• Name: Alderson, Amelia (Opie)
• Gender: Female
• Birth Date: 12  November  1769
• Death Date: 2  December  1853
• Occupation: novelist

Amelia Alderson was a novelist and poet from a dissenting, reforming background. On her mother's death in December 1784, she became her father's housekeeper and hostess, bringing her into contact with many reformers in Norwich and London circles. She submitted her work to Godwin for his criticism during the 1790s and married John Opie in 1798. Her literary achievements and her beauty made her a public figure in the early 1800s. She married John Opiein 1798.

Entries pertaining to 'a a', ' miss alderson', and, after her marriage on 8 May 1798, 'opies' and ''mes opie' are all coded as Amelia Alderson. 'Alderson' is deemed to refer to her father and in most cases these refer to meetings in Norwich. Amelia Alderson is not listed in the 1796 diary list of first meetings. However, they first meet on Godwin's trip to Norfolk in 1794, and the following year Amelia Alderson is in London. The move into abbreviation is surprisingly quick - but this is the point in the diary when Godwin begins to use abbreviation more often and more quickly. But there seems little doubt over the attribution. It is known that Amelia Alderson is in London, and that she attends the Treason Trials in 1794, and Godwin's entries confirm that. (although she is still A Alderson at this stage). The variation between A A and A An is not thought significant - since Godwin's developing shorthand tends to take the first and last letter of the surname.

• MS. Abinger c. 2, fols. 108-109: 28 August 1795
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fol. 2: 27 December 1795
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 16-17: 5 February 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 20-1: 12 February 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fol. 29: 1 April 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 30: 11 April 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 33-4: 17 August 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 38-9: 14 October 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 40-1: 1 November 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 42-3: 13 November 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 44-5: 18 November 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 41, fols. 3-4: 18 December 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 46-7: 22 December 1796
• MS. Abinger c. 3, fols. 99-100: 11 October 1797
• MS. Abinger c. 55, fols. 17-18: 23 October 1797
• MS. Abinger c. 22, fols. 67-9: 23 October 1797
• MS. Abinger c. 55, fols. 19-20: 29 October 1797
• MS. Abinger c. 55, fols. 17-18: 23 October 1797
• MS. Abinger c. 41, fols. 9-10: 28 August [year unknown]
• MS. Abinger c. 41, fols. 11-12: not dated
• DNB

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.

• Name: Opie, John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: May  1761
• Death Date: 9  April  1807
• Occupation: portrait and history painter

See DNB.

The painter John Opie (who was rumoured to have been courting Mary Wollstonecraft before her relationship with Godwin – see St Clair, p. 163 and 173) married Amelia Alderson, the novelist, poet and daughter of a Norwich doctor, in 1798. Godwin had contact with both Amelia and John (who painted Wollstonecraft’s portrait in 1797 where she is seen pregnant with Mary). Entries with ‘Opie’ have been coded as John, whereas the ‘Opies’ after marriage are taken to include both John and Amelia. A A, Mes Opie, etc have been coded as Amelia.

Godwin records his death.

Opie appears in the 1796 lists under 1795 which accords with his first appearance in the diary - the only previous reference is 'see Opie's pictures' back in 1788.

• DNB
• St ClairThe Godwins and the Shelleys

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.