At the time Priscilla began these entries she was 47 years old and living in Tottenham with her husband Edward. Her three children Isabella (known as Bell), Edward and Dan were adults. Both Bell and Edward were married and with growing families of their own. Tottenham was Priscilla’s childhood home and she grew up in a Quaker family. She and Edward returned there after a number of years in London where their financial situation deteriorated and Priscilla had begun to write children’s books to make ends meet.

Priscilla’s journal entries tell us much about her life and her as a person. The first impression is that she was very busy. She notes attending regular church meetings, constantly visiting or receiving visits from friends and relations, she organised and promoted philanthropic initiatives and was very active in the community. The welfare and well-being of her immediate and extended family are a major focus of her life. She was always giving assistance whether at the birth of a child or caring for grandchildren. Her journals reflect her constant concerns at this time for the decisions her sons Dan and Edward were making in their lives. Along with her activity in the community and family was her strong desire, along with the economic necessity, to write children’s books. The tension between these two demands on her time is a battle that she constantly grapples with. A major theme of these two years is the financial difficulties of Priscilla and her husband Edward. The financial schemes of 1798 fade into obscurity in 1799 as their situation worsens. In the journals the persona of Priscilla’s husband is virtually absent an omission that in itself speaks volumes.

Of the woman herself the journals reveal an intelligent and learned person. She was full of ideas and possessed the energy to carry them through even when faced with opposition. She had high moral standards and a sometimes unrealistic expectation that others shared her views. Priscilla was a contradiction, strong and visionary in her thinking but privately full of self doubt as many of the journal entries reveal. Priscilla’s world was very different from our own but her words reveal there are also many similarities as she faced the challenges and competing demands in her life.

Note: ‘Travellers’ probably refers to Priscilla’s book  The Juvenile Travellers