Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Emily Shirreff
-
Standard Name: Shirreff, Emily
Birth Name: Emily Anne Eliza 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 and her other writings were frequently produced as collaborations with her sister Maria Grey
. As well as more than ten works about education, ES
and her sister also composed a collection of travel letters and a novel. Finally, ES
also worked for periodical publications, both as an editor and as a contributor.
The essay begins with a quotation from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
and goes on to review several publications on the subject, including the Journal of the Women's Education Union (co-edited by Emily Shirreff
). ER
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Geraldine Jewsbury
GJ
also used the Athenæum to voice her views on female education. She praises Emily Shirreff
's Intellectual Education for its wise counsel on the education of women,
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1597 (1858): 714
as well as its...
Publishing
Maria Grey
MG
wrote a memoir of her sister
entitled Memorials of E. A. E. Shirreff, with a Sketch of Her Life, which was privately printed.
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press.
Author summary
Maria 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...
Family and Intimate relationships
Maria Grey
Her elder sister Emily
was her lifelong friend, and her political and literary collaborator.
Residence
Maria Grey
After four years in Gibraltar, Maria and her sister Emily Shirreff
returned to England to avoid a cholera outbreak.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
11
Education
Maria Grey
Maria and her sister Emily
were largely educated by their French-Swiss governess, Adele Piquet
, who spoke no English. Their mother
taught them needlepoint while their father instructed them in astronomy and other sciences.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
8, 10
Education
Maria Grey
Both Maria and Emily
were also independent learners, taking it upon themselves to study languages and the humanities. Encouraged by her cousin and future husband William Grey
, Maria also applied herself to philosophy.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
231, 274-5
death
Maria Grey
Her sister Emily
had preceded her, dying on 20 March 1897. Dorothea Beale
summed up the sisters' life's work when she declared that they had worked in faith and gradually the mountain of prejudice yielded...
Textual Production
Maria Grey
All of MG
's initial publications were collaborations with her sister Emily Shirreff
. Their first work was a collection published in 1835, entitled Letters from Spain and Barbary (that is, North Africa).
Textual Production
Maria Grey
In 1841 MG
and her sister Emily Shirreff
published a novel, Passion and Principle.
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.
Residence
Maria Grey
MG
and her husband
moved from Berkshire to her mother's home in Lowndes Square in London, where her sister Emily
also lived.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood.
15
Travel
Maria Grey
In an attempt to cheer her sister
Emily, who had also been ill, MG
took her on a European tour; Emily's health only weakened further, however, after visiting France and Switzerland, and so they...
Timeline
17 November 1871: The National Union for the Education of Girls...
January 1873: Emily Shirreff and George C. T. Bartley edited...
Building item
January 1873
Emily Shirreff
and George C. T. Bartley
edited the first issue of the Journal of the Women's Education Union/National Union for Improving the Education of All Classes.
July 1873: Emily Shirreff outlined the purpose and goals...
Building item
July 1873
Emily Shirreff
outlined the purpose and goals of Girton College
in the Fortnightly Review in an effort to raise funds.
1874: The Froebel Society was established to promote...
Building item
1874
The Froebel Society
was established to promote the notion of the kindergarten education.
June 1882: The Journal of Women's Education Union ceased...
Building item
June 1882
The Journal of Women's Education Union ceased publication in London.
Texts
Shirreff, Emily. Intellectual Education and Its Influence on the Character and Happiness of Women. J. W. Parker, 1858.
Shirreff, Emily, and Sir George Christopher Trout Bartley, editors. Journal of the Womens’ Education Union. Published for the National Union for Improving the Education of Women of All Classes by Chapman and Hall, 1881.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Letters from Spain and Barbary. 1835.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Passion and Principle. Routledge, 1853.
Shirreff, Emily. The Kinder-Garten. Chapman and Hall, 1876.
Shirreff, Emily. The Work of the National Union. W. Ridgway, 1872.
Shirreff, Emily. The Work of the World and Women’s Share in It. Civil Service Printing and Publishing, 1881.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Thoughts on Self-Culture, Addressed to Women. Edward Moxon, 1850.
