Arabella Graham-Clarke (1755–1827)
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 297.
EBB’s maternal grandmother was a daughter of Roger Altham, a Proctor in Doctors’ Commons, London, and she was related to the Surtees family, from whom came Henrietta Moulton-Barrett’s husband, Surtees Cook. It is through her, moreover, that EBB’s ancestry is traced to King Edward I. Arabella was considerably younger than John Graham (later Graham-Clarke), whom she married in 1780. She had literary ability, as indicated by a birthday poem written to daughter Mary (see SD43). EBB was fond of this grandmother, but the attachment does not seem to have been quite so close as that with Elizabeth Moulton. After the death of John Graham-Clarke, Arabella continued to live, accompanied by her daughter Arabella (Bummy), at Fenham Hall until her own death, which occurred on 10 November 1827. She was buried at St. Andrew’s Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
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