Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sir Walter Scott
-
Standard Name: Scott, Sir Walter
Birth Name: Walter Scott
Titled: Sir Walter Scott
Nickname: The Great Unknown
Used Form: author of Kenilworth
The remarkable career of Walter Scott
began with a period as a Romantic poet (the leading Romantic poet in terms of popularity) before he went on to achieve even greater popularity as a novelist, particularly for his historical fiction and Scottish national tales. His well-earned fame in both these genres of fiction has tended to create the impression that he originated them, whereas in fact women novelists had preceded him in each.
Following her father's death, her education was supplemented by her maternal great-grandmother Victoire Verdon Charleville
, who placed a particular emphasis on French and music.The young Kate O'Flaherty was also a voracious reader, and enjoyed...
Education
Sarah Grand
There she read authors such as Dickens
, Scott
, and Thackeray
.
Grand, Sarah. Sex, Social Purity and Sarah Grand: Volume 1. Editor Heilmann, Ann, Routledge.
253
She took advantage of the cultivated atmosphere in which she grew up, and yet later judged that she had been neither...
Education
Anne Manning
AM
was taught at home by both her mother and her father, with the help of masters for special accomplishments,
Oliphant, Margaret et al. Women Novelists of Queen Victoria’s Reign. Hurst and Blackett.
211
and for a short time by a governess. Charlotte Yonge
, who wrote of...
Education
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle, later SACD
, attended private schools (paid for by uncles, not his parents), latterly as a boarder at Stonyhurst College
, a Jesuit-run, Roman Catholic
public school in England. He acquired a passion...
Education
Emily Hickey
She demonstrated an early interest in reading. Scott
, Tennyson
, and Barrett Browning
numbered among her early favourites. Her father, however, did not allow her to read Shakespeare
, as he was repelled by...
Education
Mary Louisa Molesworth
Educated privately at home, MLM
could not remember a time before she could read, nor any time when reading stories was not my greatest delight.
Green, Roger Lancelyn. Mrs. Molesworth. Bodley Head.
21
She began formal learning with her mother. She read...
Gawthorpe, Mary. Up Hill to Holloway. Traversity Press.
47
(MG
thought it was by the other sister, and later regretted that she never...
Education
Queen Victoria
Princess Alexandrina Victoria
had begun reading her first novel, Sir Walter Scott
's Bride of Lammermoor; she remained an avid reader of novels throughout her life.
Longford, Elizabeth. Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed. Harper and Row.
43
Education
Mary Gawthorpe
Apprenticeship included some part-time attendance at the Pupil-Teacher Centre
in the LeedsSchool Board
offices. There MG
continued with largely the same subjects as at school, with the addition of French, educational theory, psychology, and...
Education
Charlotte Yonge
CY
also learnt much on her own through reading widely in history, and classical and contemporary literature. She greatly admired Walter Scott
.
Hayter, Alethea. Charlotte Yonge. Northcote House.
38-9
Education
Matilda Betham-Edwards
Because of her mother's early death, MBE
, she said later, was largely self-educated, her teachers being plenty of the best books.
Black, Helen C. Notable Women Authors of the Day. D. Bryce.
HBS
's domestic training consisted of learning knitting, sewing, and Presbyterian and Episcopal church catechisms from an aunt and grandmother who were skilled at weaving and embroidery.
Hedrick, Joan. Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life. Oxford University Press.
12-13
Her father did not allow novels in...
Education
Doris Lessing
Before attending school and after she left, Doris educated herself by reading. Her parents possessed copies of the classics, like Scott
, Dickens
, and Kipling
. She read widely in the nineteenth century—her favourites...
Education
Marjorie Bowen
To educate herself further, she read widely, setting herself literary exercises, writing verse imitating or dramatising Chaucer
, Spenser
, and Browning
. However, she writes that at that time, I had read no really...
Education
Toru Dutt
TD
and Aru
were briefly enrolled at a boarding school in Nice where they studied French.
Rao, Raja, and Toru Dutt. “Aru and Toru”. Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, Writers Workshop.
After moving to England they continued their studies and attended the Higher Lectures for Women series begun by Henry Sidgwick