Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Emily Shirreff
-
Standard Name: Shirreff, Emily
Birth Name: Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff
ES
lived and wrote during the mid-nineteenth century. She was a keen educationalist, and many of her writings were essays, tracts, and pamphlets in which she argued the need for an improved education system. These and her other writings were frequently produced as collaborations with her sister Maria Grey
. As well as more than ten works about education, ES
and her sister also composed a collection of travel letters and a novel. Finally, ES
also worked for periodical publications, both as an editor and as a contributor.
Her sister Emily
had preceded her, dying on 20 March 1897. Dorothea Beale
summed up the sisters' life's work when she declared that they had worked in faith and gradually the mountain of prejudice yielded...
Education
Maria Grey
Maria and her sister Emily
were largely educated by their French-Swiss governess, Adele Piquet
, who spoke no English. Their mother
taught them needlepoint while their father instructed them in astronomy and other sciences.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
8, 10
Education
Maria Grey
Both Maria and Emily
were also independent learners, taking it upon themselves to study languages and the humanities. Encouraged by her cousin and future husband William Grey
, Maria also applied herself to philosophy.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
10-12
Family and Intimate relationships
Maria Grey
Her elder sister Emily
was her lifelong friend, and her political and literary collaborator.
Friends, Associates
Henry Thomas Buckle
In 1853 he met the writer Emily Shirreff
while travelling in Italy. They developed a close friendship.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
174
Author summary
Maria Grey
MG
wrote during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her early productions were literary: she collaborated with her sister
on a narrative and a novel, and then produced a second novel independently. Her later...
Publishing
Maria Grey
MG
wrote a memoir of her sister
entitled Memorials of E. A. E. Shirreff, with a Sketch of Her Life, which was privately printed.
Kamm, Josephine. Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of The Girls’ Public Day School Trust. Allen and Unwin, 1971.
40-6, 49
Purvis, June. A History of Women’s Education in England. Open University Press, 1991.
11, 80
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
174-9
January 1873: Emily Shirreff and George C. T. Bartley edited...
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January 1873
Emily Shirreff
and George C. T. Bartley
edited the first issue of the Journal of the Women's Education Union/National Union for Improving the Education of All Classes.
Pedersen, Joyce Senders. The Reform of Girls’ Secondary and Higher Education in Victorian England: A Study of Elites and Educational Change. Garland, 1987.
59
July 1873: Emily Shirreff outlined the purpose and goals...
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July 1873
Emily Shirreff
outlined the purpose and goals of Girton College
in the Fortnightly Review in an effort to raise funds.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press, 1985.
183
1874: The Froebel Society was established to promote...
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1874
The Froebel Society
was established to promote the notion of the kindergarten education.
Kamm, Josephine. Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of The Girls’ Public Day School Trust. Allen and Unwin, 1971.
87
Curtis, Stanley James. History of Education in Great Britain. Seventh, University Tutorial Press, 1967.
297
June 1882: The Journal of Women's Education Union ceased...
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June 1882
The Journal of Women's Education Union ceased publication in London.
Shirreff, Emily. Intellectual Education and Its Influence on the Character and Happiness of Women. J. W. Parker, 1858.
Shirreff, Emily, and Sir George Christopher Trout Bartley, editors. Journal of the Womens’ Education Union. Published for the National Union for Improving the Education of Women of All Classes by Chapman and Hall, 1881.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Letters from Spain and Barbary. 1835.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Passion and Principle. 2nd ed., Routledge, 1853.
Shirreff, Emily. The Kinder-Garten. Chapman and Hall, 1876.
Shirreff, Emily. The Work of the National Union. W. Ridgway, 1872.
Shirreff, Emily. The Work of the World and Women’s Share in It. Civil Service Printing and Publishing, 1881.
Grey, Maria, and Emily Shirreff. Thoughts on Self-Culture, Addressed to Women. Edward Moxon, 1850, 2 vols.