Isa Craig

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Standard Name: Craig, Isa
Birth Name: Isa Craig
Married Name: Isa Knox
Self-constructed Name: Isa Craig-Knox
Pseudonym: Isa
Pseudonym: Mrs Knox
Pseudonym: The Author of Deepdale Vicarage
Pseudonym: The Author of Mark Warren
Isa Craig was a poet, journalist, editor, and novelist whose literary work was informed by the concerns of the mid-Victorian feminist movement. Her verse appeared in several periodicals, including the feminist English Woman's Journal, on whose staff she served. As assistant secretary of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science between 1857 and 1865, IC compiled and edited that organization's annual Transactions. Much of her journalistic writing and fiction is didactic in tone, evincing a concern with the struggles and moral reform of working-class daily life.

Connections

Connections Sort ascending Author name Excerpt
Textual Production Eliza Cook
She was not included, however, among contributors to Isa Craig 's anthology of Poems: An Offering to Lancashire, which was published about this time.
Yan, Shu-chuan. “’When Common Voices Speak’: Labour, Poetry and Eliza Cook”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
22
, No. 4, pp. 428-54.
437
Textual Production Emily Faithfull
The Victoria Press published two other literary anthologies—one prefaced by Isa Craig and intended to help relieve distress in the cotton districts—as well as two technically impressive works that bore illuminations and chromolithography.
Fredeman, William E. “Emily Faithfull and the Victoria Press: An Experiment in Sociological Bibliography”. The Library, Vol.
29
, No. 2, pp. 139-64.
156-8, 159
Textual Production Adelaide Procter
Here AP 's wide literary connections paid off handsomely. Contributors to The Victoria Regia included some of the most prominent names in literature of the day, mingled with less prominent writers who were also feminists:...
Textual Features Annie S. Swan
The indices to its bound volumes list both tales and serial tales without naming the authors—even though, as named on the pages where their work actually appears, they include such luminaries as Robert Buchanan and...
Publishing Christina Rossetti
In 1860 CR produced a gothic short story, Case 2: Folio 2, about a man who produced no reflection in mirrors. Her brother William remembered it as perhaps the best tale she ever wrote...
politics Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Isa Craig , Emily Davies , Bessie Parkes , Jessie Boucherett , and Elizabeth Garrett were members of the committee. Later on Clementia Taylor joined it too.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press.
154-5
politics Emily Davies
politics Emily Faithfull
By 1859 The English Woman's Journal was felt to be no longer adequate on its own for promoting women's work, and Jessie Boucherett suggested the creation of a society which would deal specifically with this...
Occupation Ellen Wood
By now an established and successful writer, EW became proprietor and editor (in succession to Isa Craig ) of The Argosy, a monthly periodical that showcased her work. She bought it from publisher Alexander Strahan .
Montgomery, Katherine F. “Ladies who Launch: the <span data-tei-ns-tag="tei_title" data-tei-title-lvl=‘j’>Argosy</span> Magazine and Ellen Price Wood’s Perilous Voyages”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
21
, No. 4, pp. 523-39.
525
Occupation John Stuart Mill
JSM served as independent MP for Westminster from 1865 to 1868.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford University Press.
Mill, John Stuart, and John Jacob Coss. Autobiography. Columbia University Press.
vii
The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From Earliest Times to 1985. Oxford University Press.
His campaign for election was supported by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Bessie Rayner Parkes , Emily Davies , and Isa Craig .
Leisure and Society George Eliot
When the Leweses celebrated their move to The Priory and their son Charlie's promotion and twenty-first birthday with a party, Clementia Taylor and one or two other women attended, but Bessie Rayner Parkes did not...
Friends, Associates Jessie Boucherett
Partly through her membership of the Kensington Society (a social and political discussion group of about fifty women inaugurated in 1865), JB broadened her acquaintance with significant members of the feminist movement, including Frances Power Cobbe
Friends, Associates Sarah Tytler
ST 's career as a writer introduced her to many leading literary figures (especially those of Scots origin) whom she entertainingly describes in Three Generations.
Tytler, Sarah. Three Generations. J. Murray.
261-344
She became an especially good friend of Dinah Mulock Craik
Friends, Associates Emily Davies
In London, ED met John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor . At Emily Faithfull 's parties, frequented by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Isa Craig , and Bessie Rayner Parkes, she met Anthony Trollope , Louis Blanc
Friends, Associates Emily Faithfull
As a member of the Langham Place GroupEF counted most of the women activists of the day among her friends. Her far-flung circle of associates included Adelaide Procter and Frances Power Cobbe .
Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany.
183, 16

Timeline

February 1856: The Waverley Journal: For the Cultivation...

Writing climate item

February 1856

The Waverley Journal: For the Cultivation of the Honourable, the Progressive and the Beautiful, began fortnightly publication, advertising itself as Edited and published by Ladies.
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press.
589

March 1858: The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine...

Women writers item

March 1858

The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine on the theory and practice of organised feminism, began publication in London, with financial support from Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and others, under the editorship of...

Probably October 1858: The Ladies' National Association for the...

National or international item

Probably October 1858

7 July 1859: The first meeting of the Society for Promoting...

Building item

7 July 1859

The first meeting of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women was held in London; founding members included Anna Jameson , Emily Faithfull , Jessie Boucherett , Adelaide Procter , Bessie Rayner Parkes , Isa Craig , and Sarah Lewin .

Late 1859: The offices of The English Woman's Journal...

Women writers item

Late 1859

The offices of The English Woman's Journal moved from Cavendish Square to 19 Langham Place, where a ladies' club was also planned.

1860: Maria Rye and Isa Craig established the Telegraph...

Building item

1860

Maria Rye and Isa Craig established the Telegraph School for Women , to train women for work in telegraph offices where messages handed in and sent.

August 1864: The English Woman's Journal, a practical...

Building item

August 1864

The English Woman's Journal, a practical and theoretical source of organized feminism from London, merged into The Alexandra Magazine and English Woman's Journal.

23 May 1865: The Kensington Society, a quarterly women's...

Building item

23 May 1865

The Kensington Society , a quarterly women's discussion group devoted to social and political issues, held its inaugural meeting in London.

December 1865: Alexander Strahan launched The Argosy, a...

Writing climate item

December 1865

Alexander Strahan launched The Argosy, a monthly literary and travel magazine, with Isa Craig as its first editor, and Charles Reade 's Griffith Gaunt as its lead serial.

Texts

Craig, Isa. Deepdale Vicarage. Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1876.
Craig, Isa. Duchess Agnes. Alexander Strahan, 1864.
Craig, Isa. “Emigration as a Preventive Agency”. English Woman’s Journal, Vol.
2
, No. 11, pp. 289-97.
Craig, Isa. Esther West. Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1870.
Craig, Isa. Hold Fast By Your Sundays. Home Words, 1882.
Craig, Isa. Hold Fast By Your Sundays. Home Words, 1889.
Craig, Isa. “Infant Seamstresses”. English Woman’s Journal, Vol.
4
, pp. 25-34.
Craig, Isa. Poems. W. Blackwood, 1856.
Craig, Isa, editor. Poems: An Offering to Lancashire. Emily Faithfull, Victoria Press, 1863.
Craig, Isa. Songs of Consolation. Macmillan, 1874.
Craig, Isa et al., editors. The Argosy. R. Bentley and Son.
Kemble, Fanny. The Essence of Slavery. Editor Craig, Isa, Emily Faithfull, 1863.
Craig, Isa, and R. E. Galindo. The Little Folks’ History of England. Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1872.
Craig, Isa, and R. E. Galindo. The Little Folks’ History of England. Cassell, 1885.
Craig, Isa, editor. Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. John W. Parker.