Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Agnes Mary Clerke
-
Standard Name: Clerke, Agnes Mary
Birth Name: Agnes Mary Clerke
AMC
was a self-taught astronomer whose scientific writings won praise and recognition in the later nineteenth century. She published several authoritative texts and contributed to various periodicals. Her writings spanned a wide range of subjects including literature, politics and history as well as various sciences.
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EMC
died of bronchitis in South Kensington after being ill a short time; her sister
survived her by less than a year.
Margaret Lindsay, Lady Huggins, and Aubrey St John Clerke. Agnes Mary Clerke and Ellen Mary Clerke. Printed for private circulation, 1907.
51
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.
Family and Intimate relationships
Ellen Mary Clerke
EMC
and her sister, Agnes Mary Clerke
, were lifelong companions.
Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.
Agnes became a noted writer on astronomy, who besides publishing books of her own contributed entries on astronomers for the Dictionary of National Biography...
Reception
Caroline Herschel
In the beginning CH
's reputation was usually judged more as that of a woman and a sister than as that of a scientist. Frances Burney
's admiration and delight was directed at her as...
Residence
Ellen Mary Clerke
EMC
and her sister
lived in Italy, providing a foundation for Ellen's later work as a translator of Italian verse.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
This may, however, have happened during the previous spring, 1868.
Margaret Lindsay, Lady Huggins, and Aubrey St John Clerke. Agnes Mary Clerke and Ellen Mary Clerke. Printed for private circulation, 1907.
31
Residence
Ellen Mary Clerke
EMC
, with her mother
and sister
, returned to England and settled in London.
Margaret Lindsay, Lady Huggins, and Aubrey St John Clerke. Agnes Mary Clerke and Ellen Mary Clerke. Printed for private circulation, 1907.
13
Textual Production
Ellen Mary Clerke
EMC
published two pamphlets, about astronomy (her sister
's subject), entitled Jupiter and His System and The Planet Venus.
The Feminist Companion gives these titles erroneously.
Who Was Who. A. and C. Black, 1897.
British Library Catalogue.
Sage, Lorna, editor. The Cambridge Guide to Women’s Writing in English. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
137
Textual Production
Ellen Mary Clerke
EMC
, like her sister Agnes
, was among the first five women to contribute articles to the Dictionary of National Biography, though where Agnes researched and wrote almost sixty entries, Ellen was responsible for only three.
Weitzenhoffer, Kenneth. “The Prolific Pen of Agnes Clerke”. Sky and Telescope, No. 3, pp. 211 - 12.
212
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
