Citylife in Lichfield February 2020

Anna Seward
The Life & Loves of
the Swan of Lichfield
................................
In the month of Valentine’s Day, feature writer Jono Oates looks at the
life of Anna Seward, the 18th century poet who lived in Lichfield for
over 60 years and someone whose romantic liaisons caused a sensation
in the genteel environment of Lichfield’s cathedral close.
At the end of the 18th century Anna Seward, known as the Swan of
Lichfield and Muse of Britain, was one of the most well-known figures of
Georgian England. She published some of the most popular and admired
poetry at a time when women were not supposed to write or have work
published for commercial reasons and yet, just a hundred years later, she
had become largely forgotten.
Anna was born on 12th December 1742 in the small village of Eyam in
Derbyshire where her father, Thomas, was a clergyman. When she was
five or six, the family moved to Lichfield as her father had been appointed
as a residentiary canon at Lichfield Cathedral. They moved in to the
Bishop’s Palace in the cathedral close which, at that time, was not lived
in by the Bishop of Lichfield but rented out to various tenants including
the Seward family.
When Anna was about 14 she met Doctor Erasmus Darwin who had just
moved to Lichfield from Nottingham into a house at the Beacon Street
end of the cathedral close. They became friends over a shared love of
music and it was Darwin who, after seeing some of her poetry,
encouraged her to write.
Anna was a very attractive woman; she was tall with long auburn hair and
was very striking. As a young woman she had several male suitors
including two army men, Cornet Richard Vyse and Captain Taylor, and
also a fledgling relationship with John Andre, who later fell for her stepsister
Honora Sneyd.
Anna’s most remarkable, and long lasting, relationship though was with
John Saville. Saville was a member of the Vicar’s Choral at the cathedral
and lived in the Vicar’s Close at the north corner of the close. He was
similar in age to Anna, and they too both shared a love of music. He was
a very accomplished singer, an alto, and part of the prebend of Pipa Parva,
whose stall or seat, is located in the choir of the cathedral. Anna and John
lived within a short walk of each other’s houses and started to meet
each other on a daily basis, gradually becoming closer and closer.
The only problem with their blossoming relationship was the fact that
Saville was a married man with a wife, Mary, and two young children.
Mary was, quite understandably, very unhappy with her husband’s close
relationship with a young, attractive and wealthy single woman. Although
illiterate she asked a friend to write a bitter, anonymous letter of
complaint to Anna’s father, Thomas, and did her best to have the
relationship torn apart, although she was unsuccessful.
The relationship between John and Mary became so strained that he
eventually moved out of the marital home and moved two houses down,
still in the Vicars’ Close, and in to a house that was owned by Anna
Seward. He continued to support his family, with Anna’s help, while still
meeting Anna on a regular basis for walks and afternoon tea. John and
Mary did not divorce meaning that he was unable to marry Anna.
On 2nd August 1803 John Saville failed to appear at his scheduled
Evensong performance and was found to have collapsed, and died, in his
home aged 67. Anna was distraught and never really recovered from the
shock of losing the undoubted love of her life. In the west side of the
south transept of the cathedral there is a memorial to John Saville, paid
for by Anna, and the eulogy on it was written by Anna herself. The closing
lines of the eulogy are:
Sleep then, pale mortal frame, in yon low shrine
Till Angels wake thee with a note like thine.
Anna herself passed away a few years later on March 25th 1809, aged 66.
She never married and had noted friendships with both men and women
but it is recognised that John Saville meant more to her than any of the
others, as she clearly demonstrated when he passed away.
Anna’s relationship with John Saville was a very challenging one, and one
that caused her much heartache and criticism from the local community
but it is certain that, on February 14th he is the person that she would
have asked him to be Her Valentine.
Sources: Lichfield Cathedral Choir Blogspot; www.cathedralchoir.org.uk
16