THE EARLY FEMINISTS
STUDIES IN GENDER HISTORY Recent years have shown that the study of gender has proved to be of too great an importance to be ignored. By challenging long-accepted approaches, categories and priorities, gender history has necessitated nothing less than a change in the historical terrain. This series seeks to publish the latest and best research, which not only continues to restore women to his tory and history to women, but also to encourage the development of a new channel of scholarship. Alison Bashford PURITY AND POLLUTION Kathryn Gleadle THE EARLY FEMINISTS Elizabeth C. Sanderson WOMEN AND WORK IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EDINBURGH Pamela Sharpe ADAPTING TO CAPITALISM Lilian Lewis Shiman WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND Clare Taylor WOMEN OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT
The Early Feminists Radical Unitarians and the Emergence of the Women's Rights Movement, 1831-51 Kathryn Gleadle Department 0/ History University o/warwick England St. Martin's Press NewYork
THE EARLY FEMINISTS Copyright 1995 by Kathryn Gleadle First edition 1995 Reprinted (with alterations ) 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address: St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Published in the United States of America This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. ISBN 978-0-333-73502-2 ISBN 978-1-349-26582-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26582-4 Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows Gleadle, Kathryn. The early feminists : radical Unitarians and the emergence of the women 's rights movement, 1831-51 / Kathryn Gleadle. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-12861-6 (cloth) 1. Feminism-Great Britain-History. 2. Women 's rights-great Britain-History. 3. Unitarianism-Great Britain-History. I. Titie. HQ1596.G54 1995 305.42'0941-<1c20 95-17959 CIP
Contents List 0/ Pseudonyms and Initials Used in Contemporary Publications Acknowledgements vii viii Introduction 1 Freedom and Patriarchy - The Unitarian Background 8 Unitarianism - Origins and Founding Principles 9 'New' Unitarianism 15 'For a Wife to be Happy' - Circumscribing the Female Role 21 2 'The Assemblage of the Just' - The Radical Unitarians 33 'A Great Division of Feeling' 33 The Radical Unitarians 37 Radical Unitarian Ideology The Uses of Literature The Origins of Female Slavery 3 'The Stream of Freedom' - Democracy and Domestic ~ores 71 'Haven't I as Much Right as a Man?' - Presenting the Arguments for Female Suffrage 71 The Unpardonable Fault - Chartism, the Feminists' Challenge 75 'See What Slavery Will 00 for the Slave' - The Case against Female Action 82 Female Slavery and Female Employment 88 Female Roles and Family Life 96 4 '~erely a Question of Bargain and Sale': Law Reform and the Union of the Sexes 107 Establishing the True Marriage 109 Women's Legal Position - The Battle Begins 117 Making Headway - Public Opinion and the Legal Establishment 124 The Associate Institution 130 v 45 54 62
vi Contents 5 The Whittington Clubs 140 Awakening Minds - Adult Education and the Admission of VVo01en 142 'Meeting the Great Sexual Question' 147 Whittingtonians and the 'Mighty Idea' 158 6 Conclusion: The Reception, Significance and Influence of the Early Feminists 171 Change and Continuity 171 Barbara Leigh S01ith and Bessie Rayner Parkes - A Case Study 177 Relating to Conte01porary Culture 183 Notes Bibliography Index 190 243 259
List of Pseudonyms and Initials Used in Contemporary Publications ABR C GEl GJH Edward Search JR Junius Redivivus Kate MLG One of the People Panthea P PMV RHH Silverpen Spartacus SY WJF WJL WT Angus B. Reach Caroline Southwood Hill Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury George Jacob Holyoake William Henry Ashurst (Junior and Senior) William Bridges Adams William Bridges Adams Catherine Bannby Mary Leman Grimstone William J ames Linton Sophia Dobson Collet Bessie Rayner Parkes Margaret Mylne Richard Hengist Horne Eliza Meteyard William James Linton Sarah Flower Adams William Johnson Fox William J ames Linton William Thompson vii
Acknow ledgements This book could not have been written without the assistance of the librarians and archivists of a great number of libraries and record offices, both in this country and abroad. To them, I am extremely grateful. In particular, special thanks are due to the following institutions, which have allowed me to quote from manuscript material in their care: the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Birmingham City Archives; Birmingham University Library; the British Library of Political and Economic Science; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University; Dr Williams's Library; the Mistress and Fellows, Girton College, Cambridge; Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands University Library, Manchester; Leeds City Archives; Brotherton Collection, Leeds University Library; Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; Liverpool University Library; Manchester College, Oxford; The Trustees of the National Library of Scotland and the Wordsworth Trust, Dove Cottage, Grasmere. I should also like to thank Dr Ruth Watts and Dr lohn Guy, who shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for Unitarian history with me. Professor R. K. Webb kindly sent me copies of his work, both published and unpublished, and I am also grateful for his encouragement during the early days of my research. I am extremely appreciative of the moral and practical support which Colin Rogerson, Ron and Wendy Gleadle and Jane Raistrick provided during the preparation of this book. I should also like to thank Giovanna Davitti of Macmillan for her much-needed assistance. I am grateful to both the British Academy, which funded me for three years of my research, and the History Department of the University of Warwick, which assisted with the financial costs of photocopying manuscript material from around the world. Finally, my greatest debts are to Dr Fred Reid and David Rogerson whose encouragement, advice and inspiration proved invaluable. viii