Emily Davies (1830 1921) was an English early feminist and suffragist who is best remembered for her pioneering campaign to allow women access to university education. Davies was one of the founders of Girton College, Cambridge and served as Mistress between 1873 1875. This volume, first published in 1866, discusses the state of female education after the ages of 16-18. Davies explores the contemporary differences between male and female education and advocates women's entry into higher education, providing specific suggestions on how this could occur and the benefits it could bring to both...

Catharine Burton (1688 1714) was an English Carmelite nun who in 1697 was inspired to write her autobiography following visions of her patron saint, St. Francis Xavier. During a severe illness in her teenage years which left her near death, Burton underwent a spiritual conversion and resolved to enter a religious order should she survive. After her recovery, Burton entered the English Carmelite convent in Antwerp in 1693. She was elected Superior of the convent in 1700. This volume, first published in 1876, contains her autobiography as arranged by her confessor, Father Thomas Hunter (1666...

Frances Power Cobbe (1822 1904) was an Irish writer, social reformer and activist best known for her contributions to Victorian feminism. After the death of her father in 1857, Cobbe travelled extensively across Europe before becoming a leader-writer for the London newspaper The Echo in 1868. She continued to publish on the topics of feminism, social problems and theology for the rest of her life. This volume, first published in 1881, contains a series of essays discussing the ethical practice of feminism. Written during a transitional period for the movement, when calls for universal...

A unique and influential public figure in her time, Hannah More (1745 1833) was a prolific writer. This two-volume study, published in 1799, is her definitive work on women's education, which went through thirteen editions by 1826 and sold over 19,000 copies. The work outlines More's belief that women's education and conduct determined the moral state of a nation, reflecting her acceptance of eighteenth-century views on the status and education of women. In Volume 1, a heavy emphasis is placed on the need for women to observe propriety, and More argues that women should seek to acquire...

A unique and influential public figure in her time, Hannah More (1745 1833) was a prolific writer. This two-volume study, published in 1799, is her definitive work on women's education, which went through thirteen editions by 1826 and sold over 19,000 copies. The work outlines More's belief that women's education and conduct determined the moral state of a nation, reflecting her acceptance of eighteenth-century views on the status and education of women. In Volume 2 More argues that, with proper education, women - viewed by her as naturally more religious than men - could regenerate...

Lucy Aikin (1791 1864) was a prolific writer of educational and historical works. She was a highly educated woman, influenced by her aunt, the educationalist and writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld. First published in 1818 and subsequently reprinted, Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth focuses on the art, literature, manners and morals of the period, with brief biographies of important individuals. Drawing on published sources rather than archival material, it is a clear and readable narrative that reveals the author's critical insight. This social and personal rather than political approach to...

Lucy Aikin (1791 1864) was a prolific writer of educational and historical works. She was a highly educated woman, influenced by her aunt, the educationalist and writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld. First published in 1818 and subsequently reprinted, Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth focuses on the art, literature, manners and morals of the period, with brief biographies of important individuals. Drawing on published sources rather than archival material, it is a clear and readable narrative that reveals the author's critical insight. This social and personal rather than political approach to...

Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (1848 1894) was an Irish professional writer, novelist and biographer whose novels were mostly set in Ireland. After attending Trinity College, Dublin she published her first work in 1869, and moved to London in 1873 to pursue her career as a writer. These volumes, first published in 1877, contain a series of detailed biographies of Irish women who Blackburne considered pre-eminent. The biographies cover a broad range of women, including the semi-mythical Saint Brigit and Queen Macha, and are arranged chronologically. These volumes were the first biographical...

Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (1848 1894) was an Irish professional writer, novelist and biographer whose novels were mostly set in Ireland. After attending Trinity College, Dublin she published her first work in 1869, and moved to London in 1873 to pursue her career as a writer. These volumes, first published in 1877, contain a series of detailed biographies of Irish women who Blackburne considered pre-eminent. The biographies cover a broad range of women, including the semi-mythical Saint Brigit and Queen Macha, and are arranged chronologically. These volumes were the first biographical...

Hannah Kilham (1774 1832) was a missionary whose aim in her work in the Gambia and Sierra Leone was to teach children in their own indigenous languages rather than in English. In order to do so she learned the Wolof language from African sailors in London and later, in Sierra Leone, collected specimens of thirty languages through her encounters with freed slaves. The first of two publications reissued in this volume, Kilham's Report on a Recent Visit to the Colony of Sierra Leone (1828), discusses the state of education in the colony as well as the general condition of its people. The second,...