Born King's Lynn, Norfolk, father was Dr Charles Burney. Diarist, novelist: Evelina (1778), Cecelia (1782), Camilla (1796) and playwright. Her first novel, Evelina, was a big success and she entered literary society becoming good friends with Samuel Johnson. She became a member of the royal court, as an attendant to Queen Charlotte, 1786 - 1791, during which she witnessed one of King George III's first major periods of mental illness. When she left she was given a life-long pension and remained friends with the royal family. In 1793 married Alexandre D'Arblay, an exile from France. They returned to Paris and while there Fanny suffered a mastectomy without anaesthetic, which she then wrote about in horrific detail in a letter to her sister. In France 1802 - 1812 but returned to England with her son to avoid him being conscripted. She met Louis XVIII while they were both in London. When Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815 she was in Paris and only just escaped as he entered. She was in Brussels in 1815 during the Battle of Waterloo. She then returned to England and lived in Bath and London for the rest of her life, dying at 29 Lower Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. Certainly not a dull life.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Frances (Fanny) Burney
Commemorated ati
Sir Isaac Newton's house- detailed
plaque inside building at top of stairway directly facing entrance
Other Subjects
Brendan Behan
Poet, writer, playwright. Born Dublin. Irish republican and, aged 16 - 23, volunteer in the IRA. He once described himself as a "a drinker with a writing problem". Collapsed in a Dublin bar and die...
The Village in the Jungle
Novel written by Leonard Woolf, published 1913, based on his experiences as a colonial civil servant in British-controlled Ceylon, but unusually written from the native point of view.
Margery Allingham
Writer. Born Margery Louise Allingham in Ealing. Initially she studied drama and speech-training to cure a stammer. She turned to writing, and in 1929 published her first successful novel, 'The Cri...
Horizon Magazine
An influential literary and art magazine. From a pdf issued for the unveiling: "... Stephen Spender joined Cyril Connolly and the wealthy patron Peter Watson in 1939 to set up Horizon at 6 Selwyn H...
35 St Martin's Street
Three storey terrace house. Lived in by Isaac Newton 1710 - 1725, although he owned it until his death in 1727. When it was demolished the panelling of the front parlour was reconstructed as the Is...
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