SEPTEMBER 12, 1846
It was one of the most famous elopements in British public life.
On September 12, 1846, Elizabeth Barrett, a successful poet, married writer Robert Browning in a private ceremony in St Marylebone Parish Church, London.
Barrett then returned to her home in Durham for a week, keeping the marriage secret. The pair then fled to Italy. Barrett was already a successful poet when she met Browning. She had campaigned for the abolition of slavery and her work had influenced child labour reform. Browning was less successful and his dramatic monologues had attracted criticism but after Barrett defended his work he wrote to ask if he could meet her.
They met, fell in love, and carried out their courtship in secret.
When Barrett’s father found out, he disapproved, seeing Browning as a fortune hunter.
The Brownings lived happily in Italy for 15 years. Barrett had suffered from poor health but this improved in Italy, and the couple had a son in 1849. She published her best-known work, Sonnets From The Portuguese, which chronicled their courtship and romance, in 1850.
During her lifetime, Barrett’s reputation as a poet overshadowed that of her spouse, who was sometimes referred to as “Mrs Browning’s husband,” but his work later gained recognition by critics.
Elizabeth died in her husband’s arms in 1861, having never again seen her father since the elopement.