The Shelley Family Tomb

The Shelley Family Tomb. . , William Godwin , 1756-1836 , Godwin was a leading political theorist of the time and was a major contributor to the Romantic Movement., He wrote that man would only be able to fully express himself when freed from all artificial, political and social constraints., His ideas hugely influenced the work of many celebrated poets including Blake, Byron, Coleridge and his son in law Percy Bysshe Shelley., Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin , 1759-1797 , Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer and a passionate advocate for women's rights., She called for the betterment of women's status through political change and equal education of men and women. Today Mary Wollstonecraft is respected as the first published feminist philosopher and advocate of women's rights., In 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women are men, not naturally inferior to but may appear to be so only because they lack education., Mary died 11 days after the birth of her second daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who herself would become a celebrated author., Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley , 1797-1851 , Mary Shelley was, strong willed and active of mind. She was Immersed in modern theories of science and philosophy. At the age of 16 she eloped to Europe with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley., A ghost-story writing contest on a stormy night in Geneva in 1816, inspired the novel Frankenstein. At the time she was grieving for her first child and was fascinated by the new experiments in electricity including its use on the human body., Often called the first true work of science-fiction, Frankenstein was first published in 1818., Percy Bysshe Shelley , 1792-1822 , Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic Poets. A superb craftsman and lyric poet., Some of his best-known poems include: Queen Mab, Pro-metheus Unbound and Ode to a Skylark., Unpopular in England for his radical ideas and atheism he and Mary relocated to Europe where he died in a boating accident in 1822., When Shelley's body was cremated his heart failed to burn and was snatched from the fire, preserved in wine and given to his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley., Sir Percy Florence Shelley , 1819-1889 , Percy Florence Shelley was the son and only surviving child of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1852, a year after his mother's death, his father's heart was found in his mothers desk wrapped in the pages of one of his last poems 'Adonais'., Percy Florence Shelley died in 1889 and was buried in the family vault with the heart of his father alongside him., The Shelley Legacy in Bournemouth , Walking around Bournemouth, it's easy to find references to the Shelley Family in road, park and building names. But their main legacy is the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe., Originally a cottage, Percy Florence Shelley bought the house in 1848. He hoped to provide a home for his mother, Mary, to convalesce. She died before the house was finished. Consequently, he and his wife took up residence and he built a theatre inside. After Sir Percy died in 1889, Boscombe Manor eventually became Shelley Theatre plus Shelley Manor Medical Centre in Boscombe.