The Autobiography of Mrs. Alice Thornton, of East Newton, Co. York

Alice Thornton (1626–1707) was a middle-class woman who was best known for her autobiography describing the English Civil War and its effects on her life. She was the daughter of Christopher Wandesford (1592–1640), Lord Deputy of Ireland, and enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His death, followed by the Civil War, caused a crisis in the family, who eventually settled in Yorkshire in considerably straitened circumstances. This volume, first published in 1873 by the Surtees Society, contains the first published edition of Thornton's autobiography, which provides fascinating details of her life. Her relationships with her husband and children are fully described, and she writes candidly concerning her health problems, pregnancies, and the deaths of six of her nine children. Thornton also shows a keen awareness of the lack of autonomy which marriage then entailed. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=thoral