| 1797 |
William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft marry
on 29 March.
Mary W. Godwin is born on 30 August; her mother dies ten days
later. |
| 1801 |
[Age 4] William Godwin and Mrs. Mary Jane Clairmont marry on
21 December. Mrs. Clairmont brings with her a son Charles (aged
7) and daughter Jane (4), later called Claire, to join young Mary
and Fanny Imlay (daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft by Gilbert
Imlay). |
| 1807 |
[Age 10] Godwin family move to Skinner Street, Holborn. |
| 1812 |
[Age 14-15] On 3 January, Percy Bysshe Shelley, recently
married to Harriet Westbrook, starts a correspondence with
Godwin, whose ideas he reveres. He becomes a regular visitor to
his house in the autumn, during Mary's absence. She has gone for a long stay with the Baxter
family in Dundee, but meets
Percy and Harriet on a brief visit home on 11 November. |
| 1814 |
[Age 16-17] Mary returns home in
May and begins a relationship
with Percy Shelley. On 28 July they elope to the Continent,
taking with them Claire Clairmont. On 30 November Harriet
Shelley gives birth to Charles, her second child. Mary, Percy and
Claire return to England in September. |
| 1815 |
[Age 17] In February, Mary gives premature birth to a daughter
who dies, unnamed, a few days later. By August Mary and Percy
have settled at Bishops Gate, Windsor. |
| 1816 |
[Age 18-19] In January, Mary
gives birth to a son, William. The family, along with Claire, leave England for Geneva
in early
May. They meet Byron (with whom Claire has already formed a liaison) and take up residence next to him at Cologny, near
Geneva. Mary begins to write Frankenstein in June. In July, Mary
and Percy visit and explore the Mer de Glace at Chamonix, a
major inspiration for Mary's novel. In September they return to
England. On 9 October, Fanny Imlay, Mary's half-sister, commits
suicide. Two months later Harriet Shelley is found drowned.
Mary and Percy marry in London on 30 December. |
| 1817 |
[Age 19-20] In March the Shelleys, with Claire and her daughter
Allegra (by Byron), move to Marlow. In May Frankenstein is
completed. Mary gives birth to a daughter, Clara, in September. History
of a Six Weeks' Tour is published in November. |
| 1818 |
[Age 20-21] Frankenstein is
published on 11 March, and Mary,
Percy, Claire and the children all leave for Italy the same day. In June they settle for two months at Bagni di Lucca, moving to
Este in September. Baby Clara dies in Venice. Whilst there they
visit Byron. In December they travel south to Rome and settle in
Naples for the winter. Mary and Percy go sightseeing together. |
| 1819 |
[Age 21-2] In March they return
to Rome. More tragedy as
their son William dies in June: so far all Mary's children have
perished. At this time Mary writes the semi-autobiographical Mathilda, a novella on the theme of father-daughter
incestuous
love which is not, however, destined to be published in her own lifetime. They depart for Leghorn. Having moved to Florence for
her approaching confinement, Mary gives birth to a son, Percy
Florence, in November. He will be the only Shelley child to survive. |
| 1821 |
[Age 23-4] In April they return to Bagni
di San Giuliano for
the summer. In October they move to Pisa, with Edward and
Jane Williams and Lord Byron as near neighbours. Mary sends
her novel Castruccio (later entitled Valperga) to London
for
publication. |
| 1822 |
[Age 24-5] In May, the Shelleys settle with the Williamses at
Casa Magni, near Lerici. One month later, Mary almost dies from
a miscarriage, but is saved by the quick-thinking efforts of her
husband. In early July Percy and Edward sail to Leghorn to meet
Leigh Hunt, but are lost at sea in a storm on the return journey.
In September Mary joins the Hunts and Byron at Geneva. |
| 1823 |
[Age 25] Valperga is
published in February. The second edition of
Frankenstein is published. In August Mary returns to
London. |
| 1824 |
[Age 26] In the spring Mary
begins work on The Last Man, a novel set in the
twenty-first century and purporting to be the narrative of the
lone survivor in a world decimated by plague. Byron dies
in Greece. Mary's edition of Percy Shelley's Posthumous
Poems is published but suppressed at the insistence of Sir
Timothy Shelley, his father. |
| 1824-39 |
[Age 26-41] During these years,
Mary Shelley writes numerous articles and stories for various
magazines and journals, including the London Magazine,
the Westminster Review, and the
Keepsake. |
| 1826 |
[Age 28-9] The Last Man is
published in February. Percy Florence becomes heir to the
Shelley title and estate in September when Charles Bysshe,
Shelley's son by Harriet, dies. |
| 1830 |
[Age 32] Perkin Warbeck,
Mary's fourth novel, is published. |
| 1832 |
[Age 35] Percy Florence is
entered at Harrow. |
| 1835 |
[Age 37] Lodore is
published. |
| 1836 |
[Age 38] William Godwin dies on 7
April. |
| 1837 |
[Age 39] Falkner, Mary's
last novel, is published. In July, Percy Florence is
entered at Trinity College, Cambridge. |
| 1838-9 |
[Age 40-41] Mary exercises her
exceptional biographical talents by writing and publishing
Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of France
(2 vols.) for Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. |
| 1839 |
[Age 41] Mary prepares and
publishes an edition of Percy Shelley's Poetical Works.
Although Sir Timothy still forbids her to write a biography of
the poet, she is able to include biographical material in her
notes to the poems. Percy Shelley's Essays, Letters and
Translations are also published. |
| 1844 |
[Age 46] Rambles in Germany
and Italy, a book based on Mary's Continental tours with
Percy Florence and his friends between 1840 and 1843, is
published. |
| 1851 |
[Age 53] Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley dies on 1 February at Chester Square, London. She
is buried between the remains of her mother and father in St.
Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth. |