Emily Davies

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Standard Name: Davies, Emily
Birth Name: Sarah Emily Davies
ED 's literary work arose from her deep-seated belief in equal treatment for women. Most of her articles and essays were pragmatic contributions to the late nineteenth-century campaign, of which she was a leader, to improve female education. She positioned herself not as a radical seeking to overthrow the structures of society, but as a member of the establishment seeking reasonable reform.
Photograph of a painting of Emily Davies by Rudolph Lehmann, 1880, seated with her hands clasped in her lap. She is wearing a dark green dress, with white ruffles at the sleeves and neckline, and a white cap on her head.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Matthew Arnold
MA was acquainted with Charlotte Brontë and wrote a poem dedicated to her following her death. He also knew Rhoda Broughton , Emily Davies , and Harriet Martineau .
politics Lydia Becker
Other women who served in this position were Elizabeth Garrett and Emily Davies in London, and Flora Stevenson in Edinburgh. LB was re-elected seven consecutive times. The passage of the 1870 Education Act had created...
Occupation Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
BLSB helped Emily Davies to found Girton College , which was of but not in Cambridge, the first step towards a women's college at one of the ancient English universities.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press.
173
Betham-Edwards, Matilda. Reminiscences. G. Redway, p. vi, 354 pp.
273
politics Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
BLSB and other Langham feminists such as Jessie Boucherett and Emily Davies formed the society for the discussion of political and social issues. The first meeting was held at the home of Charlotte Manning ...
politics Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Isa Craig , Emily Davies , Bessie Parkes , Jessie Boucherett , and Elizabeth Garrett were members of the committee. Later on Clementia Taylor joined it too.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press.
154-5
Friends, Associates Jessie Boucherett
Partly through her membership of the Kensington Society (a social and political discussion group of about fifty women inaugurated in 1865), JB broadened her acquaintance with significant members of the feminist movement, including Frances Power Cobbe
politics Robert Browning
RB demonstrated his own progressive commitment to higher education for women by signing Emily Davies 's 1867 Memorial Respecting the Need of a Place of Higher Education for Girls. He also publicly supported anti-vivisection...
Occupation Josephine Butler
In 1868 JB (as president of the organization from 1867 until around 1871) presented its petition for the examination of women candidates for entrance to Cambridge University . The petition was granted in 1869, and...
politics Isa Craig
Together with feminist colleagues Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Bessie Rayner Parkes , and Emily Davies , IC helped publicise John Stuart Mill's parliamentary nomination.
Hirsch, Pam. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon 1827-1891: Feminist, Artist and Rebel. Chatto and Windus.
216
Friends, Associates George Eliot
Some of her closest friends were prominent feminists, and they were among those soonest willing to flout convention and visit her after her union to Lewes.
Despite the social and spiritual gulf between them, GE
Friends, Associates Emily Faithfull
EF suffered in various ways as a result of the trial. The sense that she had prevaricated, at the very least, alienated many of her associates on The English Woman's Journal, including Emily Davies
politics Millicent Garrett Fawcett
MGF 's name became in time so identified with the suffrage struggle that a story arose depicting her sister Elizabeth and Emily Davies entrusting the issue of suffrage to her when she was a little...
Friends, Associates Maria Grey
Her work for women's education brought MG into contact with Dorothea Beale , Emily Davies , Mary Carpenter , and Mary Gurney . Her time in Italy brought her other friends, among them the operatic...
Friends, Associates Matilda Hays
Working on the English Woman's Journal strengthened MH 's connection to members of the Langham Place Group . The tie that she formed with with Theodosia, Lady Monson , lasted into her obscure later years...
Textual Production Matilda Hays
Emily Davies took over in 1862.

Timeline

March 1858: The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine...

Women writers item

March 1858

The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine on the theory and practice of organised feminism, began publication in London, with financial support from Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and others, under the editorship of...

Late 1859: The offices of The English Woman's Journal...

Women writers item

Late 1859

The offices of The English Woman's Journal moved from Cavendish Square to 19 Langham Place, where a ladies' club was also planned.

1862: The London meeting of the National Association...

Building item

1862

The London meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science accepted a paper from Emily Davies on Medicine as a Profession for Women.

April 1862: The Senate of the University of London voted...

Building item

April 1862

The Senate of the University of London voted against allowing women into their medical degree programme.

August 1864: The English Woman's Journal, a practical...

Building item

August 1864

The English Woman's Journal, a practical and theoretical source of organized feminism from London, merged into The Alexandra Magazine and English Woman's Journal.

August 1864: The English Woman's Journal, a practical...

Building item

August 1864

The English Woman's Journal, a practical and theoretical source of organized feminism from London, merged into The Alexandra Magazine and English Woman's Journal.

1865: Cambridge University formally admitted female...

Building item

1865

Cambridge University formally admitted female students to Local Examinations, which were the culminating assessment of secondary schooling.

23 May 1865: The Kensington Society, a quarterly women's...

Building item

23 May 1865

The Kensington Society , a quarterly women's discussion group devoted to social and political issues, held its inaugural meeting in London.

1866: Anne Jemima Clough and Josephine Butler founded...

Building item

1866

Anne Jemima Clough and Josephine Butler founded the Liverpool Ladies' Educational Society to provide a serious course of lectures for women.

7 June 1866: John Stuart Mill presented to the House of...

National or international item

7 June 1866

John Stuart Mill presented to the House of Commons a suffrage petition signed by 1,499 women, drafted by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Jessie Boucherett , and Emily Davies .

1868: London University established a special examination...

Building item

1868

London University established a special examination for women over eighteen.

1868: The report of the Schools Inquiry or Taunton...

National or international item

1868

The report of the Schools Inquiry or Taunton Commission supported the view of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon , Emily Davies , and others that girls' education required reform.

1869: The Cambridge Higher Local Examinations for...

Building item

1869

The Cambridge Higher Local Examinations for Women were instituted as a result of campaigning by Emily Davies and the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women .

2 August 1869: The Endowed Schools Act effected educational...

National or international item

2 August 1869

The Endowed Schools Act effected educational reform and improved funding for girls' schooling.

16 October 1869: Educational reformer Emily Davies welcomed...

Building item

16 October 1869

Educational reformer Emily Davies welcomed the first five students to Girton College .

Texts

Davies, Emily. “Chronology, Introduction”. Collected Letters, 1861-1875, edited by Ann E. Murphy and Deirdre Raftery, University of Virginia Press, 2004, p. ix - xii, xix-lv.
Davies, Emily. Collected Letters, 1861-1875. Editors Murphy, Ann E. and Deirdre Raftery, University of Virginia Press, 2004.
Parkes, Bessie Rayner et al., editors. English Woman’s Journal. English Woman’s Journal Company.
Howarth, Janet, and Emily Davies. “Introduction”. The Higher Education of Women, Hambledon Press, 1988.
Davies, Emily. Medicine as a Profession for Women. Emily Faithfull, 1862.
Davies, Emily. On Secondary Instruction as Relating to Girls. William Ridgway, 1864.
Davies, Emily. The Application of Funds to the Education of Girls. Longmans, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865.
Davies, Emily. The Higher Education of Women. Alexander Strahan, 1866.
Davies, Emily. The Higher Education of Women. Editor Howarth, Janet, Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Davies, Emily. Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women, 1860-1908. Bowes and Bowes, 1910.
Davies, Emily, and E. E. Constance Jones. Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women, 1860-1908. AMS Press, 1973.
Davies, Emily. Women in the Universities of England and Scotland. Macmillan and Bowes, 1896.