Sarah Stickney Ellis

(1799 - 1872)

The author of thirty-four books, Sarah Stickney Ellis was a popular writer of Victorian conduct literature, publishing advice books, novels, and short fiction focused on the self-improvement of middle-class women and advocating for the “perfect balance” of the three-class system. Her books, including The Mothers of England and The Wives of England, called on devout women to set the moral tenor of their households and the nation. She died in 1872, one week after her husband, William Ellis, a Congregationalist missionary.