Emma Isola 1808-1891

Emma Isola, the wife of publisher Edward Moxon was born in Cambridge on 12th April 1808, the daughter of Charles and Mary Isola, Emma was one of a family of four boys and two girls. Her father, Charles Isola was a graduate of Emmanuel College and was elected to the post of Esquire Bedell in 1797. This was the year in which his father Agostino Isola had died.

Agostino had been a much respected teacher of Italian and Greek and the University elected Charles to the post of Esquire Bedell, in as much a token of affection for Agostino, as for Charles' suitability to the post.

In October 1814 Emma's father Charles died at the early age of 40. This tragedy was compounded in June of the following year when her mother Mary died aged 32. The family were scattered amongst Mary's relatives and the task of raising Emma fell to her maiden aunt, Miss Humphreys.

The Lambs

Little is known of her upbringing until the chance meeting with Charles Lamb and his sister Mary in the summer of 1820. The Lambs often spent their summer holidays with friends in Cambridge and it was on a visit to an acquaintance, Mrs Paris, with whom Miss Humphreys and Emma lived that they first met. The Lambs took an instant liking to young Emma and she was invited to stay with them in London during the next school holidays.

When Emma started school at Dulwich in 1822 she began to visit the Lambs more frequently and eventually, when Emma finally left school in 1827, took up permanent residence with them. At this stage the Lambs set about finding her employment as a governess. A suitable position was eventually found and on 17th April 1828 Emma took the post of governess to the family of the Reverend Williams in Fornham All Saints, Suffolk. Having had the company of Emma in their household for the previous 12 months, Charles and Mary found Emma's departure left a large gap in their lives.

Emma's Illness

Emma holidayed with her adoptive parents whenever possible and it was after an extended Christmas and New Years visit in 1829-30 that Emma's health took a dramatic turn. After returning to Suffolk with a persistent cold Charles received an alarming letter on 25th February that Emma had developed a life-threatening "brain fever" (cerobro-spinal meningitis). The fever lasted several days, when her life hung in the balance but Charles and Mary were overjoyed to receive news on 1st March that the worst was over and Emma was showing strong signs of recovery. When Emma was strong enough at the end of March, Charles travelled to Bury St Edmunds to collect Emma and they returned to London on a Mail Coach. Eventually, in March 1831, Emma's poor health saw her return to the Lambs, never to return to the Williams's household.

Marriage

Emma married Edward Moxon at St. Georges, Hanover Square on 30th July 1833, Charles gave Emma away and after honeymooning in Paris, returned to live in the apartments above Edward's bookshop and publishing house at 44 Dover Street.

In the early years of their marriage Edward and Emma were great socialisers, holding regular literary breakfasts and luncheons for some of the most prominent names in London society. The apartments in Dover Street were open house whenever Wordsworth and Tennyson were "in town" and they both stayed on numerous occasions.

Emma took a lively interest in Edward's literary life until an expanding family took more and more of her time. In 1841 Emma and Edwards' first born, Edward Isola died at the age of seven. This was a doubly upsetting time in the Moxon household as Edward was at the same time being sued for the publication of a blasphemous libel. The publishing of an unabridged version of Shelley's Queen Mab had brought with it a celebrated court case but thankfully, despite being found guilty, Edward was not punished for the technical infringement.

In the early part of their marriage Emma would accompany Edward on his trips around England and the continent and occasionally she would visit old school friends unaccompanied. Emma was an accomplished amateur artist and recorded some of her visits in pen and ink sketches, although few examples now exist in family hands.

Widowed

When Edward died in 1858 Emma was of course the main beneficiary of property and personal effects but the publishing business was left to the two boys. Charles Isola and Arthur Henry were still minors in 1858 so their business inheritance was held in trust until they reached the age of twenty-one. Charles Isola, the eldest son, was about 17 years of age at the time of Edwards' death. Something of a mystery surrounds Charles at this time as a belated codicil was added to Edward's will on the day he died, revoking several personal bequests to his eldest son. It was suggested (within the family) that Charles had a drink problem and that after a violent confrontation with a local publican he left for Australia in something of a hurry.

This maybe somewhat fanciful but we do know that Charles did leave for Australia shortly after his fathers death and took very little interest in the publishing business thereafter.

The family finances were quite healthy for some time after Edward's death. The business was being efficiently overseen by his longstanding friend Frederick Evans, (of the printing company, Bradbury & Evans) brother William and with an input from Emma. When Arthur was old enough he became involved in the day to day running of the business but by this time the major force in the company was J. Bertrand Payne the newly appointed manager and lately partner in Edward Moxon & Co.

Financial Difficulties

When the company finally ran into difficulties in the late 1860s Emma and Arthur decided to pay off the irascible Payne with what now seems an extremely overgenerous settlement of £11000. This settlement came too late to save several important authors from leaving, including Tennyson, so long the cornerstone of the Moxon publishing house.

In 1871 Ward, Lock & Tyler agreed to buy the company and to pay all the creditors fifteen shillings in the pound. Emma personally received "a large sum" and an annuity of £250 and another sum to be paid to her family after her death.

In reduced circumstances Emma and her family moved from the imposing house on Putney Heath to more a more humble dwelling in the still respectable neighbourhood of Wandsworth. Tennyson was so distressed to learn of the decline in the family fortunes that he anonymously gave Emma an annuity of £300 until 1878. In the mid 1870s Emma and her daughters moved to Brighton. Of her five daughters only Maria Wordsworth Moxon married and her eldest girl Emma continued to live in the family home until her mother's death at 11 Stamford Road, Brighton on 2nd February 1891 aged 82. Emma's literary connections brought obituaries in not only the local press but also in the London Illustrated News. The obituary in the Sussex Daily News was particularly effusive, speaking of "her most loving disposition, and the saintly character of her life, illustrated in a marked degree, the principal of keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace".