The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 49 No.4 | March 2023

HGS News

Celebrating Charlotte Mary Yonge

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hampshire’s most prolific, yet sadly overlooked, author Charlotte Mary Yonge (CMY). During her lifetime she received many accolades but since her death in 1901 her contribution to literature has not always received the attention it deserves. In order to raise her profile the CMY Fellowship is arranging a variety of commemorative events during 2023. One of these is an exhibition at the Hampshire Record Office during March and April. The following five display panels are planned: 1. CMY as a Hampshire woman 2. CMY the best-selling novelist 3. CMY and the Church of England 4. CMY and education 5. CMY in the Victorian context A small exhibition is also being arranged by Hampshire Cultural Trust in Winchester Museum. This will highlight CMY’s links with Winchester, her achievements as a novelist, costumes of the period and her longstanding housekeeper and domestic servant, Harriet Spratt. Another event, organised in collaboration with the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, is CMY Day which is scheduled for the 24 June. The morning will be spent in Otterbourne, where CMY was born and spent her whole life, and the afternoon at the majestic Hursley Park, where CMY had close connections with the Heathcote family, and Hursley village. At Otterbourne there will be a

musical contribution from “Madding Crowd” and at both locations short talks on the communities as CMY would have known them, plus the opportunity to undertake CMY trails (short self-guided walks). The latter are included in a specially prepared commemorative booklet, and produced with financial assistance from Hampshire Archives Trust. The charge for this event is £17. For further information and to book please visit https://www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/sections /localhist-yonge-day.html or contact Roger Ottewill (rogeottewill@btinternet.com).

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