John Stuart Mill

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Standard Name: Mill, John Stuart
Used Form: J. S. Mill
JSM was a leader in the intellectual life of the nineteenth century and of liberal or progressive thought. He wrote numerous philosophical works, publishing essays, newspaper articles, reviews, letters, and pamphlets over approximately sixty years. Best-known to feminists is Of the Subjection of Women, 1869. Harriet Taylor , whom he married after her husband's death, was a major influence on him.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Author summary Frances Wright
FW was a writer in many genres: her œuvre includes a tragedy and a philosophical essay, but is dominated by political and feminist social critique, much of it taking the apparently ephemeral forms of lectures...
Education Harriet Shaw Weaver
HSW 's family encouraged her in the regular pursuits of a young, middle-class Victorian woman. From her father she inherited an enthusiasm for poetry—she especially liked Shakespeare , Coleridge , and Whitman —and she read...
Textual Features Mary Augusta Ward
The suffrage plot is the vehicle for a conventional romance in which the misguided heiress of an English country estate is tutored in social responsibility, and finally in love, by an exemplary bachelor barrister. The...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Rose Tremain
This book opens by looking back just over a century, when John Stuart Mill presented petitions to parliament on behalf of women's suffrage in 1866 and 1867. It relates the story of the suffragist movement...
Author summary Harriet Taylor
HT wrote a number of essays, reviews, poems, and articles on a wide range of subjects, but is most remembered for her contributions to Victorian liberal feminist debate. She also collaborated with John Stuart Mill
Textual Production Helen Taylor
HT edited John Stuart Mill 's Three Essays on Religion: Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism and also contributed an Introductory Notice.
Mill, John Stuart. Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism. Editor Taylor, Helen, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.
prelims, vii-xi
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Family and Intimate relationships Harriet Taylor
In 1833, as she grew more intimate with Mill , her husband tried to stop the friendship. In response to this HT suggested that she and John Taylor should separate.
Todd, Janet, editor. Dictionary of British Women Writers. Routledge.
Family and Intimate relationships Helen Taylor
HT 's mother was Harriet (Hardy) Taylor , known for her feminism, her writings, and her association with John Stuart Mill .
Family and Intimate relationships Harriet Taylor
When HT returned to England, she and her husband agreed to maintain the facade of marriage, while placing no restrictions on her friendship with Mill .
Banks, Olive. The Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists. New York University Press.
208
Rose, Phyllis. Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages. Alfred A. Knopf.
113
Family and Intimate relationships Helen Taylor
Two years later, Harriet Taylor married John Stuart Mill , who had already shared her life and that of her children for some time.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press.
169
Helen was present at the ceremony, together with her brother Algernon.
Family and Intimate relationships Harriet Taylor
Despite their efforts to avoid scandal, HT 's relationship with John Stuart Mill remained the subject of much gossip.
Banks, Olive. The Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists. New York University Press.
208
Rumours travelled through London's Unitarian circles.
Todd, Janet, editor. Dictionary of British Women Writers. Routledge.
Both Mill's father, James Mill , and his friend...
Wealth and Poverty Helen Taylor
Following Mill 's death, HT inherited the house in Avignon which he had bought in order to be close to her mother 's grave.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
She arranged for the presentation in 1905 to Somerville College, Oxford
Family and Intimate relationships Harriet Taylor
HT met John Stuart Mill through her Unitarian minister, William Fox .
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
Banks, Olive. The Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists. New York University Press.
208
Friends, Associates Harriet Taylor
At HT 's request Mill ended his friendships with Sarah Austin and Harriet Grote . He rekindled these acquaintances after her death.
Rose, Phyllis. Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages. Alfred A. Knopf.
137
politics Helen Taylor
It is possibly the only time she shared a stage with Mill .
Robson, Ann P. et al. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Sexual Equality, University of Toronto Press, p. vii - xxxv; various pages.
279

Timeline

January 1835: A prospectus announced the imminent merging...

Writing climate item

January 1835

A prospectus announced the imminent merging of the Westminster Review with the newly created London Review.

31 March 1836: The Westminster Review merged with a new...

Writing climate item

31 March 1836

The Westminster Review merged with a new quarterly to produce The London and Westminster Review, which embraced the philosophies of political and cultural radicals.

26 May 1840: The Westminster Review, a new or restored...

Writing climate item

26 May 1840

The Westminster Review, a new or restored incarnation of the London and Westminster Review, first appeared, following on the resignation of John Stuart Mill .

October 1864: The Working Women's College opened in Queen...

Building item

October 1864

The Working Women's College opened in Queen Street, London.

7 October 1865: Governor Edward Eyre ruthlessly suppressed...

National or international item

7 October 1865

Governor Edward Eyre ruthlessly suppressed a rebellion which began at Morant Bay in Jamaica.

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 .

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 .

5 April 1867: John Stuart Mill presented the House of Commons...

National or international item

5 April 1867

John Stuart Mill presented the House of Commons with a second women's suffrage petitionpetition, bearing over three thousand signatures.

20 May 1867: John Stuart Mill moved to amend the Representation...

National or international item

20 May 1867

John Stuart Mill moved to amend the Representation of the People Bill to replace the word man with person.

Autumn 1867: The London National Society for Women's Suffrage...

Building item

Autumn 1867

The London National Society for Women's Suffrage was formed under the direction of Frances Power Cobbe , Millicent Garrett Fawcett , and others.

1868: Mary Abigail Dodge published Woman's Wrongs:...

Writing climate item

1868

Mary Abigail Dodge published Woman's Wrongs: A Counter-Irritant in Boston under the name of Mary Hamilton.

21 April 1868: A Married Women's Property Bill prepared...

National or international item

21 April 1868

A Married Women's Property Bill prepared by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science was sponsored by George Shaw Lefevre and John Stuart Mill ; it stalled because the vote in the House

February 1876: Anna Haslam, a Quaker, established the Dublin...

National or international item

February 1876

Anna Haslam , a Quaker, established the Dublin Women's Suffrage Association (sometimes known as the Irish Suffrage Society ).

1900: Sir Leslie Stephen published The English...

Writing climate item

1900

Sir Leslie Stephen published The English Utilitarians, a three-volume study of Jeremy Bentham , James Mill , and John Stuart Mill .

15, 17 June 2011: The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) released...

Building item

15, 17 June 2011

The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) released a digitized version of documents, photos, banners, and personal mementoes from the struggle of British women for suffrage, housed at the Women's Library and the British parliamentary archives.
Doherty, Teresa. Emails to the Women’s History Network.

Texts

Mill, John Stuart. A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive. J. W. Parker, 1843.
Mill, John Stuart. Autobiography. Editor Taylor, Helen, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1873.
Mill, John Stuart, and John Jacob Coss. Autobiography. Columbia University Press, 1924.
Mill, John Stuart. Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. University of Toronto Press, 1991.
Mill, John Stuart. Dissertations and Discussions. J. W. Parker, 1859.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. Essays on Sex Equality. Editor Rossi, Alice S., University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Collini, Stefan, and John Stuart Mill. “Introduction”. Essays on Equality, Law, and Education, edited by John M. Robson and John M. Robson, University of Toronto Press, 1984, p. vii - lvi.
Robson, Ann P. et al. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Sexual Equality, University of Toronto Press, 1994, p. vii - xxxv; various pages.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Mill, John Stuart. Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism. Editor Taylor, Helen, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1874.
Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. J. W. Parker, 1859.
Mill, John Stuart, and Dorothy Fosdick. On Social Freedom. Columbia University Press, 1941.
Mill, John Stuart. Principles of Political Economy. J. W. Parker, 1848.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. Remarks on Mr. Fitzroy’s Bill for the More Effectual Prevention of Assaults on Women and Children. Printed for private circulation, 1853.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. “Sentiment and Intellect: The Story of John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill”. Essays on Sex Equality, edited by Alice S. Rossi, University of Chicago Press, 1970, pp. 1-63.
Mill, John Stuart et al. Sexual Equality. Editors Robson, Ann P. and John M. Robson, University of Toronto Press, 1994.
Collini, Stefan et al. “Textual Introduction”. Essays on Equality, Law, and Education, edited by John M. Robson, University of Toronto Press, 1984, p. lvii - lxxxiii.
Mill, John Stuart. The Earlier Letters of John Stuart Mill: 1812-1848. Editor Mineka, Francis Edward, University of Toronto Press, 1963.
Mill, John Stuart. The Early Draft of John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography. Editor Stillinger, Jack, University of Illinois Press, 1961.
Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1869.
Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. Parker, Son and Bourn, 1863.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. “Wife Murder”. Morning Chronicle.