Background
She was born into a distinguished literary and medical family of prominent Unitarians. Her father was Charles Rochemont Aikin, member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
She was born into a distinguished literary and medical family of prominent Unitarians. Her father was Charles Rochemont Aikin, member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He had grown up as the adopted child of his aunt, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, a prominent poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children"s author He was educated at the school she ran with her husband, the Palgrave Academy.
Charles Rochemont"s father was in fact John Aikin (1747–1822), a medical doctor, historian, and author Her mother was Anne, daughter of the Review Gilbert Wakefield. They lived in Hampstead, then a village outside London, but now part of Inner London.
He chaired the Metropolitan Board of Works parks committee, and lobbied successfully with the Commons Preservation Society (now Open Spaces Society) for the preservation of Hampstead Heath.
In 1874 she herself edited Lucy Aikin"s correspondence with William Ellery Channing, the American Unitarian theologian, and published a Memoir of Mistress Barbauld, including Letters and Notices of her Family and Friends.
Her husband died in 1884. She died at Hampstead 29 September 1885, and was buried in the cemetery there.
She was educated at home in London, and saw much of her namesake great-aunt and other members of the Aikin family. Foreign twenty years he was a member of its vestry.