Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Maria Grey
-
Standard Name: Grey, Maria
Birth Name: Maria Georgina Shirreff
Married Name: Maria Georgina Grey
MG
wrote during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her early productions were literary: she collaborated with her sister
on a narrative and a novel, and then produced a second novel independently. Her later writings were political, arguing the need for improvements to women's education, as well as addressing issues relating to the suffrage movement. Through her writings and through direct action, MG
worked to ensure an improvement in opportunities for women's education.
ES
, suffering from ill health, travelled with her sister
to Italy and Switzerland; they then went on to Germany, where they visited training institutes for teachers.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
23, 26, 190
death
Emily Shirreff
ES
died in her home at 41 Stanhope Gardens, Queen's Gate, London, where she and her sister Maria
had lived since 1884.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Textual Production
Emily Shirreff
ES
published Letters from Spain and Barbary, written in collaboration with her sister Maria (later Maria Grey
).
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.
Textual Production
Emily Shirreff
ES
and her sister
published a novel entitled Passion and Principle, designed to enforce their own beliefs about these qualities.
The Feminist Companion, the Dictionary of National Biography (both the old and new...
Textual Production
Emily Shirreff
Further to her work as honorary secretary of the organization which she and her sister
had founded, ES
co-edited the Journal of the Women's Education Union.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Author summary
Emily Shirreff
ES
lived and wrote during the mid-nineteenth century. She was a keen educationalist, and many of her writings were essays, tracts, and pamphlets in which she argued the need for an improved education system. These...
Family and Intimate relationships
Emily Shirreff
ES
had an elder sister, Caroline
, and two younger sisters, Maria
and Katherine
. Maria and Emily remained close all their lives, and published several collaborative works.
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.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
9, 19-20
Education
Emily Shirreff
ES
' early education was primarily domestic. Her father employed Adele Piquet
, a French-Swiss governess who spoke no English, to educate Emily and Maria
. The girls' mother
also read to them and taught them needlepoint.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
8, 10
Family and Intimate relationships
Emily Shirreff
In 1841 ES
's sister Maria
married William Grey
. Given the sisters' close relationship, the marriage was difficult for Emily, and her health even deteriorated somewhat immediately following it. After a brief period, however...
Travel
Emily Shirreff
By 1847, ES
was living in her mother
's home in Lowndes Square in London with her sister
and brother-in-law
.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
15
Friends, Associates
Emily Shirreff
The pair frequently helped each other in their writing: Buckle was already working on his History of Civilisation in England. Maria Grey
said that his influence on ES
was that of a strong and...
Her sister
identified the reason that she left this position: she was confronted with a persistent opposition to her influence and views concerning governance of the institution.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.