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Francis Wayland Ayer (February 4, 1848 – March 5, 1923) was an American advertising businessman.

Ayer was born to Nathaniel Wheeler Ayer and Joanna B. Wheeler in Lee, Massachusetts, though he was raised in western New York. Ayer taught in district schools and spent one year studying at the University of Rochester before moving to Philadelphia. There he was hired by a religious newspaper for the position of an advertising solicitor, but by 1867 he and his father founded their own company, N. W. Ayer & Son. Besides themselves, they began with only a bookkeeper and US$25.

In 1873 his father Nathaniel died, leaving him to become the senior partner of the company. Two years later he married his first wife, Rhandera Gilman. That same year he introduced the "open contract".

In 1914 his first wife died, and five years later he remarried Martha K. Lawson.

References[link]

• Ingham, John N. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders A-G. Greenwook Publishing Group, 1983. ISBN 0-313-21362-3 p. 31-32

External links[link]

• Biography at the Center for Interactive Advertising

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Alain Delon
Delon in 2011
Born	Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (1935-11-08) 8 November 1935 (age 76) Sceaux, France
Citizenship	French, Swiss (since 1999)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–present
Spouse	Nathalie Barthélemy (m. 1964-69)
Partner	Romy Schneider (1959-63) Mireille Darc (1968-82) Rosalie van Breemen (1987-2002)
Children	Christian Aaron Boulogne, born on (1962-08-11) 11 August 1962 (age 49) Anthony Delon, born on (1964-09-30) 30 September 1964 (age 47) Anouchka Delon, born on (1990-11-25) 25 November 1990 (age 21) Alain Delon Jr., born on (1994-03-18) 18 March 1994 (age 18)
Website
alaindelon.ch

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (French pronunciation: [alɛ̃ dəlɔ̃]; born 8 November 1935) is a French-Swiss actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot. Over the course of his career, Delon has worked with many well-known directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni and Louis Malle.

Delon acquired Swiss citizenship on September 23, 1999, and the company managing products sold under his name is based in Geneva. He is a citizen of the community of Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva.

Early life[link]

Delon was born in Sceaux, Seine (now Hauts-de-Seine), Île-de-France, a suburb of Paris. His parents, Édith (née Arnold) and Fabien Delon, divorced when Delon was four.^[1] Both remarried, and Delon has a half-sister and two half-brothers. He attended a Roman Catholic^[2] boarding school, the first of several schools from which he was expelled because of unruly behavior. Teachers once tried to convince him to enter the priesthood because of his aptitude in religious studies.

At 14, Delon left school, and worked for a brief time at his stepfather's butcher shop. He enlisted in the French Navy three years later, and in 1953/54 he served as a fusilier marin in the First Indochina War. Delon has said that out of his four years of military service he spent 11 months in prison for being "undisciplined". In 1956, after being dishonorably discharged from the military, he returned to France. He didn't have any money, and got by on whatever employment he could find. He spent time working as a waiter, a porter, a secretary and a sales clerk. During this time he became friends with the actress Brigitte Auber, and joined her on a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where his film career would begin.

Career[link]

At Cannes, Delon was seen by a talent scout for David O. Selznick. After a screen test Selznick offered him a contract, provided he learned English. Delon returned to Paris to study the language, but when he met French director Yves Allégret, he was convinced that he should stay in France to begin his career. Selznick allowed Delon to cancel his contract,^{[citation needed]} and Allégret gave him his debut in the film Quand la Femme s'en Mêle (When the Woman Butts In). Delon then appeared in the film Faibles Femmes (Women Are Weak/Three Murderesses). This was also the very first of his films to be seen in America, where it became a huge success.

In 1960, Delon appeared in René Clément's Purple Noon, which was based on the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. He played protagonist Tom Ripley to critical acclaim; Highsmith herself was also a fan of his portrayal.^[3] He then appeared in Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said Delon's work was : "touchingly pliant and expressive." John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said:

"Rocco's heartbroken steadfastness furnishes the film with the foremost of its ironic tragedies ... [I]ts believability rests finally on Mr. Delon's compelling performance."

Delon made his stage debut in 1961 in John Ford’s play Tis Pity She’s a Whore alongside Romy Schneider in Paris. Visconti directed the production. Delon would work with him again for Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). Delon also worked with Jean-Pierre Melville, who directed him in Un Flic, Le Cercle Rouge, and Le Samouraï.

In 1964, the Cinémathèque Française held a showcase of Delon's films and Delon started a production company, Delbeau Production, with Georges Beaume. They produced a film called L’insoumis, which had to be re-edited because of legal issues. Delon then started his own production company, Adel, and starred in the company’s first film, Jeff. Delon followed the success of the film with Borsalino, which became one of France’s highest grossing films of the time. In 1973, he made a duet with the French pop singer Dalida on "Paroles, paroles". He also played Johnston McCulley's popular masked hero in 1975's Zorro. In 1976, Delon starred in Monsieur Klein, which won him the César awards (French equivalent of Oscars).

Alain Delon at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

He was awarded the Best Actor César Award for his role in Bertrand Blier's Notre histoire (1984), and portrayed the aristocratic dandy Baron de Charlus in a film adaptation of Marcel Proust's novel Swann in Love in the same year. Then followed a string of box office failures in the late 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the failure of Patrice Leconte's Une chance sur deux. Delon announced his decision to give up acting in 1997, although he still occasionally accepts roles.

In 1990, he worked with auteur Jean-Luc Godard, on Nouvelle vague, in which he played twins. In 2003, the Walter Reade Theater showed a series of Delon's films under the aegis, Man in the Shadows: The Films of Alain Delon.

Products[link]

Since the formation of a perfume label in his name, Delon has had a variety of products sold under his name including wristwatches, clothing, eyewear, stationery and cigarettes.^[4]

Delon's sunglasses brand became particularly popular in Hong Kong after actor Chow Yun-fat wore them in the 1986 crime film A Better Tomorrow (as well as two sequels). Delon reportedly wrote a letter thanking Chow for helping the sunglasses sell out in the region.^[5] The film's director John Woo has acknowledged Delon as one of his idols and wrote a short essay on Le Samourai as well as Le Cercle Rouge for the Criterion Collection DVD releases.^[6]

Relationships[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2012)

On 20 March 1959, Delon was engaged to actress Romy Schneider, whom he met when they co-starred in the film Christine (1958). During their relationship, he had an affair with German actress, singer and model Nico. On 11 August 1962, Nico gave birth to a son, Christian Aaron "Ari", fathered by Delon. The child was raised mostly by Delon's parents. Nico died in 1988, from a bicycling accident.

In December 1963, Schneider and Delon decided to break the engagement. On 13 August 1964, Delon married Nathalie Barthélemy. Their son, Anthony Delon, was born in September. The couple divorced on 14 February 1969.

In 1968, during the shooting of the film Jeff, he met French actress Mireille Darc with whom he started a 15-year relationship, lasting until 1982.

In 1987, Delon met Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen on the shooting of the video clip for his song "Comme au cinéma" and started a relationship. They had two children: Anouschka (25 November 1990) and Alain-Fabien (18 March 1994). The relationship ended in October 2002.

Alain Delon lives in Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland with his two youngest children.

Honours[link]

• At the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, he won the Honorary Golden Bear.^[7]
• At the 60th Cannes Film Festival, he presented the Best Actress Award to South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon for her role in Lee Chang Dong's Secret Sunshine. She became the first South Korean to win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
• At the 2008 César Awards on February 22, 2008, he presented the César Award for Best Actress to Marion Cotillard, who two days later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for La Vie En Rose.
• Delon appears on the cover of the 1986 album The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths.
• He was made Officier (Officer) of the Ordre national du Mérite in 1995.^[8]
• He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur on 21 February 1991.^[9] He was promoted to Officier (Officer) in 2005.^[9]

Filmography[link]

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: chronological order (should be oldest to newest). Please help improve this section if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (February 2012)

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Film portal
	Television portal
	Theatre portal

• List of French actors
• List of Swiss people

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alain Delon

• alaindelon.ch, his official website
• Alain Delon at the Internet Movie Database

v t e César Award for Best Actor 1976 Philippe Noiret · 1977 Michel Galabru · 1978 Jean Rochefort · 1979 Michel Serrault · 1980 Claude Brasseur · 1981 Gérard Depardieu · 1982 Michel Serrault · 1983 Philippe Léotard · 1984 Coluche · 1985 Alain Delon · 1986 Christophe Lambert · 1987 Daniel Auteuil · 1988 Richard Bohringer · 1989 Jean-Paul Belmondo · 1990 Philippe Noiret · 1991 Gérard Depardieu · 1992 Jacques Dutronc · 1993 Claude Rich · 1994 Pierre Arditi · 1995 Gérard Lanvin · 1996 Michel Serrault · 1997 Philippe Torreton · 1998 André Dussollier · 1999 Jacques Villeret · 2000 Daniel Auteuil · 2001 Sergi López · 2002 Michel Bouquet · 2003 Adrien Brody · 2004 Omar Sharif · 2005 Mathieu Amalric · 2006 Michel Bouquet · 2007 François Cluzet · 2008 Mathieu Amalric · 2009 Vincent Cassel · 2010 Tahar Rahim · 2011 Éric Elmosnino · 2012 Omar Sy

Tito Rojas
Background information
Also known as	El Gallo
Born	(1955-06-14) June 14, 1955 (age 57)
Origin	Humacao, Puerto Rico
Genres	Salsa
Years active	1978 - present

Tito Rojas a.k.a. "El Gallo Salsero" (The Salsa Rooster), (born June 14, 1955) is a salsa singer and bandleader.

Early years[link]

Rojas {birth name: Julio César Rojas) was born and raised in the town of Humacao, Puerto Rico, which is located on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. There, he received his primary and secondary education. He enjoyed singing to his family and he would also sing the latest salsa tunes with his friends.

Singing career[link]

In 1975, he auditioned with Pedro Conga and his International Orchestra and was hired as a singer. After a short while, he left the band and joined the "Conjunto Borincuba", conducted by Justo Betancourt, as lead singer. With this band, he participated in the recording of Con Amor (With Love), which became a "hit" in 1978.

That same year Rojas joined the Fania All-Stars and had a "hit" song with El Campesino (The Farmer). After spending some time with the Fania All-Stars, Rojas decided to form his own band the "Conjunto Borincano", but the venture was short lived. In 1987 and 1989, he had hits with the salsa versions of the ballards Noche de Bodas (Wedding Night), and Quiereme Como Soy (Love me the way I am). These were accomplished after he joined the "Puerto Rican Power" band.

In 1990, Rojas went "solo" and recorded Condename (1990) and A Mi Estilo (My Style) (1994), however it was his 1995 recording Por Propio Derecho (On my own right), that placed Rojas on the Latin Billboards hit list. He gained the recognition he always wanted when he won a double Platinum Record Award, the Paoli Prize for "Best Salsa Artist of the Year" and an "ACE" Award.

In 1996, Rojas had hits with Humildemente (Humbly) and Pal' Pueblo (For my town), he also released 20th Aniversario, Alegrias y Penas and Navidad con Tito in 1999.

Recordings[link]

External audio
	You may listen to Tito Rojas' "A Ti Volvere " here.

The following are some of Rojas recordings:

• Aquí Empezó la Historia (1972)
• Con Amor (1978)
• Aquí (1979)
• Con Velo y Corona (1980)
• Tito Rojas (1981)
• El Campesino (1984)
• Todo Ha Cambiado (1984)
• Tres Mujeres (with Puerto Rican Power) (1987)
• Sensual (1990)
• Solo Con Un Beso (with Puerto Rican Power) (1991)
• Condéname (1992)
• A Mi Estilo (1993)
• Live Salsa Festival de Curazao (1994)
• Por Derecho Propio (1995)
• Humildemente (1996)
• Pal' Pueblo (1997)
• Salsa Mixes y Más Mixes (1997)
• Alegrías y Penas (1999)
• Navidad Con Tito Rojas (1999)
• 20th Anniversary (1999)
• 10 Aniversario (1999)
• Rompiendo Noches (2000)
• Quiero Llegar a Casa (2001)
• Auténticamente en Vivo (2001)
• Canta el Gallo (2003)
• El de Siempre (2003)
• Perseverencia (2003)
• Tradicional (2004)
• Borrón y Cuenta Nueva (2005)
• Mejor Que Siempre (2006)
• Éxitos y Más (2007)
• Sin Comentarios (2007)
• Solamente Éxitos (2009)
• Vida (2010)
• Independiente (2011)

Currently[link]

In 2002, Rojas and his band performed and recorded "live" from Las Vegas, Nevada. The album is titled Tito Rojas Live: Autenticamente En Vivo with Roberto Roena as a special guest on the bongos. His latest album Sin Commentarios was released in 2007.

See also[link]

	Puerto Rico portal
	Biography portal

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links[link]

• www.musicofpuertorico.com Music of Puerto Rico
• www.mponline.com

Béatrice Martin
Coeur de Pirate, Rialto Theater, Montreal, November 2011.
Background information
Also known as	Cœur de pirate
Born	(1989-09-22) September 22, 1989 (age 22)
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Indie pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Piano
Labels	Grosse Boîte, Barclay Records
Associated acts	Bonjour Brumaire, Indochine, Nicola Sirkis, Julien Doré, Bedouin Soundclash, Armistice
Website	Coeur de pirate
Notable instruments
Piano

Cœur de pirate (French for "Pirate Heart") is the stage name for Béatrice Martin (born September 22, 1989), a singer-songwriter from Quebec, Canada. In a report broadcast on the French second public channel^[1], she explained she "chose such a name not to appear as an isolated musician, but to get a band identity from the start".

Career[link]

She started playing the piano when she was only three years old, and later played as a keyboardist in the post-hardcore band December Strikes First when she was 15 years old. After a brief stint as keyboardist for Bonjour Brumaire,^[2] she released her debut album Cœur de pirate in 2008 on Grosse Boîte. The album was subsequently nominated for Francophone Album of the Year at the 2009 Juno Awards.

She attracted wider media attention in February 2009 when Francis Vachon, a photographer from Quebec City, used her song "Ensemble" as the soundtrack to a popular YouTube video depicting his baby son playing with toys, leading to coverage on Good Morning America.^[3]

In March 2009, Martin started an English side-project called Pearls, but hasn't taken it any further since then. She was seen performing with Jay Malinowski in May 2010 on Q, and talked about collaborating with him in the future.

In June 2009, she made a special appearance of CBC Radio's Q radio show with Jian Ghomeshi. She performed her single "Ensemble" and a new song, titled "Place de la république".

Cœur de pirate received a 2009 CBC Radio 3 "Bucky" award determined by listener votes. Her song "Comme des Enfants" received the 2009 "Bucky" award for "Best Reason to Learn French".^[4]

In March 2010, Cœur de pirate received the award for best original song for "Comme des enfants" at the Victoires de la Musique, France's equivalent of the Grammys.^[5]

Until 2010, she sang in French exclusively. Also in 2010, Cœur de pirate was featured in "Brutal Hearts", a song from the Bedouin Soundclash album Light the Horizon (her first song in English), and she contributed a new song, "La Reine", to the 2010 edition of CBC Radio 2's Great Canadian Song Quest. Martin, Bedouin Soundclash's Jay Malinowski and several members of the American rock band The Bronx subsequently collaborated on a five-song EP under the band name Armistice, which was released on February 15, 2011.^[6]

On March 27, 2011, Cœur de pirate revealed via her Facebook page that she was to return to the studio to commence work on her second album the following day. She confirmed on September 12, 2011 that her next album, titled Blonde, would be released November 7, 2011 in both digital and hard copy versions.^[7]

Collaborations[link]

Cœur de pirate has appeared in concert with French singer Julien Doré, performing a duet of the Rihanna hit "Umbrella." In 2009, she recorded a new version of her song "Pour un infidèle", with Doré featured as the male vocalist. They appeared together in the video for the song, styled as a 1960s-era celebrity couple.

Cœur de pirate contributed vocals on "Brutal Hearts", the fourth track on the 2010 Bedouin Soundclash album Light the Horizon. Frontman Jay Malinowski and Coeur de Pirate subsequently collaborated under the band name Armistice, releasing a five-track self-titled album on February 11, 2011.

She also appeared in Peter Peter's eponymous debut album Peter Peter in the song "Tergiverse".

Personal life[link]

On February 29, 2012, Béatrice revealed on her Facebook page that she and her partner Alex are expecting a baby, due at the end of the summer. She added that she would continue performing concerts until July 2012.

As said on her Facebook page: "J'ai le bonheur de vous annoncer que moi et mon amoureux Alex attendons un enfant pour la fin de l'été. Ceci étant dit, je continue mes concerts jusqu'en juillet". ("I am happy to announce that I and my love Alex expect a child to the end of the summer. That being said, I continue my concerts until July".)

Controversy[link]

In July 2009, it was revealed that Béatrice Martin had been a nude model for the alt-porn website GodsGirls when she was a minor, under the name Bea.^[8] About 800 naked pictures were featured on the website for many months. GodsGirls removed the pictures at her record company's request when she signed her contract, but the pictures keep reappearing on the web via some blogs and forums throughout the years.

In November 2009, she confessed, on the set of the TV show Tout le monde en parle, that these pictures were taken two and a half years before, confirming that she was a minor at the time, and said that she was young.^[9]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2008: Cœur de pirate (Quebec / Canada release) 2009: (French / European release) - #2 FRA, #4 BEL (Wa), #35 SWI
• 2011: Blonde (November 7, 2011) - (#5 CAN, #5 FRA, #2 BEL (Wa), #72 BEL (VI), #62 Austria, #25 SWI)

Singles[link]

• 2009: "Comme des enfants"
• 2010: "Pour un infidèle" (with Julien Doré)
• 2011: "Adieu"
• 2012: "Golden Baby"

References[link]

External links[link]

• (French) Coeur de pirate
• Cœur de pirate on Myspace
• pearls on Myspace
• An English interview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL5k8LJHWuc

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Born	Frances Eliza Hodgson (1849-11-24)November 24, 1849 Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Died	October 29, 1924(1924-10-29) (aged 74) Plandome, New York United States

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden (published in 1911), A Little Princess (published in 1905), and Little Lord Fauntleroy (published in 1885-6).

Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, near Manchester, England. After her father died in 1852, the family eventually fell on straightened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling near Knoxville, Tennessee. There, Frances began writing to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines from the age of 19. In 1870 her mother died and in 1872 she married Swan Burnett, who became a medical doctor after which they lived in Paris for two years where their two sons were born before returning to the US to live in Washington D.C. There she began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowries), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.

Burnett enjoyed socializing and lived a lavish lifestyle. Beginning in the 1880s, she began to travel to England frequently and bought a home there in the 1890s where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her oldest son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1892, which caused a relapse of the depression she struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898 and married Stephen Townsend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. Towards the end of her life she settled in Long Island, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery, on Long Island.

In 1936 a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honour in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.

Biography[link]

Childhood in Manchester[link]

Frances Eliza Hodgson was born at 141 York Street, Cheetham, Manchester, Lancashire, England, the third of five children of Edwin Hodgson, an ironmonger from Doncaster in Yorkshire, and his wife Eliza Boond, from a well-to-do Manchester family. Hodgson owned a business in Deansgate, selling quality ironmongery and brass goods. The family lived comfortably, employing a maid and a nurse-maid.^[1] Frances was the middle of the five Hodgson children, with two older brothers and two younger sisters.^[2]

In 1852 the family moved to a more spacious home with greater access to outdoor space.^[3] Barely a year later, with his wife pregnant for a fifth time, Hodgson died of a stroke, leaving the family without income. Frances was cared for by her grandmother while her mother took over running the family business. From her grandmother, who bought her books, Frances learned to love reading, in particular her first book The Flower Book which had coloured illustrations and poems. Because of their reduced income, Eliza had to give up their house and moved with her children to Seedley Grove, near Pendleton; there they lived with relatives in a home that included a large enclosed garden, in which Frances enjoyed playing.^[4]

For a year Frances went to a small school run by two women, where she first saw a book about fairies. When her mother moved the family to Salford, Frances mourned the lack of flowers and gardens. Their home was located in Islington Square, adjacent to an area with severe overcrowding and poverty, that "defied description", as described by Friedrich Engels who lived in Manchester at the time.^[5]

Frances had an active imagination, writing stories she made up in old notebooks. One of her favorite books was Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and she spent many hours acting out scenes from that book.^[6] Frances and her siblings were sent to be educated at The Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Gentleman, where she was described as "precocious" and "romantic".^[7] She had an active social life and enjoyed telling stories to her friends and cousins; in her mother she found a good audience, although her brothers had a tendency to tease her about her stories.^[8] Frances continued her education at the Select Seminary until she was aged fifteen.

Manchester was almost entirely dependent on a cotton economy which was ruined by the American Civil War.^[9] In 1863 Eliza Hodgson was forced to sell their business and move the family once again to an even smaller home; at that time Frances' limited education came to an end. Eliza's brother asked the family to join him in America in Knoxville to where he had emigrated and now had a thriving dry goods store. Within the year Eliza decided to accept his offer and move the family from Manchester,^[10]. She sold their possessions and told Frances to burn her early writings in the fire.^[9] In 1865, when Frances was sixteen, the family emigrated to the US, settling near Knoxville, Tennessee.

Move to Tennessee[link]

After the end of the war and the trade it brought to the area, Eliza's brother lost much of his business and was unable to provide for the newly arrived family.^[11] The family went to live in a log cabin during their first winter in New Market, outside of Knoxville, later moving to a home Frances called "Noah's Ark, Mt. Ararat".^[2][12] Living across from them was the Burnett family, and Frances became friendly with Swan Burnett whom she introduced to books and authors such as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and William Makepeace Thackeray she had read in England. She may have befriended him because of a childhood injury that left him lame and unable to participate in physical activities. Not long after they met, he left for Ohio to college.^[13]

Frances turned to writing to earn money, with her first story published in Godey's Lady's Book in 1868. Soon after, she was being published regularly in Godey's Lady's Book, Scribner's Monthly, Peterson's Ladies' Magazine and Harper's Bazaar.^[2] She wanted to escape from the family's poverty, and tended to overwork herself, later calling herself "a pen driving machine" during her early years of writing. For five years she wrote constantly, often not worrying about the quality of her work.^[14] Once her first story was published, before she was 18, she spent the rest of her life as a working writer.^[15] By 1869 she had earned enough to move the family into a better home in Knoxville.^[16]

Her mother died in 1870, and within two years two of her sisters and a brother were married. Although she remained friends with Swan, neither was in a hurry to be married.^[17]

Marriage[link]

With the income from her writing she returned to England for an extended visit in 1872,^[2] and then went to Paris where she had a couture dress made to be shipped to Tennessee, having agreed to marry Swan. She returned home before the dress arrived and attempted to postpone the wedding, but Swan insisted they marry as soon as possible. The two were married in September, 1873. Writing about the dress disappointment to a Manchester friend, she said of her new husband: "Men are so shallow ... he does not know the vital importance of the difference between white satin and tulle, and cream coloured brocade".^[18] Within the year she gave birth to her first child, Lionel, in September 1874. Also during that year she began work on her first full length novel, That Lass o' Lowries, set in Lancashire.^[19]

The couple wanted to leave Knoxville, and her writing income was enough for them to travel to Paris where Swan continued his medical training as an eye and ear specialist. The birth of their second child Vivian forced them to return to the United States.^[12] She had wanted her second child to be a girl, and having chosen the name Vivien, changed to the masculine spelling for her new son. The family continued to rely on her writing income and to economize she made clothing for her boys, often including many frills.^[20] Later, Burnett continued to make clothing, designing velvet suits with lace collars for her boys, and frilly dresses for herself. She allowed her sons' hair to grow long, which she then shaped into long curls.^[20]

Washington D.C.[link]

After two years in Paris, the family intended to move to Washington D.C. where Swan - now qualified as a doctor - wanted to start his medical practice.^[2] However they were in debt, so Frances was forced to live with Swan's parents in New Market while he established himself in Washington D.C. Early in 1877 she was offered a contract to have That Lass o' Lowries published, which was doing well in its serialization, and at that point she made her husband her business manager.^[21] That Lass o' Lowries was published to good reviews, and the rights were sold for a British edition. Shortly after the publication of the book, she joined her husband in Washington, D.C., where she established a household and friends.^[22] She continued to write, becoming known as a rising young novelist. Despite the difficulties of raising a family and settling in to a new city, Burnett began work on Haworth's which was published in 1879, as well as writing a dramatic interpretation of That Lass o' Lowrie in response to a pirated stage version presented in London. After a visit to Boston in 1879 where she met Louisa May Alcott, and Mary Mapes Dodge, editor of children's magazine St. Nicholas, Burnett began to write children's fiction. For the next five years she had published several short works in St. Nicholas. Burnett continued to write adult fiction as well: Louisiana was published in 1880; A Fair Barbarian in 1881; and Through One Administration in 1883.^[2] However, as had happened earlier in Knoxville, she felt the pressure of maintaining a household, caring for children and a husband, and keeping to her writing schedule, which caused exhaustion and depression.^[22]

Within a few years Burnett became well known in Washington society and hosted a literary salon on Tuesday evenings, often attended by politicians, as well as local literati.^[23] Swan's practice grew and had a good reputation, but his income lagged behind hers, forcing her to believe she had to continue writing.^[12] Unfortunately she was often ill and suffered from the heat of Washington D.C., which she escaped whenever possible. In the early 1880s she became interested in Christian Science as well as Spiritualism and Theosophy. These beliefs would have an effect on her later life as well as being incorporated into her later fiction.^[2] She was a devoted mother and took great joy in her two sons. She doted on their appearance, continuing the practice of curling their long hair each day, which became the inspiration for Little Lord Fauntleroy.^[12]

In 1884 she began work on Little Lord Fauntleroy with the serialization beginning in 1885 in St. Nicholas, and the publication in book form in 1886. Little Lord Fauntleroy received good reviews, became a best-seller in the United States and England, was translated into 12 languages, and secured Burnett's reputation as a writer.^[2] The story features a boy who dresses in elaborate velvet suits and wears his long hair in curls.^[23] The central character, Cedric, was modeled on Burnett's younger son Vivian, and the autobiographical aspects of Little Lord Fauntleroy occasionally led to disparaging remarks from the press. After the publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy, Burnett's reputation as a writer of children's books was fully established. In 1888 she won a lawsuit in England over the dramatic rights to Little Lord Fauntleroy, establishing a precedent that was incorporated into British copyright law in 1911. In response to a second incident of pirating her material into a dramatic piece, she wrote The Real Little Lord Fountleroy which was produced on stage in London and on Broadway.^[2] The play went on to make her as much money as the book.^[23]

Return to England[link]

In 1887 Burnett traveled to England for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, which became the first of yearly transatlantic trips from the United States to England.^[2] Accompanied by her sons, she visited tourist attractions such as Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. In her rented rooms she continued the Tuesday evening salon and soon attracted visitors, meeting Stephen Townsend for the first time. Despite her busy schedule, she felt ill from the heat and the crowds of tourists, spending protracted periods in bed.^[24] With her sons, she moved on to spend the winter in Florence where she wrote The Fortunes of Philippa Fairfax, the only book to be published in England but not in the United States.^[24] That winter Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's was published in the United States.^[25] She would go on to make Sara Crewe into a stage play, and later rewrite the story into A Little Princess.^[2] In 1888, Burnett returned to Manchester where she leased a large home off Cromwell Road, had it decorated, and then turned it over to cousins to run as a boarding house, after which she moved to London where she again took rooms, enjoyed the London season, and prepared Phyllisfor production, a stage adaptation of The Fortunes of Philippa Fairfax. When the play ran she was disappointed by the bad reviews, and turned to socializing. During this period she began to see more of Stephen Townsend, whom she had met during the Jubilee year.^[26]

In 1890 Burnett's oldest son Lionel died from consumption in Paris, which greatly affected her life and her writing.^[2] Before his death, she sought a cure from physicians and took him to Germany to visit spas.^[27] After his death before she sank into a deep depression, she wrote in a letter to a friend that her writing was insignificant in comparison to having been the mother of two boys, one of whom died.^[28] At this time she turned away from her traditional faith in the Church of England and embraced Spiritualism and Christian Science.^[12] She returned to London where she sought the distraction of charity work and formed the Drury Lane Boys' Club, hosting an opening in February 1892. Also during this period she wrote a play with a starring role for Stephen Townsend in an attempt to begin his acting career.^[29] After a two year absence from her Washington, D.C. home, her husband, and her younger son, Burnett returned there in March 1892, where she continued charity work and began writing again.^[30] In 1893, Burnett published an autobiography, devoted to her eldest son, titled The One I Knew Best of All.^[2] Also in that year, she had a set of her books displayed at the Chicago World Fair.^[31]

Divorce and move to Great Maytham Hall[link]

Burnett returned to London in 1894; there she heard news that her younger son Vivian was ill, so she quickly went back to the US. Vivian recovered from his illness, but missed his first term at Harvard University. Burnett stayed with him until he was well, then returned to London. At this time she began to worry about her finances: she was paying for Vivian's education; keeping a house in Washington D.C. (Swan had moved out of the house to his own apartment); and keeping a home in London. As she had in the past, she turned to writing as a source of income and began to write A Lady of Quality.^[32] A Lady of Quality, published in 1896, was to become the first of a series of successful adult historical novels, which was followed in 1899 with In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim; and in 1901 she had published The Making of a Marchioness and The Methods of Lady Walderhurst.^[2]

In 1898, when Vivian graduated from Harvard, she divorced Swan Burnett.^[2] Officially the cause for the divorce was given to be desertion, but actually Burnett and Swan had orchestrated the dissolution of their marriage some years earlier. Swan took his own apartment and ceased to live with Burnett, so that after a period of two years she could plead desertion as a reason for the divorce. The press was critical, calling her a New Woman, with the Washington Post writing the divorce resulted from Burnett's "advanced ideas regarding the duties of a wife and the rights of women".^[33]

Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1901

From the mid-1890s she lived in England at Great Maytham Hall—which had a large garden where she indulged her love for flowers—where she made her home for the next decade, although she continued annual transatlantic trips to the United States.^[2] Maytham Hall resembled a feudal manor house which enchanted Burnett.^[12] She socialized in the local villages, and enjoyed the country life. She filled the house with guests, and had Stephen Townsend move in with her, causing the local vicar to become scandalized with her lifestyle.^[34] In February 1900 she married Stephen Townsend.^[35]

Remarriage and later life[link]

The marriage took place in Genoa, Italy, and couple went to Pegli for their honeymoon, where they endured two weeks of steady rain. Burnett's biographer, Gretchen Gerzina writes of the marriage, "it was the biggest mistake of her life".^[35] The press stressed the age difference—Townsend was ten years younger than she—and referred to him as her secretary.^[35] Biographer Ann Thwaite doubts he loved her. She claims at that time the 50-year-old Burnett was "stout, rouged and unhealthy". Thwaite believes Townsend needed her to help with his acting career and support him financially. Within months, in a letter to her sister, she admitted the marriage was in trouble. She described Townsend as scarcely sane and hysterical. Thwaite argues Townsend blackmailed her into the marriage: he wanted money from her and he wanted to control her as a husband.^[36]

Unable to bear the thought of continuing to live with Townsend at Maytham, Burnett rented a house in London for the winter of 1900-1901. There she socialized with friends and wrote. She worked on two books simultaneously: The Shuttle, a longer and more complicated book; and The Making of a Marchioness, which she wrote in a few weeks and published to good reviews. In the spring of 1901, when she returned to the country, Townsend tried to replace her long-time publisher Scribner's with a publishing house offering a larger advance.^[37] In 1902, after a summer of socializing and filling Maytham with house-guests, she suffered a physical collapse that autumn. She returned to America, and in the winter of 1902 entered a sanatorium. There she told Townsend she would no longer live with him, and the marriage ended.^[38]

The Secret Garden

She returned to Maytham two years later in June 1904.^[39] Maytham Hall had a series of walled gardens and in the rose garden she wrote several books; it was there she had the idea for The Secret Garden. In 1905 A Little Princess was published, after she had reworked the play into a novel.^[2] Once again Burnett turned to writing to increase her income. She lived an extravagant lifestyle, spending money on expensive clothing.^[12]

In 1907, she returned permanently to the United States, having become a citizen in 1905, and in the Plandome Park section of Plandome Manor, Long Island she built a home, completed in 1908. Her son Vivian was employed in the publishing business and at his request she agreed to be editor for Children's Magazine. Over the next several years she had published in Children's Magazine a number of shorter works. In 1911 she had The Secret Garden published.^[2] In her later years she maintained the summer home on Long Island, and a winter home in Bermuda.^[12] The Lost Prince was published in 1915, and The Head of the House of Coombe was published in 1922.^[2]

Burnett lived for the last 17 years of her life in Plandome Manor, New York,^[40] where she died on 29 October 1924, aged 74.^[2] She is buried in Roslyn Cemetery nearby, next to her son Vivian.

Reception[link]

During the serialization of Little Lord Fauntloroy in St. Nicholas magazine, readers looked forward to new installments. The fashions in the book became popular with velvet Lord Fauntleroy suits being sold, as well as other Fauntleroy merchandise such as velvet collars, playing cards, and chocolates.^[23] During a period when sentimental fiction was the norm, and in the United States the "rags to riches" story popular, Little Lord Fauntleroy was a hit; although over the years The Secret Garden has retained the popularity Little Lord Fauntleroy has lost.^[41]

Selected works[link]

• That Lass o' Lowrie's (1877)
• Lindsay's Luck (1878)
• Haworth's (1879)
• Louisiana (1880)
• A Fair Barbarian (1881)
• Through One Administration (1883)
• Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886)
• Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's (1888)
• The Fortunes of Philippa Fairfax (1888)
• The Pretty Sister of José (1889)
• The Drury Lane Boys' Club (1892)
• The One I Knew the Best of All: A Memory of the Mind of a Child (1893)
• Little Saint Elizabeth, and Other Stories (1893)
• Two little pilgrims' progress. A story of the City Beautiful (1895)
• A Lady of Quality (1896)
• In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim (1899)
• The Making of a Marchioness (1901), reprinted by Persephone Books
• The Land of the Blue Flower (1904)
• A Little Princess:Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Told for the First Time (1905)
• Queen Silver-Bell (1906)
• The Shuttle (1907) Reprinted by Persephone Books in 2007
• The Secret Garden (1911)
• My Robin (1912)
• The Lost Prince (1915)
• The Little Hunchback Zia (1916)
• The Head of the House of Coombe (1922)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Burnett, Frances Hodgson (2000), "Introduction", The Secret Garden, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-283596-3, http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=T3JxuhuhlUwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=frances+hodgson+burnett&ots=Ddc8-ooSR6&sig=8QCSm9NTUKtjBU5Xk6fh1ULmTc0#v=onepage&q&f=false 
• Hofstader, Beatrice (1971), "Burnett, Frances Hodgson", Notable American Women: 1607-1950, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 
• Horvath, Polly (2004), "Foreword", Little Lord Fauntleroy, Simon and Shuster, ISBN 978-0-689-86994-5, http://books.google.com/books?id=tSRSHkaWpiAC&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
• Thwaite, Ann (1991), Waiting for the Party: The Life of Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1849-1924, David R. Godine, ISBN 978-0-87923-790-5, http://books.google.com/books?id=rRtis6DUY4wC&dq=frances+hodgson+burnett&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
• Gerzina, Gretchen (2004), Frances Hodgson Burnett: the unexpected life of the author of The secret garden, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-3382-1, http://books.google.com/books?id=OTuhrlU0aKMC&dq=frances+hodgson+burnett&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
• Rutherford, L.M. (1994), "British Children's Writers 1880-1914", in Laura M. Zaldman, Dictionary of Literary Biography, 141, Detroit: Gale Research Literature Resource Center 

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Author:Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Works by Frances Hodgson Burnett listed at The Online Books Page
• Works by Frances Hodgson Burnett at Project Gutenberg