Fanny Kemble

1809-1893

Frances Anne Kemble was a British actress from a distinguished theatre family. While touring America, she met and married Pierce Butler in Philadelphia.

He was the son of a wealthy Georgia slave-owning family, but Fanny was adamantly opposed to slavery, which makes them sound like a bickering sitcom family, but with more whippings and bloodhounds. She believed that she could convince Pierce to emancipate his slaves if he loved her. Pierce, however, felt he could convince Fanny of the benefits of slavery if she just saw it first hand. so the marriage was troubled from the start. When he inherited his family's estate, he moved her south. She was horrified by what she saw, and kept a meticulous journal of her experiences.

Pierce and Fanny eventually divorced and went on with their separate lives. Fanny returned to Britain, but then the American Civil War broke out. For a while, it looked like Britain might join the fight in support of the Confederacy, so Fanny published her journal in the UK. Her details of life in the South convinced many Britons that the practice of slavery was even worse than they originally imagined.

Husband: Pierce Butler (m. 1834, divorced 1849)

SITE INDEX