Elizabeth Justice

Elizabeth Justice born Elizabeth Surby (1703 – 1752) was a British writer. Her husband's obsession with books destroyed their lives and their marriage. After he was sentenced to be transported she turned to writing about her time in Russia as the first governess and the problems that her husband had caused her. She is said to be the first woman to write of her travels to Russia.

Life She was born in 1703. The day and location are unknown but her parents were Ann (born Ellis) and Dorset Surby and they lived in Hatton Garden in London. She married a lawyer named Henry Justice when she was sixteen.

Justice's first time in print was unpaid and without her permission. The notorious publisher Edmund Curll had managed to obtain four letters that she had written to a friend in London whilst she was in St Petersburg. The letters were interesting and he was unscrupulous. He published them in "Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence" in 1737.

Justice wrote A Voyage to Russia and it was published in 1739. The book describes how she became the first governess in Russia.

Justice had to return from Russia because of her husband's bibliophilia in 1737.

She wrote the book, Amelia, Or, the Distress'd Wife: A History Founded on Real Circumstances. By a Private Gentlewoman, and it was published in 1751. It was nominally a novel but it was a thinly veiled autobiography and much of the detail of her life comes from this book. Amelia tells the story of Amelia Johnson who marries and then finds that her husband holds all the power in their marriage. He uses her money which became his to buy books that Amelia thinks are worthless. He claims that he bought them cheaply and will do them up and make a handsome profit - but he doesn't. He takes her children and offers her £100 a year but then changes that to £25 p.a. The heroine has to take her husband to court and wins. However he threatens to counter-sue. In the end, Amelia writes a book about a journey to Russia and then writes the very book the reader is reading.

Selected works A Voyage to Russia, 1739 Amelia, Or, the Distress'd Wife: A History Founded on Real Circumstances. By a Private Gentlewoman, 1751