What was Hans Christian Andersen’s mother’s occupation?

Hans Christian Andersen’s mother worked as a washerwoman.

Anne Marie Andersdatter came from a poor background and supported the family by washing clothes for other people. Andersen’s childhood in Odense exposed him to sharp differences between wealthy households and working families, experiences that later appeared in stories such as “The Little Match Girl.”

His mother was also associated with folk beliefs and traditional stories, although Andersen’s literary education developed mainly through his own reading and his later contacts in Copenhagen. She died in 1833, when Andersen was 28.

Readers sometimes confuse Andersen’s mother with the mothers in his tales, many of whom are fictional figures. His real family circumstances, however, are well documented in biographies and in his autobiographical writings.