By Jörn Harbeck
Republished from the 2023 issue of Fryer Folios
The year was 1816 — the ‘Year Without a Summer’. The English poet Lord Byron, famously described by his former lover Lady Caroline Lamb as ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know’1, had fled England and was renting the Villa Diodati near Geneva in Switzerland. Staying with him in the month of June of that year were fellow poets Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (who were soon to be married), Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, as well as Byron’s personal physician, John Polidori.
Forced to stay indoors for several days because of constant heavy rain, the group of five passed an evening by reading to each other, including stories from the Fantasmagoria, a French translation of German ghost stories.
So inspired were they by these stories that Byron suggested that they each write their own ghost story — with astonishing results. While Byron produced Fragment of a Novel, published as a postscript to his Mazeppa (1819), Mary Shelley wrote a story that is regarded as a literary masterpiece to this day. This was Frankenstein, (Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus is its full title), published in 1818.
John William Polidori, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.
John William Polidori, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.
The Fryer Library does not hold a first edition of Frankenstein, but has in its collection, bound together with other early 19th century works, the other significant book that had its genesis at Villa Diodati that night, a first edition of John Polidori’s The vampyre.
Published in 1819, it is the first vampire story in the English language. It inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula (1897) and created a new genre that has more recently given us, LJ Smith’s The vampire diaries and Stephenie Meyer’s The twilight saga.
The vampyre ’s author, John Polidori (1795–1821), was born in London to Gaetano Polidori, an Italian scholar, and Anna Maria Pierce, an English governess. He received his degree as a Doctor of Medicine in 1815 and the following year entered Lord Byron’s service. He died in 1821, most likely by his own hand.
Image credits: John William Polidori by F.G. Gainsford (floruit 1805-1822), given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1895; Mary-Shelley, by Richard Rothwell ca. 1831–40. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London; Lord Byron, by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse, 1828.
Headline image credit: fotokitas/Nattapol_Sritongcom/Adobe Stock
By Jörn Harbeck
Fryer librarian and archivist
Republished from the 2023 issue of Fryer Folios
The year was 1816 — the ‘Year Without a Summer’. The English poet Lord Byron, famously described by his former lover Lady Caroline Lamb as ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know’1, had fled England and was renting the Villa Diodati near Geneva in Switzerland. Staying with him in the month of June of that year were fellow poets Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (who were soon to be married), Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, as well as Byron’s personal physician, John Polidori.
Forced to stay indoors for several days because of constant heavy rain, the group of five passed an evening by reading to each other, including stories from the Fantasmagoria, a French translation of German ghost stories.
So inspired were they by these stories that Byron suggested that they each write their own ghost story — with astonishing results. While Byron produced Fragment of a Novel, published as a postscript to his Mazeppa (1819), Mary Shelley wrote a story that is regarded as a literary masterpiece to this day. This was Frankenstein, (Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus is its full title), published in 1818.
John William Polidori, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.
John William Polidori, Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.
The Fryer Library does not hold a first edition of Frankenstein, but has in its collection, bound together with other early 19th century works, the other significant book that had its genesis at Villa Diodati that night, a first edition of John Polidori’s The vampyre.
Published in 1819, it is the first vampire story in the English language. It inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula (1897) and created a new genre that has more recently given us, LJ Smith’s The vampire diaries and Stephenie Meyer’s The twilight saga.
The vampyre ’s author, John Polidori (1795–1821), was born in London to Gaetano Polidori, an Italian scholar, and Anna Maria Pierce, an English governess. He received his degree as a Doctor of Medicine in 1815 and the following year entered Lord Byron’s service. He died in 1821, most likely by his own hand.
Image credits: John William Polidori by F.G. Gainsford (floruit 1805-1822), given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1895; Mary-Shelley, by Richard Rothwell ca. 1831–40. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London; Lord Byron, by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse, 1828.
Headline image credit: fotokitas/Nattapol_Sritongcom/Adobe Stock
The vampyre has an interesting publication history. It is believed that months later Polidori wrote down the story for the Countess of Breuss, who lived nearby, and that the publishers acquired the manuscript from her. It first appeared on 1 April 1819 in Henry Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine and a month later was published in book form by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. On both occasions the story was published with the false attribution “A Tale by Lord Byron”.
When Polidori sought an injunction against the publishers, Byron’s name was removed from subsequent issues. Byron also disowned the piece, and later issues of the first edition were instead published anonymously. The Fryer Library has the rare second issue of the first edition, including the salacious reference on page xiv to Byron having “in his house two sisters [Mary Shelley and Claire Claremont] as the partakers of his revels”. This reference was removed from the third and fourth issues of the first edition. Later editions of the book carried Polidori’s name as author. Nonetheless, its success stemmed largely from it being first attributed to Byron.
Polidori did, however, acknowledge that Byron gave him the idea for his vampire story. What makes the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre particularly interesting then is that it carries old notes on the title page that state: by Polidori and The idea only is Lord Byron’s. Who wrote these notes and how was the person who wrote them familiar with these particulars?
Pages of the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre. Image: Andrew Yeo
Pages of the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre. Image: Andrew Yeo
The book bears the ownership signature of an M. A. Ricketts on the title page of The vampyre. The full name Mary Anne Ricketts appears on the title page of two other works in the volume and yet another signature can be found on the title page of the last work bound in: Mrs Frederic Rick[etts] — the second half of the surname having been cropped by the binder to give the book a flush fore edge.
Beginning our genealogical searching we found several related women of that name, one of whom was to become the 2nd Viscountess of St. Vincent in 1823. Her husband’s name, however, was Edward. We then found an entry in the baptismal register of the town of Moor Crichel in Dorset where a boy, Henry Edward Ricketts, was baptised on 29 November 1816. The names of his parents are given as Frederic and Mary Ann Ricketts. The father’s profession is given as ‘clerk’ and the place of abode as ‘Derbyshire’. Suggesting a connection of the family to the colonies, the February 1817 issue of the Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies also carried the notice that ‘Mrs Frederick Ricketts gave birth to a son at Crichel House’. 2
This house is today known as Crichel House. It was built in 1756 for landowner, architect and politician Humphrey Sturt. Sturt’s mother, Diana Napier, was the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Napier 3rd Baronet of Critchell More, and it was through her that the estate passed to the Sturts. Upon his death in 1786 the house passed to Humphrey’s son Charles Sturt.
The drawing room of Crichel House. Image: Country Houses of Dorset" by Arthur Oswald. Published by Country Life Ltd., 1935.
The drawing room of Crichel House. Image: Country Houses of Dorset" by Arthur Oswald. Published by Country Life Ltd., 1935.
So, why was Mary Anne Ricketts at Crichel House? That riddle was solved when we found out that she was born Mary Anne Sturt, and was a daughter of Charles Sturt and his wife Mary, neé Ashley Cooper.
Mary Anne Sturt (1791–1851) was the first child of Mary and Charles Sturt. She had a younger brother, Henry Charles (1795–1866), who inherited Crichel House upon the death of their father in 1812.
Mary Anne’s future husband Frederick Ricketts (1788–1843) was born in Marylebone, Middlesex, the youngest son of Sophie (neé Watts, 1753–1830) and George Poyntz Ricketts (1749–1800), a Jamaican-born plantation owner, who was later to become Governor of Tobago and Barbados.
Mary Anne Sturt and Frederick Ricketts were married on 17 May 1813 at Marylebone. Their first child, Frederica Louisa, was born there on 29 November 1814. As the youngest of the family, Frederick followed a familiar path. Listed as a clerk when their son Henry was born in 1817, it seems likely that he was at that time already studying for the clergy. This would explain Mary Anne living with her mother at Crichel House for the birth of her son.
Later directories list Frederick as the Reverend Frederick Poyntz D.D., Rector at Eckington, Derbyshire, Ricketts having changed his surname to Poyntz at some point after 1819. Poyntz was the maiden name of Frederick’s paternal grandmother, Hannah Ricketts, the name change most likely occurring because of an inheritance from her side of the family. Frederick Poyntz (Ricketts) died on 28 March 1843.
The 1851 census lists Mary Anne Ricketts as a widow living at Critchell House in the home of her brother Henry C Sturt with her daughter Frederica. She died on 10 July 1851.
The vampyre has an interesting publication history. It is believed that months later Polidori wrote down the story for the Countess of Breuss, who lived nearby, and that the publishers acquired the manuscript from her. It first appeared on 1 April 1819 in Henry Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine and a month later was published in book form by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. On both occasions the story was published with the false attribution “A Tale by Lord Byron”.
When Polidori sought an injunction against the publishers, Byron’s name was removed from subsequent issues. Byron also disowned the piece, and later issues of the first edition were instead published anonymously. The Fryer Library has the rare second issue of the first edition, including the salacious reference on page xiv to Byron having “in his house two sisters [Mary Shelley and Claire Claremont] as the partakers of his revels”. This reference was removed from the third and fourth issues of the first edition. Later editions of the book carried Polidori’s name as author. Nonetheless, its success stemmed largely from it being first attributed to Byron.
Polidori did, however, acknowledge that Byron gave him the idea for his vampire story. What makes the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre particularly interesting then is that it carries old notes on the title page that state: by Polidori and The idea only is Lord Byron’s. Who wrote these notes and how was the person who wrote them familiar with these particulars?
Pages of the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre. Image: Andrew Yeo
Pages of the Fryer Library’s copy of The vampyre. Image: Andrew Yeo
The book bears the ownership signature of an M. A. Ricketts on the title page of The vampyre. The full name Mary Anne Ricketts appears on the title page of two other works in the volume and yet another signature can be found on the title page of the last work bound in: Mrs Frederic Rick[etts] — the second half of the surname having been cropped by the binder to give the book a flush fore edge.
Beginning our genealogical searching we found several related women of that name, one of whom was to become the 2nd Viscountess of St. Vincent in 1823. Her husband’s name, however, was Edward. We then found an entry in the baptismal register of the town of Moor Crichel in Dorset where a boy, Henry Edward Ricketts, was baptised on 29 November 1816. The names of his parents are given as Frederic and Mary Ann Ricketts. The father’s profession is given as ‘clerk’ and the place of abode as ‘Derbyshire’. Suggesting a connection of the family to the colonies, the February 1817 issue of the Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies also carried the notice that ‘Mrs Frederick Ricketts gave birth to a son at Crichel House’. 2
This house is today known as Crichel House. It was built in 1756 for landowner, architect and politician Humphrey Sturt. Sturt’s mother, Diana Napier, was the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Napier 3rd Baronet of Critchell More, and it was through her that the estate passed to the Sturts. Upon his death in 1786 the house passed to Humphrey’s son Charles Sturt.
The drawing room of Crichel House. Image: Country Houses of Dorset" by Arthur Oswald. Published by Country Life Ltd., 1935.
The drawing room of Crichel House. Image: Country Houses of Dorset" by Arthur Oswald. Published by Country Life Ltd., 1935.
So, why was Mary Anne Ricketts at Crichel House? That riddle was solved when we found out that she was born Mary Anne Sturt, and was a daughter of Charles Sturt and his wife Mary, neé Ashley Cooper.
Mary Anne Sturt (1791–1851) was the first child of Mary and Charles Sturt. She had a younger brother, Henry Charles (1795–1866), who inherited Crichel House upon the death of their father in 1812.
Mary Anne’s future husband Frederick Ricketts (1788–1843) was born in Marylebone, Middlesex, the youngest son of Sophie (neé Watts, 1753–1830) and George Poyntz Ricketts (1749–1800), a Jamaican-born plantation owner, who was later to become Governor of Tobago and Barbados.
Mary Anne Sturt and Frederick Ricketts were married on 17 May 1813 at Marylebone. Their first child, Frederica Louisa, was born there on 29 November 1814. As the youngest of the family, Frederick followed a familiar path. Listed as a clerk when their son Henry was born in 1817, it seems likely that he was at that time already studying for the clergy. This would explain Mary Anne living with her mother at Crichel House for the birth of her son.
Later directories list Frederick as the Reverend Frederick Poyntz D.D., Rector at Eckington, Derbyshire, Ricketts having changed his surname to Poyntz at some point after 1819. Poyntz was the maiden name of Frederick’s paternal grandmother, Hannah Ricketts, the name change most likely occurring because of an inheritance from her side of the family. Frederick Poyntz (Ricketts) died on 28 March 1843.
The 1851 census lists Mary Anne Ricketts as a widow living at Critchell House in the home of her brother Henry C Sturt with her daughter Frederica. She died on 10 July 1851.
So how did Mary Anne Ricketts know the particulars of the publication history of The vampyre when most people believed it to be written by Byron?
Most likely this knowledge would have been due to the Sturts being an extremely well-connected family, with Byron no doubt the subject of much gossip in their circles.
These circles in fact extended into the aristocracy and the Court. Mary Anne’s mother Mary was the daughter of the 4th Earl of Shaftsbury. Her father Charles was a close friend of the Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent and then George IV). The Prince leased Crichel House from 1796 to 1799. Before her death in 1817, the Regent’s daughter Princess Charlotte also made Crichel House her home for some time. It is no accident then that the Library’s sammelband also contains the Reverend R Kennedy’s 1817 poem eulogising the Princess.
The appearance of the birth notice for the son of Mrs Frederic Ricketts in the Asiatic Journal, suggests connections with the colonies, and there were in fact such connections with India on both sides: Two older brothers of Frederick Ricketts, as well as Mary Anne’s paternal uncle, Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, (known as Napier Sturt) were employed by the British East India Company.
Charles Napier Sturt, oil on canvas, ca. 1853, by John Michael Crossland. National Portrait Gallery, London.
Charles Napier Sturt, oil on canvas, ca. 1853, by John Michael Crossland. National Portrait Gallery, London.
How did the book come to be in the Fryer Library?
While we unfortunately have no information of when exactly the book entered the Fryer Library collection, the name Napier Sturt certainly hints at an Australian connection. Napier Sturt’s eldest son was the Australian
explorer Charles Napier Sturt (1795–1869).
Born in India he was in 1799 sent to live with his mother’s family in England. In 1809 he was to meet his Sturt relations for the first time. His uncle and namesake, Charles Sturt, was a “particular boyhood hero”3 , (Langley, 1969 p. 23) who “actually paid for his education” 4 at Harrow (p. 24). He is known to have spent ‘some memorable summer holidays in the company of his cousin Henry at Uncle Charles’ favourite yachting quarters on Branksea (now Brownsea) Island’ 5.
No doubt Charles Napier Sturt would have also met his cousin Mary Anne during these summer holidays. As his father was not wealthy enough to send him to Cambridge University or to establish him in a profession, Charles Napier Sturt’s aunt Mary Sturt appealed to the Prince Regent and, on 9 September 1813, Sturt was gazetted as an ensign with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot in the British Army. It is also known that in the same year he saved his cousin Henry from drowning off nearby Weymouth. Henry Sturt later lent Charles Sturt 1,000 Pounds when the latter was in dire need of funds.
Charles Sturt served under Wellington and fought in the Peninsular War and against the Americans in Canada during the War of 1812. He returned to England after 1815. With a detachment from his regiment, Sturt escorted
convicts aboard the Mariner to New South Wales, arriving in Sydney on 23 May 1827.
Undoubtedly Sturt would have continued to visit his relatives at Crichel House before leaving for Australia in 1827. Is it possible then that our book passed into his ownership — or did he perhaps just borrow it — and that he brought it to Australia?
Endnotes
- The phrase was reported by Lady Morgan in her diaries although it was never written down by Lady Caroline herself.
- ‘Births, Marriages, and Deaths at home’, Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies, England: Printed for Black, Parbury, & Allen, 1817, p.203.
- Michael Langley, Sturt of the Murray: father of Australian exploration, Hale, London, 1969, p.23.
- Langley, p. 24.
- NG Sturt, Life of Charles Sturt sometime Capt. 39th Regt. and Australian explorer, Smith Elder and Co., London, 1899. p.9.
Read more from the latest issue of Fryer Folios
With contributions from academics and high-profile authors like Ann-Marie Priest and Alexis Wright, Fryer Folios is a truly special publication. Print copies of Fryer Folios are available to read by appointment in the FW Robinson Reading Room.
So how did Mary Anne Ricketts know the particulars of the publication history of The vampyre when most people believed it to be written by Byron?
Most likely this knowledge would have been due to the Sturts being an extremely well-connected family, with Byron no doubt the subject of much gossip in their circles.
These circles in fact extended into the aristocracy and the Court. Mary Anne’s mother Mary was the daughter of the 4th Earl of Shaftsbury. Her father Charles was a close friend of the Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent and then George IV). The Prince leased Crichel House from 1796 to 1799. Before her death in 1817, the Regent’s daughter Princess Charlotte also made Crichel House her home for some time. It is no accident then that the Library’s sammelband also contains the Reverend R Kennedy’s 1817 poem eulogising the Princess.
The appearance of the birth notice for the son of Mrs Frederic Ricketts in the Asiatic Journal, suggests connections with the colonies, and there were in fact such connections with India on both sides: Two older brothers of Frederick Ricketts, as well as Mary Anne’s paternal uncle, Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, (known as Napier Sturt) were employed by the British East India Company.
Charles Napier Sturt, oil on canvas, ca. 1853, by John Michael Crossland. National Portrait Gallery, London.
Charles Napier Sturt, oil on canvas, ca. 1853, by John Michael Crossland. National Portrait Gallery, London.
How did the book come to be in the Fryer Library?
While we unfortunately have no information of when exactly the book entered the Fryer Library collection, the name Napier Sturt certainly hints at an Australian connection. Napier Sturt’s eldest son was the Australian
explorer Charles Napier Sturt (1795–1869).
Born in India he was in 1799 sent to live with his mother’s family in England. In 1809 he was to meet his Sturt relations for the first time. His uncle and namesake, Charles Sturt, was a “particular boyhood hero”3 , (Langley, 1969 p. 23) who “actually paid for his education” 4 at Harrow (p. 24). He is known to have spent ‘some memorable summer holidays in the company of his cousin Henry at Uncle Charles’ favourite yachting quarters on Branksea (now Brownsea) Island’ 5.
No doubt Charles Napier Sturt would have also met his cousin Mary Anne during these summer holidays. As his father was not wealthy enough to send him to Cambridge University or to establish him in a profession, Charles Napier Sturt’s aunt Mary Sturt appealed to the Prince Regent and, on 9 September 1813, Sturt was gazetted as an ensign with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot in the British Army. It is also known that in the same year he saved his cousin Henry from drowning off nearby Weymouth. Henry Sturt later lent Charles Sturt 1,000 Pounds when the latter was in dire need of funds.
Charles Sturt served under Wellington and fought in the Peninsular War and against the Americans in Canada during the War of 1812. He returned to England after 1815. With a detachment from his regiment, Sturt escorted
convicts aboard the Mariner to New South Wales, arriving in Sydney on 23 May 1827.
Undoubtedly Sturt would have continued to visit his relatives at Crichel House before leaving for Australia in 1827. Is it possible then that our book passed into his ownership — or did he perhaps just borrow it — and that he brought it to Australia?
Endnotes
- The phrase was reported by Lady Morgan in her diaries although it was never written down by Lady Caroline herself.
- ‘Births, Marriages, and Deaths at home’, Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies, England: Printed for Black, Parbury, & Allen, 1817, p.203.
- Michael Langley, Sturt of the Murray: father of Australian exploration, Hale, London, 1969, p.23.
- Langley, p. 24.
- NG Sturt, Life of Charles Sturt sometime Capt. 39th Regt. and Australian explorer, Smith Elder and Co., London, 1899. p.9.
Read more from the latest issue of Fryer Folios
With contributions from academics and high-profile authors like Ann-Marie Priest and Alexis Wright, Fryer Folios is a truly special publication. Print copies of Fryer Folios are available to read by appointment in the FW Robinson Reading Room.
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