Catalogue description Browne, Hemans and Nicholson Correspondence

The correspondence of Mrs. Felicity Browne (d. 1827), Felicia Dorothea Browne (1793-1835), later, from 1812 Mrs. Felicia Hemans, Harriet M. Browne and Matthew Nicholson (1746-1819) (see 920 NIC/10, also pp. 69-77), including MS. poems etc.

The papers listed below had already been bound into one volume prior to their presentation to this library in 1912. This appears to have been undertaken by Frank Nicholson as the spine of the volume is stamped with the initials "F.N.". Within the volume he has arranged the papers according to strict chronological order and this arrangement has not been disturbed in the present listing. Letters, poems, drawings, copy letters are therefore mixed in one sequence but always in date order. Only the two printed items, listed at 920 NIC/29/139 and 920 NIC/29/140 below, have been removed from the volume to relieve pressure on the binding. The poem and letters listed at 920 NIC/29/130 - 19/138 were inserted in this volume after its presentation to this library, probably by virtue of their relevance to its contents. At the front of the volume is Frank Nicholson's MS. list of the contents. The papers are now numbered as follows

The documents and other items listed below were presented to this library in November 1912 by Frank [Francis] Nicholson (1843-1925) (see notes at 920 NIC/18/2/1).

Frank Nicholson, (1843-1925), the donor of these papers, and Matthew Nicholson (1746-1819) who received, wrote and preserved them, shared a common ancestor in Matthew Nicholson (1677-1735/36) of Liverpool (see 920 NIC/1, also pp. 1-12) who was the great-great grandfather of the former and the grandfather of the latter. By virtue of this relationship, Frank Nicholson wrote in his Correspondence between Mrs. Hemans and Matthew Nicholson ... (see 920 NIC/29/140) "... I am possessed of a number of letters addressed by Felicia Dorothea Browne and her mother and sister, to Matthew Nicholson, of Richmond Row, near Liverpool. Mr. Nicholson preserved these letters carefully, and also drafts of many of his replies ...".

Felicia, daughter of George and Felicity Browne, was born in Duke Street, Liverpool in 1793. Her father was a merchant but his business failed and in 1800 he removed his family to Grwrych, near Abergele in Wales. Felicia and her younger sister Harriett are described by Frank Nicholson as "... both precocious children, much given to rhyming ...". It was through the efforts to obtain publication of some of Felicia's poems in 1807 that her mother first entered into correspondence with Matthew Nicholson. Felicia Browne had published three volumes of poetry between 1808 and her marriage to Captain Hemans in 1812. Felicia and Captain Hemans separated in 1818 but throughout her marriage and the rest of her life Mrs. Hemans continued to publish her poetry and some prose essays regularly. By 1828 her health was failing and she left Wales to make her home in Wavertree, Liverpool. She moved to Dublin in 1831 and died there four years later. (For a list of Mrs. Heman's published poetical works, see the Local History Catalogue).

Matthew Nicholson became known to the Browne family through his attempts to write a preface for Felicia's first volume of poetry. At first he corresponded with Mrs. Browne under the pseudonym "One of the Subscribers" but his real identity became known after he had secured the publication, early in 1808, of a work by Felicia's younger sister Harriett, The Infantile Pleasures of Willow-dale. He began corresponding with Harriett, whom he had met in 1808, then in 1809 with Felicia. In 1810 he met Felicia of whom he became very fond. Biographical details of Felicia are given under Hemans, Felicia Dorothea in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 25, 1891, pp. 382-383 and the relationship between Matthew Nicholson and the Brownes is fully described in Frank Nicholson's Correspondence between Mrs. Heman's ... op. cit. (see 920 NIC/29/140).