The diary of Elizabeth Richards (1798-1825)

The diary that Elizabeth Richards kept between 1798 and 1825 is extraordinary in a number of ways. In the first place, it is one of the relatively few diaries by women in this period. Secondly, it is partly Irish and partly Dutch, and therefore sheds light on the relationship between the two cultures. In the third place, its contents are exceptional: through Elizabeth's eyes, the reader witnesses the great rebellion in Ireland in 1798, Elizabeth's relationship with her Dutch husband Count Frederick Willem van Limburg Stirum, the development of her ten children, her financial worries, illness within her family, and social life. Elizabeth treated her diary as a confidant to which she could entrust her deepest feelings. This diary is thus an excellent example of an early nineteenth-century journal intime.