MK
began publishing in 1885. During this decade she became friends with classical scholar and poet Andrew Lang
, who advanced her career as a writer.
Birch, Catherine Elizabeth. Evolutionary Feminism in Late-Victorian Women’s Poetry: Mathilde Blind, Constance Naden and May Kendall. University of Birmingham, Apr. 2011.
60
Although she was never part of a literary...
Literary responses
May Kendall
The mixed reviews that greeted Songs can be attributed to a lack of backing from Lang
in advertising the book.
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
122
Percy Addleshaw
in The Academy found it in some measure a disappointment.
qtd. in
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
122
Her...
Literary responses
May Kendall
Rowntree's biographer Asa Briggs
credits Kendall's affective writing with bringing Seebohm Rowntree
's The Human Needs of Labourto life; he describes her as someone who always gave loyal and devoted service.
qtd. in
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
123
Briggs, Asa. Seebohm Rowntree. Longmans, 1961.
84
politics
May Kendall
During the second half of her life, from 1898, MK
gave up writing fiction to focus on social reform, a shift that culminated in the appearance of How the Labourer Lives in 1913.
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
123
In...
Author summary
May Kendall
May Kendall
is most notable for late-nineteenth-century poems characterized by sharp humour and sarcastic wit on topics related to evolutionary science and the new woman. Her novels employ sarcasm and irony to examine British...
Textual Production
May Kendall
For her first work of non-fiction, How the Labourer Lives, MK
helped author and reformist Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree
interview working-class familes about their nutrition and finances in Yorkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire, and Berkshire.
Birch, Catherine Elizabeth. Evolutionary Feminism in Late-Victorian Women’s Poetry: Mathilde Blind, Constance Naden and May Kendall. University of Birmingham, Apr. 2011.
63
Textual Production
May Kendall
Although not attributed to her, The Human Needs of Labour, a trenchant analysis of worker-employer relations published as by Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree
alone, was MK
's last full-length work.
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 240. Gale Research, 2001.
123
Textual Production
May Kendall
In the twentieth century, MK
re-focused her talents on non-fiction [and] sociological investigations with members of the Rowntree family. She first worked with John Wilhelm Rowntree
on a series of powerful essays in his York...
Timeline
1899: Two-thirds of 12,000 British men examined...
Building item
1899
Two-thirds of 12,000 British men examined for military service were rejected for failing to meet requirements for height (5 feet 3 inches), weight (115 pounds, or over eight stone), or chest measurement.
Lively, Penelope. A House Unlocked. Penguin, 2002.
203-4
1901: Surveys of the poor conducted in London and...
Building item
1901
Surveys of the poor conducted in London and York by Charles Booth
(in a volume of Life and Labour of the People in London) and Seebohm Rowntree
(in Poverty: a Study of Town Life...
Texts
Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm, and May Kendall. How the Labourer Lives. Thomas Nelson, 1913.
Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm, and May Kendall. The Human Needs of Labour. Thomas Nelson, 1918.