Sewell, Anna

Sewell, Anna (s`əl), 1820–78, English author. Her only work, Black Beauty (1877), the story of a horse, became a children's classic and has gone into many reprints. Her mother,

Mary Wright Sewell, 1797–1884, was also a popular writer for children.

Bibliography

See study by M. J. Baker (1957).

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Sewell, Anna

(born March 30, 1820, Yarmouth, Norfolk, Eng.—died April 25, 1878, Old Catton, Norfolk) British writer. She was introduced to writing by her mother, an author of juvenile best-sellers, and her concern for the humane treatment of horses began early in life. Confined to her house as an invalid, she spent her last years writing the children's classic Black Beauty (1877), a fictional autobiography of a gentle, highbred horse. It had a strong moral purpose and is said to have been instrumental in abolishing the cruel practice of using the checkrein (a short rein used to prevent a horse from lowering its head).