Elizabeth Ham

Elizabeth Ham (1783-1859) was an English poet and writer active in the late Georgian and early Victorian era. She is noted for her social observations of Ireland between 1804 and 1809 which appeared in her novel The Ford Family in Ireland and her posthumously published memoir Elizabeth Ham by herself 1783-1820 (1945).

Early life Elizabeth Ham was born in North Perrott, Somerset, England on 30 November 1783. She was the third of seven children of Thomas Ham, a yeoman farmer and brewer, and Elizabeth Ham. She was sometimes separated from her parents and siblings, until the family settled in Dorchester and Weymouth. She occasionally attended schools, including a brief period at a boarding school. In Weymouth she attended plays, balls, parties and other social events. Her memoir recalls George III visiting the family farm.

Life in Ireland In 1804, Ham's father moved the family, including the 21-year-old Elizabeth, to Ireland. After a winter in Carlow, they eventually settled in Ballina, County Mayo where her father set up a malting business to supply a brewery in Guernsey. Ham fell in love with a junior officer who then left her, and she never married. Ham's father's business did not thrive, and the family returned to England.

In 1845, Ham wrote a novel based on her time in Ireland, The Ford Family in Ireland.

In 1849, Ham started writing her memoir and she continued with this after moving to Wick House in Brislington where she worked as a housekeeper.