Born: 30 August 1797 · Died: 1 February 1851 · Age at death: 53
How old was Mary Shelley when she died?
Mary Shelley died aged 53. She was born on 30 August 1797 and died on 1 February 1851.
English novelist who wrote Frankenstein at 18 during a ghost-story contest with Byron, creating a founding work of science fiction
Did you know?She came from a famous literary family, being the daughter of feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin.
Quick facts
Date of birth30 August 1797
Date of death1 February 1851
Age at death53
Cause of deathBrain tumor
NationalityBritish
BirthplaceSomers Town, United Kingdom
Occupationwriter, travel writer, novelist
Editor's Take:
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was just 18. She was the daughter of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the philosopher William Godwin. She eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1816, at Lake Geneva, Lord Byron challenged his guests to write ghost stories. Her answer became Frankenstein, the tale of a scientist who builds a creature. It created science fiction's first great myth. Her later life was full of loss.
Key Milestones
1814: Elopement with Percy Shelley
1816: Geneva – ghost-story contest
1818: Frankenstein – published
1822: Widowed – Percy drowns
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction.
Mary Shelley's birthday is August 30. She was born on August 30, 1797 in Somers Town, United Kingdom.
How old was Mary Shelley when she died?
Mary Shelley died on February 1, 1851, aged 53.
Who shares a birthday with Mary Shelley?
Famous people who share Mary Shelley's August 30 birthday include Ernest Rutherford, Alexander Lukashenka, Warren Buffett, Cameron Diaz and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff.
