Charlotte M Yonge

Charlotte Yonge is a forgotten author today but she was a very prolific writer in the 19^th Century.  She was born in 1823, in Hampshire, and as a young woman became an ardent disciple of the High Church movement. 

This was a movement which sprang up in the Church of England in the early Victorian era, bent on restoring the Catholic side of the Anglican heritage.  Many clergymen at the time went over to Rome, because of conservative policiatlal and religious views.  They felt that the Church of England had lost its heritage, and that as a state church, it was bound to be affected by the politics of the time, which they saw as frighteningly radical.  Others felt that it was possible to revitalise and re dignify the Church of England, remaining in it and reforming it.  They attracted hostility form “Low church” people, because of their desire to bring in “Catholic” ritual, vestments and practices, such as the use of candles and incense... Many Anglicans and English people in general were very hostile, traditionally to Roman Catholicism and this extended to the increase in Catholic practices within the Anglican Church.

But the movement grew and while it did tend to attract ultra conservative people, it did have a positive side.  The colour and beauty of the ritual was felt to attract people, especially working class people.  Charlotte was the daughter of William Yonge, a country gentleman and was brought up and educated by him.  He was an intelligent but strict man and while she learned a lot from him, she also was somewhat limited, by her close relationship with him.  He was domineering and she looked up to him, and felt it was her duty to be an obedient daughter. She was an intelligent young woman but was afraid to think for herself.  She felt that women might be clever – but the cleverest woman knew she should be modest about her intelligence and use it under male guidance. It has been said that she never married because she could never find a man who matched up to her father.

Charlotte met with John Keble, one of the most famous of the early generation of Anglo Catholic clergymen.   He became a “Pope” to her, an inspiration and guide.  She began to write novels and used them to promote the Anglo catholic movement.    She was a novelist of family life, she also wrote children’s books, histories and historical novels. 

Her strict religious views and her deep conservative rigidity probably prevented her from being a great novelist, but she was a very good one.
In her time, very moralistic novels were popular, as people had high ideals.  so her better ones, like Daisy Chain, Pillars of the House,  Clever woman of the Family, etc., were all read by all sorts of people and loved. She did portray people who might seem improbably virtuous, and her views on women were old fashioned even in the later Victorian age.  But she could write realistic and lovable children, growing up, like Ethel, in Daisy Chain… I haven’t read all her works but I do enjoy some of them.  She’s not really my usual type of writer because she is very moralistic, but she’s an interesting character.  And at times it is nice to read about high ideals.