Main content
Mary Shakleton Leadbeater manuscripts
Notifications
Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Mary Shackleton Leadbeater (1758-1826) was born in 1758, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Carleton) Shackleton, in Ballitore, Ireland. In 1784, Leadbeater travelled with her father to London. She married William Leadbeater in 1791. The couple had two daughters: Sarah, born 1792, and Deborah, born 1795. Leadbeater and her family lived at Ballitore, Ireland, and in 1798, narrowly escaped when their town was attacked during an uprising. Leadbeater was a friend of Edmund Burke, who had studied with her grandfather. Leadbeater died on June 27, 1826, at Ballitore, Ireland, after an illness with "dropsy," or edema, at the age of 67.
Leadbeater was well educated, and was known as a poet and author. Her works include Extracts and Original Anecdotes for the Improvement of Youth (1794, published anonymously), Poems (1808), Cottage Dialogues among the Irish Peasantry (1811; part II in 1813), The Landlord's Friend (1813), Tales for Cottagers (1814, written with Elizabeth Shakleton), Cottage Biography, being a Collection of Lives of the Irish Peasantry (1822), Memoirs and Letters of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton … compiled by their Daughter (1822), Biographical Notices of Members of the Society of Friends who were resident in Ireland (1823), The Pedlars, a Tale (1824), and The Leadbeater Papers: Annals of Ballitore (1862, posthomously).
This collection is comprised of a number of handwritten manuscript works by Mary Shakleton Leadbeater. These include poems, dialogues, and Bible stories. Most of the manuscripts are sewn or folded together in some way, and most are fair copies with very few corrections.
Unknown.
Processed by Kara Flynn; completed October, 2015. Revised by Sarah Horowitz; completed October, 2018.
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Kara Flynn and Sarah Horowitz
- Finding Aid Date
- October, 2015; revised October, 2018
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
This volume is comprised of handwritten original poetry The poetry, written by Shackleton during her youth (ages 11-17), includes poetry of a religious nature, as well as poetry on friendship, on nature, a number of poems written upon the death of friends and other Quakers, and a few acrostics of the names of Shackleton's friends.
These materials appeared in part II of this work, published in 1813. Most of the conversations are between Thady and Martin.
These materials appeared in part II of this work, published in 1813. Most of the conversations are between Thady and Martin. Some are written on the back of printed/handwritten receipts of payments from the Irish post office.
The dialogues are Tim and Jem, Lady Seraphina and Lady Charlotte, a parish priest and Darby, and Mr. Austen and Mr. Denby. Most appear in Cottage Dialogues.
This appears at the end of Cottage Dialogues.
Contents include, The Children in the Boat, The Dumb Boy, Filial Sensibility, The Beggar, The Bird's Nest, The Paper Kite, The Lie, The Cap on Fire, Early Benevolence, The Little Churn, The Old Man, The Halfpenny, Bathing. Some of these appear in the published work, others do not.
This manuscript begins similarly to the published version, but that has a poem in place of prose in this version. Likely much of this manuscript is unpublished. There is also an index for three volumes; the initial published version was two volumes.
This translation, from the 15th century Latin version of Maffaeus, was published in the 1808 Poems. This manuscript begins with line 4 and continues to the end of the book. There are three penciled lines on Burke on the last page, likely in a different hand.
Most of this manuscript is not in dialogue form, but discusses Biblical history and the Old and New Testaments. It does not appear to be part of any published work.
This manuscript is dated 1792 on the side of pages, with more specific dates on some chapters. It begins with the creation of the world and ends with Saul and David. This material does not appear to be part of any of published work.
Contents include notes for a dialogue on starch, issues of poor potato harvest and saving food, establishing a school on the Lancastrian plan, how to spend money intended for the poor, and establishing a dispensary. There are also letters about the dispensary and medicine, including one about vaccination for smallpox, signed JD or John David. These do not appear to be part of a published work.
Mostly untitled, often fragments, with more crossing out and changes than most other parts of the collection.