Editing Frances Burney (section)

==Family life==
Burney was born in Lynn Regis, now [[King's Lynn]], England, on 13 June 1752, to the musician Dr [[Charles Burney]] (1726–1814) and his first wife, [[Esther Sleepe]] Burney (1725–1762), as the third of her mother's six children. Her elder siblings were Esther (Hetty, 1749–1832) and James (1750–1821); those younger were [[Susan Burney|Susanna Elizabeth]] (1755–1800), Charles (1757–1817) and Charlotte Ann (1761–1838). Of her brothers, [[James Burney|James]] became an admiral and sailed with Captain [[James Cook]] on his second and third voyages.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=826}} The younger [[Charles Burney (schoolmaster)|Charles Burney]] became a well-known classical scholar, after whom ''[[Burney Collection of Newspapers|The Burney Collection of Newspapers]]'' is named.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/newspdigproj/burney/index.html |title=17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Database |last=Turner |first=Adrian |website=bl.uk|access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501193704/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/newspdigproj/burney/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Her younger sister Susanna married, in 1781, Molesworth Phillips, an officer in the Royal Marines who had sailed in Captain Cook's last expedition; she left a journal that gives a principal eye-witness account of the [[Gordon Riots]].<ref>Philip Olleson, ''The Journals and Letters of Susan Burney: Music and Society in Late Eighteenth-Century England''. Ashgate, 2012; {{ISBN|978-0-7546-5592-3}}</ref> Her younger half-sister [[Sarah Burney|Sarah Harriet Burney]] (1772–1844) also became a novelist, publishing seven works of fiction.<ref name="Commire, Klezmer 228">Commire, Klezmer, pg. 228.</ref> Esther Sleepe Burney also bore two other boys, both named Charles, who died in infancy in 1752 and 1754.

Frances Burney began composing small letters and stories almost as soon as she learnt the alphabet. She often joined with her brothers and sisters in writing and acting in plays. The Burney family had many close friends. "Daddy Crisp" was almost like a second father to Frances and a strong influence on her early writing years. Burney scholar [[Margaret Doody|Margaret Anne Doody]] has investigated conflicts within the Burney family that affected Burney's writing and her personal life.<ref>''Frances Burney: The Life in The Works'' (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press 1988), pp. 277 ff.</ref> She alleged that one strain was an [[Incest|incestuous relationship]] between Burney's brother James and their half-sister Sarah in 1798–1803, but there is no direct evidence for this, and Burney was affectionate towards Sarah and provided her with financial assistance in later life.<ref>Lorna J. Clark, "Introduction", pg. xii. In: Sarah Burney: ''The Romance of Private Life'', ed. Lorna J. Clark (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2008; {{ISBN|1-85196-873-3}})</ref>

Frances Burney's mother, Esther Sleepe, described by historians as a woman of "warmth and intelligence", was the daughter of a French refugee named Dubois and had been brought up a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]. This French heritage influenced Frances Burney's self-perception in later life, possibly contributing to her attraction and subsequent marriage to Alexandre d'Arblay. Esther Burney died in 1762 when Frances was ten years old.<ref>Doody, pg. 11.</ref>

Frances's father, Charles Burney, was noted for his personal charm, and for his talents as a musician, a [[Musicology|musicologist]], a composer and a man of letters. In 1760 he moved his family to London, a decision that improved their access to English [[high society]] and social standing.<ref name="Commire, Klezmer 228"/> They lived amidst an artist social circle that gathered round Charles at their home in [[Poland Street]], Soho.

In 1767, Charles Burney [[Elopement|eloped]] to marry for a second time, to Elizabeth Allen, the wealthy widow of a King's Lynn wine merchant.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=827}} Allen had three children of her own, and several years after the marriage the two families merged. This new domestic situation was fraught with tension. The Burney children found their new stepmother overbearing and quick to anger, and they made fun of her behind her back. However, their collective unhappiness may have also brought them closer to one another. In 1774 the family moved again, to what had been the house of [[Isaac Newton]] in [[St Martin's Lane|St Martin's Street]], Westminster.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burney |first=Frances |title=Early Journals and Letters |pages=Early Journals and Letters 2: 32}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saggini |first=Francesca |date=29 March 2023 |title=Frances Burney: A Houstory |journal=European Romantic Review|volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=223–242 |doi=10.1080/10509585.2023.2181487 |doi-access=free |hdl=20.500.11820/3c78035f-0022-49ba-9452-a02292cb3159 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>