Mary Wollstonecraft

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Standard Name: Wollstonecraft, Mary
Birth Name: Mary Wollstonecraft
Married Name: Mary Godwin
Pseudonym: Mr Cresswick, Teacher of Elocution
Pseudonym: M.
Pseudonym: W.
MW has a distinguished historical place as a feminist: as theorist, critic and reviewer, novelist, and especially as an activist for improving women's place in society. She also produced pedagogy or conduct writing, an anthology, translation, history, analysis of politics as well as gender politics, and a Romantic account of her travels in Scandinavia.
Stipple engraving of Mary Wollstonecraft by James Heath after the painting by John Opie. She is wearing a light, loosely-fitting gown with high waist and a folded cap like a turban.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Anthologization Evelyn Sharp
ES contributed an entry on Mary Wollstonecraft to a large volume edited by A. Barratt Brown , entitled Great Democrats.
Clark, Beverly Lyon, and Evelyn Sharp. “Introduction”. The Making of a Schoolgirl, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 3-23.
23
Birth Katharine S. Macquoid
She was baptised on 23 February at St Pancras Old Church (in whose graveyard Mary Wollstonecraft was buried). Her baptismal record spelled her name Catherine.
The International Genealogical Index records another Catherine Thomas born later...
Characters Joanna Baillie
Countess Albini in Count Basil is a heroine in the same mould as Jane De Monfort: critic Anne Mellor calls her not only the embodiment of rational judgement but also Baillie's homage to Mary Wollstonecraft
death William Godwin
WG , novelist, political philosopher, widower of Mary Wollstonecraft , and father of Mary Shelley , died in London.
Sherburn, George, and William Godwin. “Introduction”. Caleb Williams, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960, p. vii - xx.
xvii
Education Dora Carrington
Carrington began to alter herself in other ways also. During her first term at the Slade she began to go by her surname only.
Hill, Jane, and Michael Holroyd. The Art of Dora Carrington. Herbert Press, 1994.
13
Excitement about her new surroundings and acquaintances prompted her to...
Education Fay Weldon
Fay attended another progressive establishment, the co-educational Burgess Hill School , which she found absurd, not only noisy and disorderly but actively anti-academic. The best thing about it was being taught English briefly by the...
Education Louisa May Alcott
She was also a great self-educator and took to reading everything from Bunyan 's Pilgrim's Progress to Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter (he was a family friend). She particularly admired Mary Wollstonecraft and also warmed...
Education Anna Wheeler
In between constant pregnancies and nursing, AW began to educate herself. She read French and German philosophy and the classics, which she had imported from England. The most influential text she read was Mary Wollstonecraft
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin , over her mother 's grave in St Pancras churchyard, told Percy Bysshe Shelley that she loved him.
Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. Routledge, 1988.
xv
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Shelley
Fanny Imlay , sister of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and elder daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft , killed herself in a boarding-house in Swansea.
Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality. Little, Brown, 1989.
127
Family and Intimate relationships Fanny Holcroft
In May 1794 Thomas Holcroft was indicted for high treason and spent time in prison; but he was acquitted at his trial. During the nine years between the death of Fanny's mother and his next...
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Shelley
MS 's mother, feminist author and thinker Mary Wollstonecraft , died eleven days after giving her birth.
Hill-Miller, Katherine C. ’My Hideous Progeny’: Mary Shelley, William Godwin, and the Father-Daughter Relationship. University of Delaware Press; Associated University Presses, 1995.
20
In the family home while Mary was growing up, Wollstonecraft's portrait was still prominently displayed.
Jump, Harriet Devine. “Monstrous Stepmother: Mary Shelley and Mary Jane Godwin”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
6
, No. 3, 1999, pp. 297-08.
305
Family and Intimate relationships Amelia Opie
This was John Opie's second marriage; his first wife had deserted him and their marriage had been dissolved by act of parliament. The second marriage remained childless. John Opie had been enjoying professional success in...
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Cowden Clarke
Both Novellos were close friends of Mary Shelley during the 1820s. Mary gave Vincent a lock of the hair of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft .
Crook, Nora. “Fourteen New Letters by Mary Shelley”. Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol.
62
, 2013, pp. 37-61.
43
Family and Intimate relationships Harriet Lee
HL turned down a marriage proposal from William Godwin , recent widower of Mary Wollstonecraft .
Lee, Sophia. “Introduction”. The Recess, edited by April Alliston, University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. ix - lii.
xxxiv

Timeline

1 November 1755: A major earthquake at Lisbon in Portugal...

National or international item

1 November 1755

A major earthquake at Lisbon in Portugal killed more than 10,000 people (estimates vary), provoking theological debate between Rousseau and Voltaire about the nature of evil.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary; and, The Wrongs of Woman. Editor Kelly, Gary, World’s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1980.
28, 211
Mantel, Hilary. “The Real Price of Everything”. London Review of Books, 21 June 2007, pp. 3-6.
3
King, Kathryn R. “The Young Lady, the Old Maid, and the Lisbon Earthquake”. Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies annual conference, 19 Oct. 2017.
The heroine of Wollstonecraft 's first...

December 1765: In the parish of St Botolph without Bishopsgate,...

Building item

December 1765

In the parish of St Botolph without Bishopsgate, London, a parish council meeting heard several Disputes whether women householders who paid the poor rate had a Right to Vote for Parish Officers.
Tomalin, Claire. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. Revised, Penguin, 1992.
341

1782: Gilbert's Act stated that only the disabled...

Building item

1782

Gilbert's Act stated that only the disabled should receive poor relief in workhouses; the able-bodied were to find work outside, or be provided with outdoor relief if there was no work.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
10: 140
Rose, Michael E. The English Poor Law 1780-1930. David and Charles, 1971.
13, 18

After 1 February 1785: M. Peddle (a gifted, little-known, Evangelical...

Women writers item

After 1 February 1785

M. Peddle (a gifted, little-known, Evangelical woman of Yeovil in Somerset, who later issued a conduct book under the name of Cornelia) published a biblical paraphrase in novelistic style: The Life of Jacob.
Peddle, M. The Life of Jacob. R. Goadby and Co., 1785.

May 1788: The Analytical Review: or history of literature...

Writing climate item

May 1788

The Analytical Review: or history of literature domestic and foreign began publication, edited by Thomas Christie and published by Joseph Johnson .
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.

March 1791-March 1796: The Bon Ton Magazine, or, Microscope of Fashion...

Building item

March 1791-March 1796

The Bon Ton Magazine, or, Microscope of Fashion and Folly set out to chart the sex scandals of the day, with close attention to court cases, gossip, and the implications for social class.
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.

1797: Thomas Gisborne's Enquiry into the Duties...

Building item

1797

Thomas Gisborne 's Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (a reaction to the writings of radicals like Wollstonecraft ) was published.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
2nd ser. 22 (1798): 273-9

1798: Richard Polwhele published The Unsex'd Females,...

Building item

1798

Richard Polwhele published The Unsex'd Females, his notorious attack on Wollstonecraft and other active radicals.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
2nd ser. 27 (1799): 231-2
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

April 1798: With debating clubs under threat from British...

Building item

April 1798

With debating clubs under threat from British government repression, and the brief era of women's debating clubs over, one club debated the topic of women's writing versus women's domesticity.
Escott, Angela. “The School of Eloquence and ’Roasted Square Caps’: oratory and pedantry as fair theatrical game?”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
8
, No. 1, 2001, pp. 59-79.
65

2 July 1798: The conservative Lady's Monthly Museum: or...

Writing climate item

2 July 1798

The conservative Lady's Monthly Museum: or polite repository of amusement and instruction published its first number. Sometimes called The Ladies' Monthly Museum . . . it ran until the 1830s.
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
216
Pitcher, Edward W. The "Lady’s Monthly Museum". First Series: 1798-1806. Edwin Mellen Press, 2000.
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.

9 July 1798: George Canning, writing in the Anti-Jacobin,...

Women writers item

9 July 1798

George Canning , writing in the Anti-Jacobin, lambasted sensibility as a literary mode stemming from France, from Rousseau , and from diseased fancy, effeminacy, and self-obsession.
Norton, Rictor. Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe. Leicester University Press, 1999.
170

1805: George Nicholson compiled and published at...

Women writers item

1805

George Nicholson compiled and published at Poughnill near Ludlow in ShropshireThe Advocate and Friend of Woman, an anthology of excerpts.
Women Writers of the (long) English Regency. Stuart Bennett Rare Books & Manuscripts, 2009.
42

Between 1881 and 1886: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony,...

Writing climate item

Between 1881 and 1886

Elizabeth Cady Stanton , Susan B. Anthony , and Matilda Joslyn Gage published the first three volumes of their History of Woman Suffrage. They dedicated the first volume to the memory of Mary Wollstonecraft .
Dow, Bonnie J. “How the Battle of Memory Was Won”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
31
, No. 5, Sept.–Oct. 2014, pp. 3-4.
3-4
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

9 July 1885: Karl Pearson (then a solemn, rationalist...

Building item

9 July 1885

Karl Pearson (then a solemn, rationalist young barrister) held the first meeting of a society designed to talk about sex in a spirit of high seriousness and sense of intellectual adventure:
Walkowitz, Judith R. “Science, Feminism and Romance: The Men and Women’s Club 1885-1889”. History Workshop Journal, Vol.
21
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 1986, pp. 36-59.
37
the Men and Women's Club

1895: Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer published...

Building item

1895

Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer published their influential Studies on Hysteria, a foundational text for psychoanalysis.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon Books, 1985.
155-6

Texts

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Joseph Johnson, 1790.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Joseph Johnson, 1792.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Editor Poston, Carol H., 2nd edition, Norton, 1988.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Collected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft. Editor Wardle, Ralph M., Cornell University Press, 1979.
Salzmann, Christian Gotthilf. Elements of Morality. Translator Wollstonecraft, Mary, Joseph Johnson, 1790, 2 vols.
Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, and Mary Wollstonecraft. “Introduction”. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, New Edition, T. F. Unwin, 1891.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “Introduction”. Mary; and, The Wrongs of Woman, edited by Gary Kelly, Oxford University Press, 1980, p. vii - xxviii.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Joseph Johnson, 1796.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Editors Mee, Jon and Tone Brekke, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary: A Fiction. Joseph Johnson, 1788.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary; and, The Wrongs of Woman. Editor Kelly, Gary, World’s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1980.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Origin and Progress of the French Revolution. Joseph Johnson, 1794.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Original Stories from Real Life. Joseph Johnson, 1788.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Posthumous Works. Editor Godwin, William, Joseph Johnson, 1798.
Wollstonecraft, Mary, editor. The Female Reader. Joseph Johnson, 1789.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. The Works of Mary Wollstonecraft. Editors Todd, Janet and Marilyn Butler, Pickering, 1989, 7 vols.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “The Wrongs of Woman; or, Maria. A Fragment”. Posthumous Works, edited by William Godwin, Joseph Johnson, 1798, p. Vols. I - II.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. Joseph Johnson, 1787.