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Marianne Young

English writer (1811–1897)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ18674150 ↗
Source-derived summary

Marianne Ridgway became Mrs. Thomas Postans and Marianne Young (4 January 1811 – 6 October 1897) was an English travel writer and illustrator.

Life

She was born in 1811 in Pimlico as Marianne Ridgway, her parents being Elizabeth Wells née Fortescue and Richard Bowling Hunter Ridgway. Her father dealt in wine and was held in the Fleet Prison for debt in 1822.

In 1839 she published her first book, ""Cutch; or, random sketches" which she created while living in that area of western India with her husband, Thomas Postans. She wrote in a light style but her research was intense. She became fluent in Hindustani and she would support her text with her own illustrations. She had been living in the area for five years and her illustrated book included stories of the area's legends and its traditions. In the same year she published a two volume work, Western India in 1838, which expanded in the work on Cutch to include a wider area including the city of Mumbai which was then known as Bombay. These books were published in the year that her husband, now a Lieutenant, was posted to Sind in what is now Pakistan.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Marianne Young” as english writer (1811–1897). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Marianne, Young and English.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1811, 1897, 1822, 1839—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1811-01-04. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Marianne, Young and English providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Marianne Young”, the useful work is to connect “english writer (1811–1897)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18674150. VIAF identifies the subject as 12646984. The Library of Congress control number is no2002041726. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1811, 1897, 1822 and 1839.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Marianne Young”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Marianne Young primary sources, Marianne Young archive and Marianne research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Marianne Young” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.