Emily Davies

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Standard Name: Davies, Emily
Birth Name: Sarah Emily Davies
ED 's literary work arose from her deep-seated belief in equal treatment for women. Most of her articles and essays were pragmatic contributions to the late nineteenth-century campaign, of which she was a leader, to improve female education. She positioned herself not as a radical seeking to overthrow the structures of society, but as a member of the establishment seeking reasonable reform.
Photograph of a painting of Emily Davies by Rudolph Lehmann, 1880, seated with her hands clasped in her lap. She is wearing a dark green dress, with white ruffles at the sleeves and neckline, and a white cap on her head.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Una Marson
Through her editorship of the magazine, UM drew attention to issues such as single motherhood, women struggling on meagre incomes, and unemployment among domestic workers. This is the age of woman: what man has done...
Textual Production Bessie Rayner Parkes
As editor of the new English Woman's Journal from April 1857, BRP saw the paper as representing the Working Woman, a term that she defined as intended to include all women who are actively...
Textual Production Matilda Hays
Emily Davies took over in 1862.
politics Lydia Becker
Other women who served in this position were Elizabeth Garrett and Emily Davies in London, and Flora Stevenson in Edinburgh. LB was re-elected seven consecutive times. The passage of the 1870 Education Act had created...
politics Henrietta Müller
HM was elected to the London School Board in a landslide, topping the poll with 19,000 votes. She was the third woman on the board; this was the month after Emily Davies and Elizabeth Garrett
politics Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
BLSB and other Langham feminists such as Jessie Boucherett and Emily Davies formed the society for the discussion of political and social issues. The first meeting was held at the home of Charlotte Manning ...
politics Bessie Rayner Parkes
Although BRP fought ardently for female empowerment, she was not as vocal in her opinions as many of her contemporaries, including Barbara Leigh Smith, Emily Davies , and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson . She was firm...
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 Robert Browning
RB demonstrated his own progressive commitment to higher education for women by signing Emily Davies 's 1867 Memorial Respecting the Need of a Place of Higher Education for Girls. He also publicly supported anti-vivisection...
politics Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
Among the women present at the meeting was Emily Davies , who had presented her arguments for female suffrage to John Stuart Mill when he took the first petition advocating female enfranchisement before Parliament on...
politics Isa Craig
Together with feminist colleagues Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Bessie Rayner Parkes , and Emily Davies , IC helped publicise John Stuart Mill's parliamentary nomination.
Hirsch, Pam. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon 1827-1891: Feminist, Artist and Rebel. Chatto and Windus.
216
politics Helen Taylor
HT 's radical socialist principles were evident in her work for educational and land reform, as well as in her effort in 1885 to stand for parliament.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
As Philippa Levine puts it in the Oxford...
politics Millicent Garrett Fawcett
MGF 's name became in time so identified with the suffrage struggle that a story arose depicting her sister Elizabeth and Emily Davies entrusting the issue of suffrage to her when she was a little...
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 .
Occupation John Stuart Mill
In 1866 JSM presented to the House of Commons with parliament's first major suffrage petition. The petition, drafted by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Jessie Boucherett , and Emily Davies , and signed by...

Timeline

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...

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.

1862: The London meeting of the National Association...

Building item

1862

The London meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science accepted a paper from Emily Davies on Medicine as a Profession for Women.

April 1862: The Senate of the University of London voted...

Building item

April 1862

The Senate of the University of London voted against allowing women into their medical degree programme.

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.

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.

1865: Cambridge University formally admitted female...

Building item

1865

Cambridge University formally admitted female students to Local Examinations, which were the culminating assessment of secondary schooling.

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.

1866: Anne Jemima Clough and Josephine Butler founded...

Building item

1866

Anne Jemima Clough and Josephine Butler founded the Liverpool Ladies' Educational Society to provide a serious course of lectures for women.

7 June 1866: John Stuart Mill presented to the House of...

National or international item

7 June 1866

John Stuart Mill presented to the House of Commons a suffrage petition signed by 1,499 women, drafted by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Jessie Boucherett , and Emily Davies .

1868: London University established a special examination...

Building item

1868

London University established a special examination for women over eighteen.

1868: The report of the Schools Inquiry or Taunton...

National or international item

1868

The report of the Schools Inquiry or Taunton Commission supported the view of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Emily Davies , and others that girls' education required reform.

1869: The Cambridge Higher Local Examinations for...

Building item

1869

The Cambridge Higher Local Examinations for Women were instituted as a result of campaigning by Emily Davies and the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women .

2 August 1869: The Endowed Schools Act effected educational...

National or international item

2 August 1869

The Endowed Schools Act effected educational reform and improved funding for girls' schooling.

16 October 1869: Educational reformer Emily Davies welcomed...

Building item

16 October 1869

Educational reformer Emily Davies welcomed the first five students to Girton College .

Texts

Davies, Emily. “Chronology, Introduction”. Collected Letters, 1861-1875, edited by Ann E. Murphy and Deirdre Raftery, University of Virginia Press, 2004, p. ix - xii, xix-lv.
Davies, Emily. Collected Letters, 1861-1875. Editors Murphy, Ann E. and Deirdre Raftery, University of Virginia Press, 2004.
Parkes, Bessie Rayner et al., editors. English Woman’s Journal. English Woman’s Journal Company.
Howarth, Janet, and Emily Davies. “Introduction”. The Higher Education of Women, Hambledon Press, 1988.
Davies, Emily. Medicine as a Profession for Women. Emily Faithfull, 1862.
Davies, Emily. On Secondary Instruction as Relating to Girls. William Ridgway, 1864.
Davies, Emily. The Application of Funds to the Education of Girls. Longmans, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865.
Davies, Emily. The Higher Education of Women. Alexander Strahan, 1866.
Davies, Emily. The Higher Education of Women. Editor Howarth, Janet, Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Davies, Emily. Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women, 1860-1908. Bowes and Bowes, 1910.
Davies, Emily, and E. E. Constance Jones. Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women, 1860-1908. AMS Press, 1973.
Davies, Emily. Women in the Universities of England and Scotland. Macmillan and Bowes, 1896.