19th Century
Railwaywomen: from backstage heroine to train driver
Overview Railways are imbued with maleness to their very core. Everyone connected with the creation and operation of railways was male: business men and financiers, architects and engineers, navvies and bricklayers, managers and operating staff. The masculinity of railways was
Women and femininity in the history of science
By Claire Jones Women have always participated in scientific endeavour, even before the term ‘scientist’ was invented. (The term ‘scientist’ is usually attributed to William Whewell, Cambridge academic, who used it in its modern sense in 1841, but some scholars
Women’s access to higher education: An overview (1860-1948)
Women’s struggle for higher education did not begin in the mid-late nineteenth century. There had been calls for women to receive educational opportunities equivalent to their brothers well before, including pleas from notable women including Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), Mary Astell
Writing wrongs? Women wordsmiths of the 18th and early 19th centuries
By Jennifer C Kelsey. The art of communication has always been important for women. Whether sharing thoughts, relating experiences, voicing opinions, giving advice or creating fictions, one vital means of communication for women in the past was through the written
The Married Women’s Property Acts (UK, 1870, 1882 and 1893)
By Claire Jones These acts were a milestone along women’s route to equality. The legal position of married women for most of the nineteenth century was little short of that of a slave. (This was the way in which philosopher
Octavia Hill (1838 - 1912)
Housing reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and co-founder of the National Trust. By Claire Jones In her time Octavia Hill was an influential and well-known figure, now she is regarded as an important pioneer of female activism in the public sphere.
Prostitution and the Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866 and 1869)
By Claire Jones Overview The passing of the Contagious Diseases Acts, which stripped poor and working-class women of their rights, shocked many respectable middle class women and provoked a major campaign for repeal. The Acts were a legal embodiment of
Josephine Butler, 1828-1906
by Claire Jones Worker for poor women’s rights, advocate for prostitutes and campaigner against the Contagious Diseases Acts Overview Josephine Butler is remembered for her compassion for prostitutes and her tireless championing of poor women and children. Importantly, she is
Women and the bicycle
By Claire Jones In the mid 1880s, the emergence of a new, relatively stable and easy to ride ‘safety bicycle’ provided women with a chance for mobility, increased independence and freedom from the confines of the home. Women took to
Davies and Davison
Is commemoration a matter of deeds versus words? The famous tragic incident when suffragette Emily Davison fatally threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, 1913, remains engraved on the public’s memory. Indeed, many of you
