Josephine Butler

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Standard Name: Butler, Josephine
Birth Name: Josephine Elizabeth Grey
Married Name: Josephine Elizabeth Butler
Used Form: an English mother
Used Form: the author of the Memoir of John Grey of Dilston
Social reformer JB is primarily remembered for her unrelenting efforts in the campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts during the second half of the nineteenth century. She was both a gifted orator and a prolific writer on the many causes she espoused. Author of nearly forty pamphlets, she also composed books of political and personal writings: essays, biographies of people whose lives influenced her own, and an autobiography. Almost all of her writings address questions of social and political import—the repeal campaign, the double sexual standard, women's rights, and religious issues.
Petrie, Glen. A Singular Iniquity: The Campaigns of Josephine Butler. Macmillan.
291-3
Photograph of a charcoal sketch of Josephine Butler, depicted from the side with her head turned towards the viewer. Her hair is pulled back loosely and she is wearing a simple dress.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Occupation Sarah Grand
When the mayor, Cedric Chivers, grew increasingly ill in 1928-9, SG took over most of the mayor's civic duties. For example, in June 1928 she presided over a meeting for the Social Hygiene Council at...
Dedications Dora Greenwell
One of DG 's most popular works appeared, a volume of religious essays titled The Patience of Hope, dedicated to Josephine Butler ; she referred to herself allusively as the author of A Present...
Friends, Associates Dora Greenwell
In Lancashire she became friendly with Josephine Butler .
Bett, Henry. Dora Greenwell. Epworth Press.
16
Dorling, William. Memoirs of Dora Greenwell. James Clarke.
32
Friends, Associates Maria Grey
Her work for women's education brought MG into contact with Dorothea Beale , Emily Davies , Mary Carpenter , and Mary Gurney . Her time in Italy brought her other friends, among them the operatic...
politics Maria Grey
MG strongly endorsed the goal of women's suffrage and the campaign for wider career opportunities. Her friendship with Josephine Butler developed after Butler invited her to speak to the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women
Textual Features Mary Catherine Hume
Drawing on her personal experiences as a mother, she raises the question of vaccination. She explains, It was not till, . . . I stood by to see my own baby vaccinated, that the preposterous...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Geraldine Jewsbury
GJ regularly voiced her opinions on women's economic and professional independence. Her 1869 review of Josephine Butler 's Woman's Work and Woman's Culture: A Series of Essays describes women's desire to be taught thoroughly, to...
Reception Sophia Jex-Blake
This book was well received by most American universities, as it represented them in a favourable light compared to the more segregated British ones. The publisher Macmillan thought highly enough of SJB 's work to...
Anthologization Sophia Jex-Blake
At the request of her publisher Macmillan, SJB contributed an essay on Medicine as a Profession for Women to Josephine Butler 's Woman's Work and Woman's Culture. She was friendly with Butler and...
Textual Production Sophia Jex-Blake
While still a student at Edinburgh , SJB published, and dedicated to her American mentor Dr Lucy SewallMedical Women: Two Essays: i.e. Medicine as a Profession for Women (a revised version of her...
Textual Features Q. D. Leavis
QDL 's review constitutes a personal and professional attack on Woolf, based primarily on three fronts: education, domesticity, and class. A footnote asserts that Woolf commenting on women's institutional education is voicing an opinion on...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Sara Maitland
This genre seems almost impossible in the late twentieth century, but the authors believe that saints today are potentially spiritual resources whose presences through the traces they have left behind in the minds of the...
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...
Publishing Harriet Martineau
HM was one of the first to be aware of the movement towards regulating prostitution in Britain by means of instituting in military districts the arrest and medical examination for syphilis of women who were...
Occupation Susan Miles
The Robertses were succeeding a clergyman who also had liberal views. He had caused some offence by holding the funeral of Emily Davison , the suffragist who was killed on the Derby racecourse.
Miles, Susan. Portrait of a Parson. George Allen and Unwin.
56
Here...

Timeline

15 October 1874: James Stansfeld gave a speech at Bristol...

Building item

15 October 1874

James Stansfeld gave a speech at Bristol strongly in favour of the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.

August 1885: The most powerful social purity organization,...

National or international item

August 1885

The most powerful social purity organization, the National Vigilance Association , was founded.

13 May 1886: The National Association for the Repeal of...

National or international item

13 May 1886

The National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts held its last meeting. It considered its work completed following the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.

February 1887: The Pioneer, organ of the Social Purity Alliance...

Building item

February 1887

The Pioneer, organ of the Social Purity Alliance and the Moral Reform Union , began publication in London.

4 February 1888: Annie Besant and W.T. Stead edited the first...

Women writers item

4 February 1888

Annie Besant and W.T. Stead edited the first weekly issue of The Link: A Journal for the Servants of Man / Law and Liberty League, published in London.

May 1888: Josephine Butler edited, in London, the first...

Building item

May 1888

Josephine Butler edited, in London, the first issue of The Dawn: An Occasional/Quarterly/ Sketch of the Progress of the Work of the British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of the State Regulation...

October 1892: F. A. Atkins edited the first issue of The...

Building item

October 1892

F. A. Atkins edited the first issue of The Young Woman, a magazine for girls interested in religion, published in London.

October 1896: The Dawn, a quarterly edited by Josephine...

Building item

October 1896

The Dawn, a quarterly edited by Josephine Butler , ceased publication in London.

July 1898: The Pioneer, the organ of the Social Purity...

Building item

July 1898

The Pioneer, the organ of the Social Purity Alliance and the Moral Reform Union , ended publication in London.

26 June to 5 July 1899: The International Council of Women sponsored...

Building item

26 June to 5 July 1899

The International Council of Women sponsored the International Congress of Women , a ten-day conference held at Westminster Town Hall in London. Those attending included Susan B. Anthony , Sidney Webb , Josephine Butler

July 1900: The Storm-Bell, Josephine Butler's own paper,...

Building item

July 1900

The Storm-Bell, Josephine Butler 's own paper, which carried her views on prostitution in India, etc., ceased publication.

19 July 1904: King Edward VII laid the foundation stone...

Building item

19 July 1904

King Edward VII laid the foundation stone for Liverpool Cathedral, built to the designs of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott .

August 1915: The Young Woman, a monthly, ended publication...

Writing climate item

August 1915

The Young Woman, a monthly, ended publication in London.

November 1970: The Shield ended publication in London....

Building item

November 1970

The Shield ended publication in London.

Earlier 1981: Merseyside county councillor Margaret Simey,...

Building item

Earlier 1981

Merseyside county councillor Margaret Simey , already an activist on behalf of poor communities, became chairman of the Liverpool police authority not long before the Toxteth race riots broke out.

Texts

Butler, Josephine. Recollections of George Butler. J. W. Arrowsmith, 1892.
Butler, Josephine. Social Purity. Morgan and Scott, 1879.
Butler, Josephine. The Constitution Violated. Edmonston and Douglas, 1871.
Butler, Josephine. The Constitution Violated. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Butler, Josephine, editor. The Dawn. F. Burfoot.
Butler, Josephine. The Education and Employment of Women. T. Brakell, 1868.
Butler, Josephine. “The Education and Employment of Women, 1868”. Indiana University: Victorian Women Writers Project.
Cobbe, Frances Power. “The Final Cause of Woman”. Woman’s Work and Woman’s Culture, edited by Josephine Butler, Macmillan, 1869, pp. 1-26.
Butler, Josephine. The Hour Before the Dawn. Trübner, 1876.
Ladies’ National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, et al. “The Ladies’ Appeal and Protest”. Daily News.
Butler, Josephine. The Lady of Shunem. H. Marshall and Son, 1894.
Butler, Josephine. The New Abolitionists. Dyer Brothers, 1876.
Butler, Josephine. The New Era. T. Brakell, 1872.
Butler, Josephine. “The New Godiva. A Dialogue, 1888”. Indiana University: Victorian Women Writers Project.
Butler, Josephine. The Principles of the Abolitionists. Dyer Brothers, 1885.
Butler, Josephine, editor. The Storm-Bell. F. Burfoot.
Butler, Josephine, and James Stuart. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness. Translator Airy, Osmund, J. W. Arrowsmith, 1913.
Butler, Josephine. “Times: Obituary Notice of Mrs. Butler”. Personal Reminiscences of a Great Crusade, Hyperion Press, 1989, p. vii - x.
Butler, Josephine. Truth Before Everything. Pewtress, 1897.
Butler, Josephine. “Truth Before Everything, 1897”. Indiana University: Victorian Women Writers Project.
Butler, Josephine. Une voix dans le desert. Sandoz, 1875.
Butler, Josephine, editor. Woman’s Work and Woman’s Culture. Macmillan, 1869.
Butler, Josephine, editor. Woman’s Work and Woman’s Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.