Matilda Hays

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Matilda Hays was a novelist, translator of George Sand , editor, and contributor to periodicals. Her work spanned many genres and a variety of topics related to women's work and opportunities. One of her two novels contains semi-autobiographical treatment of her passionate relationship with Charlotte Cushman . An outspoken proponent of mid-Victorian feminism, she is best remembered for her connection to other prominent women, including Cushman, Harriet Hosmer , and Adelaide Procter .
  • BirthName: Matilda Mary Hays
  • Nicknames: Max, Mathew
    Merrill, Lisa. When Romeo Was a Woman. University of Michigan Press, 1999.
    160
    Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany, 1994.
    8

Black and white photograph of Matilda Hays (standing on the right) with Charlotte Cushman (sitting on the left). Matilda Hays is wearing a fancy vest and skirt, with a bowtie around her neck. Her hair is parted in the middle and tied back. Her left arm is resting on a book on top of a doric pillar with floral design on the sides near the top. Charlotte Cushman is wearing a very similar outfit except her skirt has some striped design on it. Her hair is parted in the middle, but it is tied up in a double bun.

Milestones

8 September 1820

MH was born in London.
“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Around 1838

By the age of eighteen, MH was contributing to periodicals, frequently on women's issues.
Merrill, Lisa. When Romeo Was a Woman. University of Michigan Press, 1999.
156-7

1846

MH 's first novel, the proto-feminist kunstlerroman Helen Stanley, appeared.
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, 1990.

By 22 May 1847

A multi-volume series titled The Works of George Sand appeared, edited by MH and translated by both her and Eliza Ashurst ; this first series of English translations of Sand 's novels ended in December this year after publishing only six volumes.
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
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, 1990.
Merrill, Lisa. When Romeo Was a Woman. University of Michigan Press, 1999.
157
Sand, George. The Works of George Sand. Translators Hays, Matilda et al., E. Churton, 1847, 6 vols.
6: prelims

By 30 December 1865

MH 's semi-autobiographical novel, Adrienne Hope: The Story of a Life, was published by T. Cautley Newby with a date of 1866.
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.
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
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, 1990.

3 July 1897

MH died in Liverpool, after a final three decades of which very little is known.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Influences

8 September 1820

MH was born in London.
“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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