The Life and Works of Mrs Gaskell Quiz

Answer: Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson

Most of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels were published under the name 'Mrs Gaskell' - perhaps symbolic of the formalities observed during the Victorian period in England. As it happens though, she didn't start her writing career until several years after she was married - her first work was a collection of poems, 'Sketches Amongst the Poor', which was jointly authored with her husband and published in a magazine in early 1837 - so she never had the opportunity to use her original name, Elizabeth Stevenson, professionally.

The incorrect answers are all names belonging to female English writers during the Victorian era. Moulton-Barrett was the maiden name of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Elizabeth Missing Sewell was an author of religious and educational works and the sister of Henry Sewell, the man often considered to be the first Prime Minister of New Zealand; and Lady Elizabeth Eastlake (nee Rigby) was an author, historian and critic.

Answer: Cranford

Elizabeth Gaskell's newly widowed father clearly had no idea what to do with a young baby daughter and therefore he handed her over to be brought up by her aunt, Hannah Lumb (her mother's sister). Despite her father later remarrying and starting a second family, she remained with members of her mother's family until her own marriage at the age of 21.

'Cranford' depicts the structure and hierarchy of small town life (and the efficiency of small town gossip) by following the lives of its residents, particularly the older female ones and their friends and families. In a 2007 BBC television adaptation of 'Cranford', major characters were played by well-known British actresses including Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins and Imelda Staunton.

'Middlemarch' is a novel by George Eliot, 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' is by Thomas Hardy (Casterbridge being the town of Dorchester in Dorset) and 'Pendennis' is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Answer: Unitarianism

While most Christian denominations follow the idea of the Holy Trinity - that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - Unitarians believe in God as a single entity. Under these beliefs Jesus Christ is often considered to simply be the son of God (and not necessarily in a literal sense), but not part of God himself.

Elizabeth Gaskell's father, William Stevenson, was a Unitarian minister in the town of Failsworth, Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester) around the beginning of the 19th century. Her husband, William Gaskell, was minister of the Unitarian Cross Street Chapel in Manchester for over 55 years. As the minister's wife, Elizabeth Gaskell was an active member of the Cross Street congregation - sadly the original chapel she would have known was destroyed during the Second World War.

Answer: Mary Barton

'Mary Barton' was the first of Elizabeth Gaskell's six published novels, appearing in British bookshops in 1848 without the author's name on the cover. Subtitled 'A Tale of Manchester Life', it tells the story of a beautiful working class girl named (unsurprisingly) Mary Barton, who is torn between marrying a good, yet poor, man for love or the son of a rich mill-owner in order to provide a comfortable home for her widowed father.

The fact that it was published anonymously created some sensationalism for the novel, with many guesses as to its authorship being put forward - Elizabeth Gaskell herself claimed to have joined in with these games!

Answer: North and South

'North and South' tells the story of Margaret Hale who has to leave her comfortable home in the rectory of a country village in the south of England to live in the northern industrial town of Milton (a fictional location clearly based on Gaskell's home city of Manchester). Margaret's father's decision to leave his ministry after becoming a Dissenter against the teachings of the Church of England parallels the similar decision made by Elizabeth Gaskell's own father.

The novel was first published in serial form in Charles Dickens' magazine 'Household Words' between September 1854 and January 1855, just after Dickens' had finished serialising his own similarly themed novel, 'Hard Times'. The title 'North and South' was actually Dickens' choice.

Answer: Social novels

Social novels can generally be described as those that focus on a problem area of society, be it criminality, racism or (as Gaskell focused on) the living conditions of the working classes in Victorian Britain's northern cities. Many other names exist for this type of work, including social problem novel, sociological novel and industrial novel. As well as highlighting any suffering caused by a particular issue, these novels may also emphasise the importance of social change or promote potential solutions. For example, Gaskell's 'North and South' includes attempts by the protagonist, Margaret Hale, to get a rich mill-owner to appreciate and communicate with his workers. Other authors noted for producing social novels during the Victorian period are Charles Dickens, George Eliot and the prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli.

Epistolary novels are those that tell the story through a series of letters between the characters; philosophical novels discuss issues of philosophy such as the meaning of society, rather than its ills; and Gothic novels are often a mix of romance and horror set in medieval or mysterious locations (such as castles or abbeys) and involve plot devices such as secret tunnels, curses and screaming heroines.

Answer: Charlotte Brontė

Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of her friend and fellow author was called 'The Life of Charlotte Brontė' and was first published in 1857, two years after her death. Brontė was one of three literary siblings who all published novels during their short lifetimes. Charlotte, the eldest sister, died in 1855 at the age of 38, while Emily and Anne died within six months of each other - aged just 30 and 29 respectively.

Gaskell's biography focused on Charlotte Brontė's private life rather than her literary successes. She would have been well-placed to comment on this as Charlotte was a personal friend who visited Gaskell's home in Manchester several times. However, Gaskell's work edited some aspects of Brontė's life (such as her love for a married man) in order to protect her friend's reputation - so perhaps she was unable to provide history with an independent view of the life of such an important author.

Answer: The Haunted House

'The Haunted House' featured eight short ghost stories set at Christmas time, when a group of friends gather in a haunted house in an attempt to discover its eerie secrets and each end up having a close encounter with a different ghost. Dickens wrote three of the stories himself, with one each contributed by Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Hesba Stretton (a children's author), George Sala (a journalist) and Adelaide Procter (a popular poet).

The three incorrect options were all collaborative works featuring Christmas short stories that were organised and published by Dickens in 1854-1856. None of these particular works featured any stories by Elizabeth Gaskell, but Wilkie Collins contributed to all of them.

Answer: Wives and Daughters

'Wives and Daughters', subtitled 'An Every-day Story', was the last of Elizabeth Gaskell's works and was left unfinished on her death at the age of 55. The majority of the novel was completed and only the final scenes (which some might say are the most important of all) are missing.

It tells the story of naļve young girl named Molly Gibson and her love for the son of a local squire; however, as a result of the aborted ending, the reader never gets to find out whether Molly gets her man and lives happily after. Luckily though, various TV adaptations have been produced with the obligatory happy ending added in - something that is unlikely to have been against Gaskell's plans for the novel, as apparently she had mentioned a happy ending for it to friends, but just never got the chance to actually put it into words.

Answer: Her long-time family home in Plymouth Grove, Manchester

Members of the Gaskell family lived at the house in Plymouth Grove, Manchester (that has since been renamed 'Elizabeth Gaskell's House') from 1850 until the death of William and Elizabeth's daughter Meta in 1913. During Elizabeth Gaskell's lifetime the house hosted many literary greats including Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontė and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The house's connection to Elizabeth Gaskell is the only thing that saved it from demolition in the early 20th century, although it fell into disrepair for many years before being restored and reopened as a museum in 2014. As most of Gaskell's works were set in Manchester (or in fictional versions of the city) and her work is renowned for highlighting the lives of the city's industrial workers, it seems a fitting place to put a museum dedicated to her life and work.