Editing Robert Browning (section)

===Early years===
Browning was born in [[Walworth]] in the parish of [[Camberwell]], Surrey, which now forms part of the [[London Borough of Southwark|Borough of Southwark]] in south London. He was baptised on 14 June 1812, at Lock's Fields Independent Chapel, York Street, Walworth,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JW86-2ZV |title=FamilySearch.org|website=[[FamilySearch]]}}</ref> the only son of Sarah Anna (née Wiedemann) and Robert Browning.<ref name="Karlin9">Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) ''Selected Poems'' Penguin, p. 9</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/robert-browning-dlb2/ |title=Robert Browning Biography |via=bookrags.com}}</ref> His father was a well-paid clerk for the [[Bank of England]], earning about £150 per year.<ref name="Maynard">John Maynard, ''Browning's Youth''</ref> Browning's paternal grandfather was a slave owner in [[Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Kitts, West Indies]], but Browning's father was an [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionist]]. Browning's father had been sent to the [[West Indies]] to work on a sugar plantation but returned to England following a slave revolt. Browning's mother was the daughter of a German shipowner who had settled in [[Dundee]], Scotland and his Scottish wife. His paternal grandmother, Margaret Tittle, had inherited a plantation in St Kitts and was rumoured in the family to have a mixed-race ancestry including some Jamaican blood, but author Julia Markus suggests she was [[Saint Kitts and Nevis|Kittitian]] rather than Jamaican.<ref>''Dared and done: the marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning'' Knopf, 1995, University of Michigan, p. 112. {{ISBN|978-0-679-41602-9}}</ref> The evidence is inconclusive.<ref>''The dramatic imagination of Robert Browning: a literary life'', 2007. Richard S. Kennedy, Donald S. Hair, University of Missouri Press, p. 7. {{ISBN|0-8262-1691-9}}</ref> Robert's father, a literary collector, had a library of some 6,000 books; many of them were rare so that Robert grew up in a household with significant literary resources. His mother, to whom he was close, was a devout [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] and a talented musician.<ref name="Karlin9"/> His younger sister, Sarianna, also gifted, became her brother's companion in his later years, after the death of his wife in 1861. His father encouraged his children's interest in literature and the arts.<ref name="Karlin9"/>

By the age of 12, Browning had written a book of poetry, which he later destroyed for want of a publisher. After attending one or two private schools and showing an insuperable dislike of school life, he was educated at home by a tutor, using the resources of his father's library.<ref name="Karlin9"/> By 14 he was fluent in French, [[Ancient Greek|Greek]], Italian and Latin. He became an admirer of the [[Romantic poets]], especially [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]], whom he followed in becoming an [[atheism|atheist]] and a vegetarian. At 16, he studied Greek at [[University College London]], but left after his first year.<ref name="Karlin9"/> His parents' [[evangelicalism|evangelical faith]] prevented his studying at either [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] or [[Cambridge University]], both then open only to members of the [[Church of England]].<ref name="Karlin9"/> He had inherited substantial musical ability through his mother, and composed arrangements of various songs. He refused a formal career and ignored his parents' remonstrations by dedicating himself to poetry. He stayed at home until the age of 34, financially dependent on his family until his marriage. His father sponsored the publication of his son's poems.<ref name="Karlin9"/>