Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in County Durham, England in 1806. From the age of 15 she suffered a series of debilitating illnesses. Her book of "Poems" published in 1844 attracted the attention of Robert Browning, leading to their courtship, marriage and elopement to Italy where she lived for the rest of her life. She died in Florence in 1861.
She was a campaigner for the abolition of slavery despite both her parents' families having financial interests in plantations in the West Indies. Her poem "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" was an attempt to make people in England and America more aware of the cruelty of slavery as it affected a young slave woman.. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)
