William Howitt

In Australia In September 1852, Howitt, with two of his sons, arrived in Melbourne, in colonial Australia, where he visited his youngest brother and visited the newly discovered goldfields. The results of two years in the colony were A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia (1854), Land, Labour and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria (1855) and Tallangetta, the Squatter's Home (1857). His eldest son, Alfred William, remained in Australia as an anthropologist, explorer and naturalist and was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to establish the fate of the ill-fated expedition by Burke and Wills.

Return to Europe

On William's return to England, he settled at Highgate and resumed his indefatigable book-making. From 1856 to 1862 he was engaged on Cassell's Illustrated History of England, and from 1861 to 1864 he and his wife worked at the Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain. The Howitts had left the Society of Friends in 1847, and became interested in Spiritualism. In 1863 he published The History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal Faith. He added his own conclusions from a practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven years. His eldest daughter Anna Mary paid tribute to his foundational work as a spiritualist and wrote his biography The Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation in 1883.

From 1870 onwards Howitt spent the summers in Tyrol and the winters in Rome, where he died. In 1880 Mary built a house (which is still standing) in the spa town of Meran in South Tyrol (then part of Austria) and from then on divided her time between Rome and Meran. Mary was much affected by William's death, and in 1882 she joined the Roman Catholic Church, towards which she had been gradually moving during her connection with spiritualism. She died at Rome on 30 January 1888. Calendar of Nature, 1836 The Rural Life of England, 1838 Colonization and Christianity: A Popular History of the Treatment of the Natives by the Europeans in all their Colonies, 1838 Visits to Remarkable Places: Old Halls, Battle Fields and Scenes Illustrative …, 1840–42 (Two series) The Student-Life of Germany: By William Howitt, from the Unpublished MS. of Dr. Cornelius, 1841 The Rural and Domestic Life of Germany, 1842 The Life and Adventures of Jack of the Mill: commonly called Lord Othmill; created, for his eminent services, Baron Waldeck, and knight of Kitcottie; a fireside story; with forty illustrations on wood by G. F. Sargent, 1844 Madam Dorrington of the Dene: the story of a life, 1850 The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe: Constituting a Complete History of the Literature of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, …, 1852 Land, Labour, and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria, 1855 A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia; or, Herbert's Note-Book, 1855 The Man of the People, 1860 The History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan; Demonstrating a Universal Faith, 1863 The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, 1865 The Mad War-Planet; And Other Poems, 1871 Homes and Haunts of the most eminent British Poets, 1877

As translator (incomplete list) The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert von Chamisso, 1844, The History of Magic by Joseph Ennemoser, 2 vols., 1854 – interior images at Internet Archive; (1970 edition, ) Subtitle: To which is added an Appendix of the most remarkable and best authenticated stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Somnambulism, Predictions, Divination, Witchcraft, Vampires, Fairies, Table-turning, and Spirit-rapping. Selected by Mary Howitt. [Editor's Preface closes "M. H."]