1187 results Occupation

Mary Howitt

At home she was already active in local affairs. She attended the inaugural meeting of the UttoxeterBritish and Foreign Bible Society in 1815 (whose parent society dated from 1804).
Dunicliff, Joy. Mary Howitt: Another Lost Victorian Writer. Excalibur Press of London, 1992.
39

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim

HG joined the Benedictine order and became, probably at about twenty-three, a nun at Gandersheim in Saxony, which had been founded in the year 850. It was a free abbey whose abbess held it directly from the king and was an influential person with the rank of a feudal baron: such women had the power to hold their own courts and strike their own coins. The abbess was usually of royal blood, but ate and slept and worked with the nuns.
Gasquet, Francis Aidan et al. “Introduction”. The Plays of Roswitha, translated by. Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. vii - xiii.
x, viii-ix
Wilson, Katharina M. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim. E. J. Brill, 1988.
149
HG's abbess, Gerberg or Gerberga, was herself a fine scholar, born in 940, whom, although she was younger, Hrotsvit credited with teaching her a great deal.
Gasquet, Francis Aidan et al. “Introduction”. The Plays of Roswitha, translated by. Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. vii - xiii.
ix-x

Catherine Hubback

CH left sketch-books which a hundred years after her death were described in print by one of her descendants as a Peepshow on Victorian Life.
Gilson, David. A Bibliography of Jane Austen. Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1982.
M1806
In March 1870 she was corresponding with James Austen-Leigh about her memories of their famous aunt.
Le Faye, Deirdre. A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
688

E. M. Hull

During World War Two, EMH volunteered as a local representative of the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Mary Catherine Hume

MCH and William Hume-Rothery formed the National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League to combat what they called the reign of medical despotism.
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
240: 105
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Charlotte Eliza Humphry

It is probable that she moved to the capital in the early 1870's initially hoping to find work as a governess or embroiderer, and then began writing for The Ladies Drawing Room Gazette.
Kent, Sylvia. The Woman Writer: The History of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. The History Press, 1 June 2013.
“An Interview with "Madge" of ‘Truth’”. The Sketch, Vol.
6
, No. 78, 25 July 1894, p. 698.
She quickly found success in the field of journalism. CEH preferred working early in the day: She is up at six every morning, and puts in two hours writing before breakfast, recruiting her energy by a short siesta in the afternoon.
“’Truth’s’ Madge”. The Colac Herald (Vic. : 1875 - 1918), 4 Oct. 1901, p. 6.

Rachel Hunter

She seems to have worked as a teacher, though this is another deduction from her writing.

Violet Hunt

They travelled together until Hunt returned to London to conduct research into German divorce methods, write creative pieces for Lady's World, and arrange and type Ford 's latest novel, Ladies Whose Bright Eyes.
Belford, Barbara. Violet. Simon and Schuster, 1990.
175-6

Lucy Hutchinson

During the war LH ministered to the wounded.
Hutchinson, Lucy. Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Editor Sutherland, James, Oxford University Press, 1973.
99

Henrik Ibsen

After a short spell as an apprentice pharmacist, he embarked on a lengthy career in theatre. He is best remembered today as a dramatist, producing such now-canonical titles as Peer Gynt (in his earlier, poetic or fantasy style), A Doll's House, The Pillars of Society, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, and Hedda Gabler, all of them naturalist treatments of social issues. His plays reshaped nineteenth-century drama by helping to steer the theatre away from melodrama and towards realism, frequently delving into contemporary social problems. In later works he played with symbolism and metaphor to a greater extent than in his early plays. His social realism made a special mark in England, especially among British feminists who identified with the heroines in A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler.
“Contemporary Authors”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Centre-LRC.
Among the most deeply influenced were actress and writer Elizabeth Robins , who translated Ibsen into English, and Rebecca West , who took her chosen name from one of his heroines.

Lucille Iremonger

She became a broadcaster with the BBC in 1948, and continued in this role for forty years. She became a professional writer, and contributed work to newspapers in addition to publishing books.
“Contemporary Authors”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Centre-LRC.

Luce Irigaray

LI was employed as a teacher at a Brussels high-school, from 1956 (soon after taking her Concours d'aptitude in secondary education) to 1959.
“Contemporary Authors”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Centre-LRC.

Anne Irwin

AI travelled to Germany, appointed by Queen Caroline to escort Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha to England to marry the Prince of Wales .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Elizabeth Isham

EI moved into household management at a fairly early age. In 1625, after her mother's death, she took over the running of the dairy, and her father suggested she should keep the money from this activity. He also proposed that she should take to managing the maids, though she left most of this to the senior members of staff, who, she said, knew their business well. From 1628 Elizabeth took on all the preserving of fruits and vegetables in season for the household. She liked to be up early and dress herself without help from a servant; she listened to literate servants reading a chapter of the bible, and taught them, whether or not they could read, to recite the catechism, the creed, the Lord's Prayer and ten commandments.
Isham, Elizabeth. “Diary”. Constructing Elizabeth Isham, 5 Apr. 2011.
1628
Isham, Elizabeth. “Booke of Rememberances”. Constructing Elizabeth Isham, edited by Elizabeth Clarke.
20r, 25r
After her sister-in-law died, she took on the care of the children. The twins later went to another relation but she taught both reading and needlework to Jane, the eldest, and Susanna, the youngest girl. During the Civil War years she dealt with incursions by stray soldiers from the parliamentarian army, and she practised the skill of herbal medicine,
Clarke, Elizabeth, and Erica Longfellow. “Elizabeth Isham’s Autobiographical Writings”. Constructing Elizabeth Isham.

Maria Elizabetha Jacson

MEJ became a keen and knowledgeable botanist who carried out her own experiments (into the function of nectar, for instance) and made coloured sketches of plants. Erasmus Darwin praised her coloured drawing of the Venus flytrap, and she provided illustrations for several of her own works.
Shteir, Ann B. “Botanical Dialogues: Maria Jacson and Women’s Popular Science Writing in England”. Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
23
, No. 3, 1 Mar.–31 May 1990, pp. 301-17.
308
Percy, Joan. “Maria Elizabeth Jacson and her ’Florist’s Manual’”. Garden History, Vol.
20
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 1992, pp. 45-56.
47, 48
In September 1794 she reported to Darwin some observations she had made about bird behaviour.
Shteir, Ann B. “Botanical Dialogues: Maria Jacson and Women’s Popular Science Writing in England”. Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
23
, No. 3, 1 Mar.–31 May 1990, pp. 301-17.
309
When at about this time the Jacson sisters faced the urgent need for money, they eached turned to publication as a means of earning.
Percy, Joan. “An Unrecognized Novelist: Frances Jacson (1754-1842)”. British Library Journal, Vol.
23
, No. 1, 1997, pp. 81-97.
88
Maria turned her leisure occupation to account, and published three botany books (the first aimed specifically at children) and then a gardening book. The first two of these were produced at a period when caring for her father must have been taking up a good deal of her time. She and her sister and occasional visitors read to him for several hours a day.
Percy, Joan. “Maria Elizabeth Jacson and her ’Florist’s Manual’”. Garden History, Vol.
20
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 1992, pp. 45-56.
47

Muriel Jaeger

Besides her writing career, MJ worked sporadically in various sectors. It seems that at least while she was young, she did not choose to commit herself to any one job for a long period of time. In her essay volume Shepherd's Trade, she complains good-humouredly about the disadvantages of being such a vocal woman.
Leonardi, Susan J. Dangerous by Degrees: Women at Oxford and the Somerville College Novelists. Rutgers University Press, 1989, 254 p.
109
By March 1917 she had taken a wartime job in London in the Statistics Department at the Ministry of Food , from which a year later she was dealing with rationing in Britain and reporting near-starvation in Germany and Austria.
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Editor Reynolds, Barbara, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
129n3, 136
Reynolds, Barbara. “"‘Dear Jim…’ The Reconstruction of A Friendship”. Seven: An Anglo-American Literary Review, Vol.
17
, Marion E. Wade Center of Wheaton College, 2000, pp. 47-59.
50
But soon she set out on a career in journalism. By August 1920 she had qualified as a journalist and had got what Sayers described as a fair job in town: as sub-editor on the new, feminist journal Time and Tide.
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Editor Reynolds, Barbara, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
165, 166n1
She did not seem to Sayers frightfully enthusiastic about the job because she apparently did not care much about the people who are running it (a frustratingly non-specific comment).
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Editor Reynolds, Barbara, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
165
A couple of months later she was already thinking of crying aloud for more salary.
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Editor Reynolds, Barbara, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
168

Kathleen Jamie

She has been a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews , where she taught for half the year only. She is now Professor of Poetry at Stirling University .
Kathleen Jamie: University of St Andrews. http://web.archive.org/web/20070819071949/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_se/jamie/home.html.
Taylor, Debbie. “Interview with Kathleen Jamie”. Mslexia, Vol.
9
, 1 Mar. 2001– 2025, pp. 39-40.
39
“Kathleen Jamie (b. 1962 )”. Scottish Poetry Library, 2013.

Mary Anne Jevons, the elder

Like all her siblings, she was encouraged to write. Her family's collection of literary efforts launched her own career as both an editor and a poet. She also taught: both at a Sunday School in her Unitarian parish and as a helper at a local school.
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.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Meiling Jin

MJ has worked at various very different jobs.
Jin, Meiling, and Hiang Kee. Gifts from My Grandmother. Sheba Feminist, 1985.
prelims
In a poem she says, i used to be a Chinese Social Worker / but now i'm just a Chinese.
Jin, Meiling, and Hiang Kee. Gifts from My Grandmother. Sheba Feminist, 1985.
31
She teaches communications at Birkbeck College in the Faculty of Continuing Education, London University.
Jin, Meiling. “ESL Activities: World Geography and the Rainbow Alliance; I Essential Ingredients”. Racism No Way: Anti-racism education for Australian Schools.
While she practises T'ai Chi, she is also a black belt in karate.
Jin, Meiling. “Lovers; Strangers in a Hostile Landscape; The Knock; Biography”. Creation Fire, edited by Ramabai Espinet, Sister Vision; CAFRA, 1990, pp. 93; 129 -53.
353

Christian Isobel Johnstone

They edited the Inverness Courier together from October 1817 (at a joint annual salary of a hundred pounds). From 1827 CIJ was the editor, while her husband and William Blackwood were owners, of the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle, and it was she who edited Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for a dozen years, wielding an influence and literary patronage comparable to that of the various male magazine editors whose names are incomparably better-known than hers.
Feminist Companion Archive.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
After her great popular success with The Cook and Housewife's Manual, 1826, predictable cracks were made alleging that in real life she was unable to secure good service or good food from her own cook.
Perkins, Pamela. “A Taste for Scottish Fiction: Christian Johnstones Cook and Housewifes ManualEuropean Romantic Review, Vol.
11
, No. 2, 1 Mar.–31 May 2000, pp. 248-58.
256n4

Jennifer Johnston

JJ was an actor before she began writing seriously. She said that her setting out to become an author contributed to the break-up of her first marriage.
“Contemporary Literary Criticism-Select”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.

Samuel Johnson

SJ 's setting out for London to become a professional (or hack) writer was preceded by a number of unsuccessful teaching jobs.

E. B. C. Jones

When war came she found a job in the Ministry of Food Control , and also worked as assistant editor on the suffragist weekly The Common Cause (which ran under this title or some variant of it from 15 April 1909 to 30 January 1920 under a series of distinguished editors, before transforming itself into The Woman's Leader and continuing until March 1933). EBCJ became assistant editor in 1918, and in the journal under its latter title she published work by her friend Romer Wilson—real name Florence Roma Muir Wilson .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
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.

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich may possibly have spent some time as a nun at Carrow near Norwich.
Julian of Norwich,. “Introduction”. A Book of Showings, edited by Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1978, pp. 1-198.
44
It is not clear when she became an anchoress, whether before or after she had her visions.
Riddy, Felicity. “Julian of Norwich and Self-Textualization”. Editing Women, edited by Ann M. Hutchison, University of Toronto Press, 1998, pp. 101-24.
103

Sarah Kane

As a student, SK wanted to be an actor, then a theatre director. Apart from the productions already mentioned at school and at Bristol University, she directed student productions of Chekhov's The Bear (at Soho Poly ), and performed her own early monologues at the Edinburgh Festival.
Bardell, Paula. “The Paradox of Sarah Kane”. All Info About: Sarah Kane.
Fisher, Iain. “Sarah Kane”. Iain Fisher website.
In autumn 1996 she became Writer in Residence with the Paines Plough , a new London writing company, a post with responsibilities that included developing new plays and playwrights. The company presented lunchtime readings at the Bridewell Theatre , where SK 's own Crave was first presented. She led workshops and ran writers' groups in connection with this company and with the Royal Court 's European Summer School. She appeared as an actor in works by Vincent O'Connell and Howard Barker , as well as in a few performances of her own Cleansed and Crave. As a theatre director SK directed her own Phaedra's Love in 1996 and Büchner 's Woyzeck in 1997.
Fisher, Iain. “Sarah Kane”. Iain Fisher website.
Greig, David, and Sarah Kane. “Introduction”. Complete Plays, Methuen Drama, 2001, p. ix - xviii.
xi, xiii, xv
Kane, Sarah, and David Greig. Complete Plays. Methuen Drama, 2001.
64
She said that directing her own work was a terrifying experience, undertaken because she wanted to experience first hand the difficulty of realising some of her ideas on stage: So I was terrified of letting the writer down. I knew she'd give me a really hard time if I did.
Stephenson, Heidi, and Natasha Langridge. Rage and Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting. Methuen Drama, 1997.
134