Radical Writing on Women, 1800–1850: An Anthology

246 Pages·2002·1.18 MB·English

by  Kathryn Gleadle (auth.)

Radical Writing on Women, 1800–1850
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Radical Writing on
Women, 1800–1850
An Anthology
Kathryn Gleadle
British Academy Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
London Guildhall University
© Kathryn Gleadle 2002
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
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The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002 by
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ISBN 978-0-333-72613-6 ISBN 978-0-230-28670-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230286702
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
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A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Radical writing on women, 1800–1850: an anthology / [compiled by]
Kathryn Gleadle. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-333-72613-6
1. Women—History—19th century. 2. Women—History—19th
century—Sources. 3. Women—Social conditions—19th century.
4. Feminism—History—19th century. 5. Sex role—History—
19th century. I. Gleadle, Kathryn.
HQ1154 .R28 2002
305.4’09’034—dc21 2002019512
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Notes on the Text viii
Introduction 1
Part I Defining the Problem
Introduction 21
1 Analysing Woman’s Position 26
2 Agendas for Change 42
Part II Female Roles
Introduction 55
3 Education 61
4 Employment 77
5 Domesticity and Motherhood 96
Part III Marriage, Sexuality and the Female Body
Introduction 111
6 Reforming Marriage 117
7 Divorce and Sexual Radicalism 129
8 Female Sexuality and the Female Body 142
Part IV Political Rights and Public Power
Introduction 155
9 Female Rights, Popular Politics and Electoral Reform 159
10 Middle-Class Reform Projects 175
Biographical Notes 193
Bibliography 220
Index 233
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Acknowledgements
The following libraries kindly permitted me to quote from material in
their care: the British Library of Political and Economic Science; the
Syndics of Cambridge University Library; The Mistress and Fellows,
Girton College, Cambridge; Birmingham City Archives; the Friends
House Library, London; and the Working-Class Movement Library,
Salford. My thanks also to Helen Plant and Jane Rendall for allowing
me to cite from their unpublished papers. In common with all others
working in this field, I owe a tremendous debt to Jane Rendall for her
inspiration and kind support. I wish to thank the British Academy for
their financial support; and London Guildhall University for providing
a welcoming academic home during the closing stages of this project.
I am extremely grateful to Clare Midgley and Sarah Richardson for
their encouragement and advice. Helen Rogers has been patient, kind
and supportive and valiantly read an early and chaotic draft. Philippa
Gray’s friendship, wine-drinking and irreverence were particularly
appreciated as the book reached completion. Finally, my family have
nobly endured my continuing passion for early nineteenth-century
feminism and its consequent incursion into our lives.
vii
Notes on the Text
Original spellings and punctuation have been retained, although
obvious errors have been silently corrected.
Bracketed numbers in the main body of the text refer to documents
in the anthology.
viii
Introduction
It has become a commonplace of feminist history that in the politi-
cally repressive climate of the post-revolutionary years, the voice of
Mary Wollstonecraft was silenced. The fate of her reputation was
apparently sealed in 1798 when William Godwin’s revealing memoirs
brought to light her suicidal tendencies and the nature of her rela-
tionship with Gilbert Imlay. According to the conventional narrative,
this moment signalled a closure in the articulation of revolutionary
feminism, as female authors were constrained to forget the lessons
Wollstonecraft had taught them. They must bow their heads and
succumb to a new, restrictive cultural order.1
However, it is now becoming increasingly apparent that such a
picture requires considerable modification. As this collection seeks to
demonstrate, feminism was alive and kicking in early nineteenth-
century Britain. Indeed, to many it was a palpable threat. Witness Lord
Shaftesbury during a debate on Jewish emancipation fearing that
‘perhaps they would have a final struggle for a male Parliament’;2 or
consider the hysterical tone of the British and Foreign Quarterly Review
which portrayed Caroline Norton’s campaign for greater maternal
custody rights as a treacherous bid by female emancipationists to
loosen all social ties.3 Contemporary periodical publications could
point to a continuing, rich vein of feminist discourse, citing such
writers as Catherine Macaulay, Mary Wollstonecraft, William
Thompson, Anna Jameson and Harriet Martineau.4Indeed, the preva-
lence of feminism was such that a women’s rights position could be
parodied, alluded to and satirized in contemporary literature. Both
Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son and William Thackeray’s Vanity
Fair, for example, introduce cameo feminist characters.5
In tracing the history of early nineteenth-century feminism, two
1
K. Gleadle, Radical Writing on Women, 1800–1850
© Kathryn Gleadle 2002