Wrote a small volume of poetry, "Little Derwent's Breakfast," for her godson, Derwent Moultrie Coleridge, published 1839.
"Ideology is externalised in food.... Consider Little Derwent's Breakfast (1839), addressed to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's seven-year-old grandson. Written by Emily Trevenen, an acquaintenance of William Wordsworth, and friend of Charles and Mary Lamb, it is an educational poem in the sense that education is an externalised form of ideology.... Trevenen does not merely exhort Derwent Coleridge to behave like a little gentleman at the breakfast table, though it is an ideal scene of instruction in manners. She also provides lessons on the commercial origins of sugar, exotically illustrated by the idyllic fantasy realms of the West Indies, China and Arabia. She furnishes a homily on class relations entitled 'The Rivals; or, Sugar and Salt'. The presence at table of both condiments provides an opportunity for a quarrel and reconcilation (by 'Nature') between the bourgeoisie (in the form of sugar) and the working class (in the form of salt)..."
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In 1841 Emily Trevenen, aged about 55, born in the county, Ind[ependent Means], was living in Cross St., Helston, Cornwall.
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Emily Trevenen of Helston died aged 70 years (burial record).
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At her house in Cross-street, Helston, on Saturday last, aged 71 years, Miss Emily Trevenen ; her loss will be deeply felt in the town and neighbourhood.
Royal Cornwall Gazette, Friday, 25 Jul 1856, p. 5
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Abstract of the Will of Emily Trevenen of the Borough of Helston in the County of Cornwall, Spinster, written 3 Sep 1855, proved 22 Oct 1856. 3
Summarises her father's will, giving what he left her to Glynn Grylls of Helston, banker, and James Trevenen the elder now residing at Dundee, Scotland, Esq., in trust, to invest in public stocks or funds, or in Government securities or the like, and to pay the interest, dividends and annual income to her cousin the Rev. Thomas Johns Trevenen, Rector of St. Ewe in Cornwall, and his heirs.
Gives £200 to Thomas Johns Trevenen, the eldest son of the said Thomas John Trevenen of St. Ewe, together with all her silver plate, her books which belonged to her father, marked T. T. in her catalogue.
Gives to her friend, the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, Principal of St. Mark's College, Stanley Grove, Chelsea, the sum of £3,000, the rest of her books, and her small silver-chased cream jug. Also gives £1,000 to Mary Simpson Coleridge the wife of the said Rev. Derwent Coleridge, in gratitude for their kindess during her long illness.
Gives £200 to Christabel Rose Coleridge, daughter of the said Rev. Derwent Coleridge, for her education.
Gives £200 to her cousin Charlotte Mary Schetky, daughter of John Schetky, Esq. and Charlotte Mary Schetky his wife.
Gives £1,000 to her cousin Harriet Mary Maule, the widow of Capt. Maule, R.N., now resident at Falmouth.
Gives £1,000 to her cousin Jane Penrose, daughter of the late Rev. John Penrose of Fledborough in co. Nottingham. If Jane should die, then she wills the same to the Rev. Charles Penrose, second son of her cousin the Rev. John Penrose, Vicar of Laughton in Lincolnshire. Additionally she gives £500 to the said Rev. Charles Penrose.
Gives £2,000 to the five daughters of her late cousin the Rev. Thomas Grylls, Rector of Cardinham in co. Cornwall, as follows: £1,000 to his second daughter, Emily Trevenen Grylls, and £250 to his other four daughters, namely Louisa Ann Grylls, Elizabeth Sarah Ellen the wife of the Rev. William Fontaine Addison, Charlotte Champion the wife of the Rev. Thomas Cave Childs, and Cordelia Vivian Grylls. If any of them should die, then gives the same to their brother Humphrey Millett Grylls of Liskeard, solicitor.
Gives £1,000 to her cousin the Rev. Charles Grylls, son of her late uncle Thomas Grylls, Esq.
Gives to her friend Sophia Grylls, widow of the Rev. Richard Gerveys Grylls, the sum of £50.
Gives to her cousin Lydia Johns Trevenen, daughter of her late uncle John Trevenen, Esq., the sum of £50.
Gives to her friend Arabella Brooke, daughter of the late Rev. Joshua Brooke, Rector of Gains..... in Nottinghamshire, the sum of £300.
Gives to Alice Sampson wife of William Sampson of this borough, and now mistress of the Helston Nations Girls School, the sum of £200.
Gives £500 to the trustees of the National Schools in the Borough of Helston established in 1828, for the purpose of founding a scholarship to be held in the universities of either Oxford or Cambridge.
Gives £50 each to those of her servants who have been with her at least ten years.
Gives £20 each to those of her servants who have been with her at least five years.
Gives £5 each to those of her servants who have been with her at least two years.
All the rest of her real and personal estate she gives to her said cousin the Rev. Thomas Johns Trevenen, appointing him and the Rev. William Grylls and the said Glynn Grylls, co-executors of her will, giving them each £50. She also gives £50 to her trustees, the said Glynn Grylls and James Trevenen the elder.
(Signed)
Witnesses: Jas. Ellis Jr of Helston, banker's clerk, J. H. Johns of Helston, solicitor's clerk
In a codicil dated 3 Sep 1855 she directs Glynn Grylls, Esq. to the drawer in the bookcase in her library where is to be found the account books of the charities for which she is treasurer, showing the monies that belong to each. She directs her executor to give £5 to each of the following: the Helston Benevolent Society, the Helston L------- Charity, the Helston Lending Library, and the Poor Clergy Clothing Society.
Directs her executor to the lowest drawer in the bureau chest of drawers in her dressing room where will be found a paper directing that everything in that drawer be given to the Rev. Derwent Coleridge.
Leaves the tortoise-shell cabinet in her drawing room to the said Christabel Rose Coleridge. Leaves to Christabel's brother, Ernest Hartley Coleridge, her imitation rosewood cabinet currently in her drawing room.
Leaves her high-backed ebony chair to Mrs. Derwent Coleridge.
Gives to her servant John Kinsman? her garden implements and any plants he wants.
Gives to her servant Ann Withers her chair bed, currently in her dressing room, with its bedding and linen.
In a second codicil dated 30 May 1856, she gives to her servant Ann Withers the additional sum of £100
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