Best known work

• The Sorrows of Rosalie, 1829

Other well known work(s)

• English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century, 1854

Genres

• Poetry
• Plays
• Politics / Philosophy / Essays
• Fiction - Novels

Nom de plume

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sheridan, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sterling Maxwell

Social class

Upper class

Parental background

Norton is the granddaughter of politician and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Her father was a colonial official and upon his death the family were gifted a grace-and-favour apartment in Hampton Court Palace.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 21
• Marital status: Married
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

In her 1909 biography The Life of Mrs Norton Jane Grey Perkins describes Norton as "an extraordinarily fascinating woman, of a beauty so rare and noble that it is hard to give it any comparison: with hair black as night and skin clear olive, without colour, […] passionate eyes whose rarely lifted lashes - black, long, and silky- made them seem so much softer than they really were". She is further described as fashionably dressed with a "tropical look", possessing "straight nose" and "teeth which in themselves would make the fortune of an ordinary face".

Did you know?

Norton and her husband were polar opposites and their marriage was disastrous. In 1835 her husband refused her access to the house or to see her children and brought a court case against a man he alleged to have committed adultery with his wife in 1836. Though the case was unsuccessful, Norton was left penniless, ostracised by society and unable to divorce her manipulative husband, who took full custody of their three sons. Norton campaigned to change the law to grant women custody of their children in certain cases, resulting in the 1839 Infant Custody Act.

Additional information

A comprehensive account of Norton's life and works can be found on the Victorian Web. A 1909 biography by Jane Grey Perkins is available on the Internet Archive.