Bertha Gardiner

Bertha Meriton Gardiner (1845–1925) was an English historian who wrote popular short books about The French Revolution and the English Civil War.[1]

Bertha Meriton Cordery was born in Hampstead, London on 19 April 1845, the youngest daughter of John and Henrietta Cordery.[1][2][3]

In 1875, Cordery co-authored King and Commonwealth, a history of the great rebellion with her brother-in-law James Surtees Philpotts. She researched the battlefields featured in the book herself.[2] On 15 July 1882 she married the historian Samuel Rawson Gardiner.[1]

As Bertha Gardiner, she wrote two books in the Epochs of English History series edited by Rev M Creighton: The Struggle Against Absolute Monarchy 1603-1688 (1877)[4] and The French Revolution, 1789-1795 (1883).[2] The latter was a course textbook on the subject at Syracuse University.[5]

Gardiner also edited a collection of documents from Thomas Tanner's manuscripts about Charles I's secret negotiations in 1643 and 1644.[1] She wrote articles for the Edinburgh Review, and was critical of John Robert Seeley's methods in a review.[2][6][7]

Gardiner had three sons with her husband before she was widowed in 1902.[2] She died on 5 January 1925 at the Red House, River, Dover. [1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Roots, Ivan (2004). "Gardiner, Samuel Rawson (1829–1902), historian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33325. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1. Retrieved 30 July 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e "Death of Mrs S R Gardiner". Dover Express. 16 January 1925.
  3. ^ "Births Marriages and Deaths". Oxford Journal. 22 July 1882.
  4. ^ Gardiner, Bertha Meriton (1877). The Struggle Against Absolute Monarchy: 1603-1688 ... With Two Maps. Harper & Bros. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  5. ^ Gullason, Thomas A. (1 March 2002). Stephen Crane's Literary Family: A Garland of Writings. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-2901-6. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  6. ^ Wormell, Deborah (6 March 1980). Sir John Seeley and the Uses of History. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-22720-9. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  7. ^ Nolan, Melanie (3 April 2023). Biography: An Historiography. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-429-76083-9. Retrieved 30 July 2023.