Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon

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Standard Name: Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith
Birth Name: Barbara Leigh Smith
Married Name: Barbara Bodichon
BLSB 's literary work emerged from her convictions as a feminist. Her accounts of women's political, legal, and educational disabilities (in lectures, pamphlets, and an important periodical) played a crucial role in mid-Victorian legal reform and the campaigns for improved employment and educational opportunities for women. She also published a travel diary.
Black and white photograph of Barbara Bodichon in profile, looking towards the right. Her hair is pulled back in a bun, with some part in a single plait. She is wearing a white blouse with a ruffled neckline, and a black jacket with buttons.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Material Conditions of Writing Jessie White Mario
George Eliot wrote to Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon regarding JWM 's writing and her convalescence from a nervous condition, which she thought called for absolute rest.
qtd. in
Daniels, Elizabeth Adams. Jessie White Mario: Risorgimento Revolutionary. Ohio University Press, 1972.
142n3
Occupation Marion Moss
One of her pupils, her niece Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923), became a suffragist and a friend of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and George Eliot . She obtained only third-class degree results at the end her studies...
Occupation Emily Davies
ED , as Mistress of Girton from 1872 to 1875, and later as its Honorary Secretary, remained closely involved in the fundraising and administration of the College after its founding. She kept up the pressure...
Occupation Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Involved—with his brother , William Holman Hunt , John Everett Millais , and others—in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 's critique of the reigning artistic principles and values, DGR has subsequently become one of the most renowned...
Occupation Matilda Hays
By 1861 MH was a partner in the Victoria Press . Her involvement, however, was short-lived, and she never invested any funds in the press.
Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany, 1994.
52, 238n10
By 1860 rumours were apparently circulating about her...
Occupation John Stuart Mill
JSM served as independent MP for Westminster from 1865 to 1868.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Mill, John Stuart, and John Jacob Coss. Autobiography. Columbia University Press, 1924.
vii
The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From Earliest Times to 1985. Oxford University Press, 1992, 3 vols.
His campaign for election was supported by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Bessie Rayner Parkes , Emily Davies , and Isa Craig .
Occupation John Stuart Mill
In 1866 JSM presented to the House of Commons with parliament's first major suffrage petition. The petition, drafted by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Jessie Boucherett , and Emily Davies , and signed by...
Occupation Bessie Rayner Parkes
BRP was appointed as editor of the English Woman's Journal, shortly before Barbara Leigh Smith began to assist the magazine financially.
Rendall, Jane. “A Moral Engine? Feminism, Liberalism and the English Womans JournalEqual or Different: Womens Politics 1800-1914, edited by Jane Rendall, Basil Blackwell, 1987, pp. 112-38.
115
politics Emily Davies
Under the direction of Charlotte Manning , five students began studying at the College at Benslow House, Hitchin, in October 1869.
Stephen, Barbara. Emily Davies and Girton College. Constable, 1927.
210, 219-20
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon donated some sketches to decorate the walls...
politics Anna Brownell Jameson
ABJ became a mentor to a group of young reformers and educational pioneers, including Adelaide Procter , Emily Faithfull , and Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon . She sometimes provided meeting space for the group, both...
politics George Eliot
GE was always ambivalent about the struggle for women's rights. This ambivalence may have been fed by the fact that her situation with Lewes made her peculiarly vulnerable to public attack of a personal flavour...
politics Bessie Rayner Parkes
BRP was left in primary charge of the journal in 1859, when Barbara Leigh Smith (who had married three months after Parkes became editor) began to live outside England for half of the year.
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Because...
politics Jessie Boucherett
In 1859, along with Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and Adelaide Procter , JB launched the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW). They held their first meeting on 19 June 1859.
Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany, 1994.
232n1
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.
“Obituary: Miss Emilia Jessie Boucherett”. Times, 21 Oct. 1905, p. 8.
Though all...
politics Elizabeth Barrett Browning
EBB 's name headed the petition organised by Barbara Leigh Smith and the Married Women's Property Committee and presented to Parliament in December 1855 to lobby for reform to married women's property law: this made...
politics Eleanor Rathbone
Like her patriotic colleagues Millicent Garrett Fawcett , Barbara Bodichon , and Ray Strachey , ER was a strong believer in women's fundamental responsibilities as citizens, in their commitment to improving the state despite misogynistic...

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