Edgeworth Town is a wonderful heritage site tucked away in the heart of Ireland’s inland county of Longford. Like many places in the Midlands, this place is best understood through its history and the stories of the amazing people who lived here. No one does this more than Maria Edgeworth, the pioneering children’s author, novelist, and educational thinker.
Maria Edgeworth lived through some of Ireland’s most turbulent times, including the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine of the 1840s. The town takes its name from her family, who owned large tracts of land and real estate in the area. The Edgeworth family was a typical Anglo-Irish aristocracy who owned the “big houses” of Ireland and had enormous power over the livelihoods of their tenants who worked on the many small farms in their estates.
It is easy to oversimplify the history of Ireland in the 18th century. The population was divided between the oppressed and largely uneducated Irish peasantry and the landed aristocracy. This was a time of privilege and inequality, when criminal laws severely restricted Catholics’ access to property and occupations. Many landlords viewed their properties purely as a source of income and had little concern for the impact their actions had on the lives of their tenants. They were looked down upon by local society.
However, some Anglo-Irish families, including the Edgeworth family, identified themselves as Irish and worked to improve the lives of local people. They sought to improve the country through agricultural, scientific, and architectural projects. Organizations like the Royal Dublin Society, founded in 1731, paved the way for modern farming methods and improved transport and infrastructure. Although these families remained royalist and wealthy, they were deeply empathetic to the plight of the local people who lived among them.
It is difficult to appreciate how progressive and ground-breaking it was for a female writer to emerge from the relative obscurity of central Ireland at the time. In 1798, Maria Edgeworth, in collaboration with her father, published a book called Practical Education, which outlined an innovative approach to child development. This publication was very popular in the UK and Europe and was translated into many languages. This book covers several aspects of children’s education, including the importance of observing children and how children see the world, the role of play and imagination, and the need for systematic practice to develop skills. Introducing pioneering ideas. These innovations and her “hands-on” approach provided a useful guidebook for parents at a time when nothing else could match it.
Maria Edgeworth Center.
1798 was the same year that United Irishmen led a bloody rebellion in the southeast and French troops landed in the west of Ireland. The French and supporting Irish rebels were finally defeated at Ballinamac, just a few miles from Edgeworthtown. Despite all this turmoil and a very real danger to families like the Edgeworths, they were unharmed and their homes and lands were not attacked by the Rebels.
A young woman, Maria, accompanies her father in managing the Edgeworth estate, and through these interactions she comes to know and respect the character of the local people. She was critical of the attitudes of her fellow landowners, and her most famous novel, La Clent Castle, published in 1800, satirized her own class and the cruel practices of her croft. This novel and many of her subsequent publications aimed to express the ‘Hibernian story’ and contributed greatly to raising the awareness of readers in England and elsewhere about the character of the Irish people and their way of life. .
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Maria’s interest in education was stimulated by her father, who was married four times and had 22 children during his lifetime. She was educated in England until the age of 15, eventually joining her father at her parents’ home in Ireland. Maria was the eldest child in her family, so she had a lot of first-hand experience raising other children (her 20 in total). In addition to her novels, letters, and educational publications, she also wrote children’s books and stories. This was unusual at the time, when children’s imaginations were seen as something to be controlled rather than cultivated.
Edgeworth’s stories and fiction, whether for adults or children, were always imbued with a sense of purpose and morality. Looking at titles like “Lazy Lawrence,” “Simple Susan,” “Forgive and Forget,” and “Don’t Want to Waste” you can see that her children’s stories convey moral messages about the right and appropriate way to behave. You can easily see how it was communicated.
A bust of Maria Edgeworth outside the Maria Edgeworth Center.
Perhaps the Edgeworth father and daughter’s most lasting legacy is their early advocacy for the establishment of a formal education system in Ireland. From the late 1700s to the early 1800s, they encouraged authorities to establish a public school system for boys and girls and of all denominations. Eventually, through a scheme known as the Stanley Letters of 1831, a national school system was established across the country, ahead of most countries at the time, including Great Britain. National schools remain the backbone of Ireland’s primary school system to this day.
Maria Edgeworth died in 1849, and her last publication was a fairy tale called Orlandino, which was distributed in America to raise funds for the plight of Irish famine victims. She was a prolific letter writer, novelist, playwright, social influencer, and educator throughout her life. As a woman and a member of the Anglo-Irish elite, she shattered class expectations and demonstrated what could be achieved through insight, compassion and persuasion. Hugh’s approach was a powerful antidote to the wars and rebellions prevalent at the time.
Modern-day Edgeworthtown still honors the legacy of its most famous residents. A new modern library graces Main Street, and the Maria Edgeworth Interpretive Center is an additional attraction in town. Local historian Matt Farrell and colleagues at the Edgeworth Society continue to promote awareness of her writings and her life and times in the area. It’s well worth the trip to see the school’s preserved classrooms, artifacts, and first editions of her books.
Her legacy also lives on in the continuation of Ireland’s passion for education. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Irish educators were at the forefront of establishing many schools and universities around the world. That work continues to this day. I would like to think that this is due in no small part to the influence of a certain petite woman holding a pen. She wrote tirelessly and demonstrated that her learning and stories provided a better path to future success and prosperity.
I leave the final words to Maria herself and her famous quote: “If we cherish the moments, the years automatically cherish them.”
* Maria Edgeworth Visitor Center is located at MariaEdgeworthCenter.com.