Mary Martha Sherwood (1775 - 1851)

Mary Martha Sherwood (née Butt; 6 May 1775 – 22 September 1851) was a prolific and influential writer of children's literature in 19th-century Britain. She composed over 400 books, tracts, magazine articles, and chapbooks. Among her best known works are The History of Little Henry and his Bearer (1814), The History of Henry Milner (1822–37), and The History of the Fairchild Family (1818–47). While Sherwood is known primarily for the strong evangelicalism that coloured her early writings, her later works are characterized by common Victorian themes, such as domesticity.