Edith Simcox (1844 1901) was a prominent British feminist, social critic, and prolific writer. She published many articles and essays advocating support for women's rights to education, improved working conditions and suffrage. Her scholarly works in philosophy and economic history sought to demonstrate that contemporary capitalism was not the only route to a prosperous society. These volumes, first published in 1897, contain a comparative analysis of the economic history of ancient societies. Simcox discusses and compares aspects of economic history including ownership, industry and...

Edith Simcox (1844 1901) was a prominent British feminist, social critic, and prolific writer. She published many articles and essays advocating support for women's rights to education, improved working conditions and suffrage. Her scholarly works in philosophy and economic history sought to demonstrate that contemporary capitalism was not the only route to a prosperous society. These volumes, first published in 1897, contain a comparative analysis of the economic history of ancient societies. Simcox discusses and compares aspects of economic history including ownership, industry and...

Sarah Stickney Ellis (1799 1872) was a prolific writer on female education and women's role in the world. She established a school at Rawdon House, Hertfordshire, to give girls an intellectual and moral training, as well as purely domestic skills, since as future mothers they would be the primary teachers and moulders of the next generation of society. The Women of England, published in 1839, was one of her most successful works, and was an important contribution to the debate on the position of women in society, particularly for the middle classes. Although she argues that women were equal...

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (1840 1829) is best known as the mother of birth control advocate Marie Stopes. Like her daughter, Stopes forged the way for women seeking academic careers: she was the first woman in Scotland to graduate from university, and was later elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In this monograph Stopes resolves to settle once and for all whether or not Francis Bacon wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare, concluding that the Baconian theory is wholly without foundation. Over nearly 300 pages of erudite argument, Stopes examines the numerous...

Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (1821 1896) is today best known as the mother of Oscar Wilde (1854 1900), but in her lifetime was famous in her own right as a fervent supporter of Irish Nationalism. After the death of her husband in 1876, Lady Wilde wrote to support herself, her other works including essays, literary criticism and travel writing. She was also a strong supporter of feminism and the campaign for female suffrage and legal rights. This volume, first published in 1893, contains a collection of essays on various topics of importance to Lady Wilde, including feminism, good manners and...

Mona Caird (1854 1932) was a British novelist and early radical feminist social critic who insisted on maintaining her independence after marrying. Her 1888 article 'Marriage', in which she criticised marriage for limiting and subordinating women and called for equality between partners, sparked a furious controversy, and brought her widespread recognition. This volume, first published in 1897, contains a collection of Caird's feminist essays. She analyses the indignities marriage caused for women, both historically and contemporaneously, and advocates both equality in marriage (including in...

Mary Kingsley (1862 1900) is one of the best-known Victorian women travellers, whose solo adventures in West Africa made her a celebrity in England. This, her first book, published in 1897, was an instant best-seller. She travelled extensively, engaging in trade both to fund her trip and to get to know the African people, rather than merely observing as an outsider. She brought back quantities of natural specimens, three of which were named after her. On her return to England she was asked to give numerous lectures. Some of her views were considered controversial - she opposed the attempts by...

Emily Lawless (1845 1913) was a novelist and a prominent figure in the political circles of nineteenth-century Ireland. Although her grandfather had been an Irish patriot with United Irishmen sympathies, Lawless herself remained emphatically opposed to Home Rule. Her novels often explored Ireland's troubled past and present: her first success was Hurrish (1886) which was set in Galway during the Land League campaigns and was dedicated to her friend Margaret Oliphant. Although Lawless enjoyed literary success, her personal life was marked by tragedy: her father and two of her sisters committed...

Frances Power Cobbe (1822 1904) was an Irish writer, social reformer and activist best known for her contributions to Victorian feminism and women's suffrage. After the death of her father in 1857, Cobbe travelled extensively across Europe before becoming a leader-writer addressing public issues 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. These volumes, first published anonymously in 1855, introduced Cobbe's theistic religious beliefs, which blend a belief in Divinity with Immanuel Kant's...

Better known for her five volume portrait of English rural life, Our Village, Mary Russell Mitford (1787 1855) was one of the most prolific female writers of her day. Part critical essay, part autobiography, Recollections consists of a series of sketches on and selections from Mitford's favourite authors, stemming from her desire 'to make others relish a few favourite writers as heartily as I have relished them myself'. The collection is arranged according to Mitford's own eclectic system of categorization including 'fashionable poets', 'cavalier poets', and 'poetry that poets love'. This...