Turning Victorian Ladies Into Women

Bessie Rayner Parkes (1829-1925) was one of the most prominent and influential campaigners for women¿s rights in the nineteenth century and her life and work are of remarkable interest. She is described by the American historian Bonnie S. Anderson as one of the key British feminists of her time. Surprisingly, Turning Victorian Ladies into Women is her first biography. The author, a great-granddaughter of BRP, has made full use of previously unseen family papers and illustrations as well as of much unpublished material in the archive of Girton College, Cambridge, and in other archives on both sides of the Atlantic. The biography is about 120.000 words in length and includes 27 illustrations. BRP¿s wide circle of literary and political friends included George Eliot, Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Barbara Bodichon, Lord Shaftesbury, Herbert Spencer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, John Ruskin, Henry W. Longfellow and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her most fruitful friendship was with Barbara Bodichon for, out of their efforts, grew the first organized women¿s movement in Britain. Their first endeavour was to change the restrictive property laws that applied to married women. BRP was also indignant about the distinction made between 'ladies¿ and 'women¿. 'Ladies¿, that is to say middle-class women, lost social status if they earned money, the only acceptable exceptions being writing, painting or teaching, which for the most part meant 'governessing¿. In her struggle, she had to face pervasive and virulent anti-feminism. Due in part to her efforts, it became acceptable for a middle-class woman to acquire a proper education and train to do paid work.