhood although she was dogged by poor health. She was mainly self-taught, using her father’s library, but with help from him on history and literature.

Her appetite, from a young age, for poetry, plays and history was balanced by being sent out for sewing lessons ‘...