Criminals, Idiots, Women, & Minors: Victorian Writing by Women on Women

300 Pages·2004·1.55 MB·English

by  Susan Hamilton

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‘Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors’
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‘Criminals, Idiots, Women,
and Minors’
Victorian Writing by Women on Women
Second Edition
Edited by
Susan Hamilton
broadview press
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©2004 Susan Hamilton
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
wise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior written consent of the publisher—or
in the case of photocopying, a licence from AccessCopyright (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency) One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1E5—is an
infringement of the copyright law.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
‘Criminals, idiots, women, and minors’: Victorian writing by women on women /
edited by Susan Hamilton. — 2nd ed.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-55111-608-1 (pbk.)
1. Women – Great Britain – History – 19thcentury. 2. Feminism – Great Britain –
History – 19thcentury. 3. Women’s rights – Great Britain – History – 19thcentury.
I. Hamilton, Susan, 1960–
HQ1596.C76 2004 305.42’0941 C2004-900697-5
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For Geraldine Brennan
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Chapter 1
Contents
Introduction
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
INTRODUCTION xi
CHRONOLOGY xxi
A NOTEONTHETEXT xxvii
ANNABROWNELLJAMESON(1794-1860) 1
“The Milliners” 1
Biographical Note 6
HARRIETMARTINEAU(1802-1876) 9
“Female Industry” 9
Biographical Note 47
FRANCESPOWERCOBBE(1822-1904) 50
“Celibacy v. Marriage” 50
“‘What Shall We Do with Our Old Maids?’” 59
“The Education of Women, and How it Would be Affected by University
Examinations” 79
“‘Criminals, Idiots, Women, And Minors’” 90
“Wife-torture in England” 111
Biographical Note 144
ELIZALYNNLINTON(1822-1898) 147
“The Girl of the Period” 147
“The Modern Revolt” 151
“The Wild Women: as Politicians” 161
“The Wild Women: as Social Insurgents” 170
Biographical Note 179
MARGARETOLIPHANT(1828-1897) 181
“The Condition of Women” 181
“The Grievances of Women” 201
Biographical Note 214
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viii ‘Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors’
HELENTAYLOR(1831-1907) 217
“Women and Criticism” 217
Biographical Note 224
MILLICENTGARRETTFAWCETT(1847-1929) 225
“The Emancipation of Women” 225
Biographical Note 236
MONACAIRD(1854-1932) 239
“Marriage” 239
“A Defence of the So-called ‘Wild Women’” 253
Biographical Note 271
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Chapter One
Acknowledgements
Introduction
I am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada and the University of Alberta for supporting the production of this
anthology. I would also like to thank Glenn Burger, JoAnn Wallace and Paul
Brennan for their encouragement and advice, and Garrett Epp and
Lahoucine Ouzgane for their help with translations.
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