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Module Women's Studies
Title Elizabeth Ham by herself, 1783-1820
Collection Women's Autobiographies
Author Ham, Elizabeth
Date 1945
Library Cambridge University Library
Copyright Material sourced from Cambridge University Library
Original Microfilm Part Part 2: Rare printed autobiographies covering twenty-two womens lives, 1780-1889
Original Microfilm Reel 16
Detailed Description The memoir of Elizabeth Ham (1783-c.1852) contains copious details of her personal life intermixed with important historical events, and other people's reactions to them. Her need for sympathy is evident in all her relationships. Her memoir covers the first forty years of her life and describes visiting her parents, and her mother's favouritism for Anne, author's sister; mother's harshness towards author. Father and uncle enlisting in yeomanry; recalling King George III's visit to family farm and brewery; travelling with parents through Ireland in search of cheap grain for brewery. Author's attending military balls and being courted by Mr Jackson, a military officer; his exposure as an unfaithful cad. Noting changes in women's education, 1790s-1830s; writing The Infants' Grammar, 1820. Ham's narrative reveals contemporary attitudes towards love, marriage and patriotism. She also wrote Elgiva or the Monks, 1824 and The Ford Family in Ireland, 1845.