Emily Shirreff

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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.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
death Maria Grey
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 Herbert Spencer
His broad social circle included several other women writers. Frances Power Cobbe , Eliza Lynn Linton , Matilda Betham-Edwards , and sisters Maria Grey and Emily Shirreff , were all his acquaintances. Later in life...
Friends, Associates Henry Thomas Buckle
In 1853 he met the writer Emily Shirreff while travelling in Italy. They developed a close friendship.
Friends, Associates Frances Power Cobbe
FPC was a friend of Emily Faithfull , Geraldine Jewsbury , and Rosa Bonheur , and she knew Josephine Butler , Augusta Webster , Lady Battersea , Emily Pfeiffer , Anne Thackeray Ritchie , Helen Taylor
Intertextuality and Influence Frances Power Cobbe
Among the personal duties that the book identifies, is that of maintaining your own lawful freedom
Cobbe, Frances Power. The Duties of Women. G. H. Ellis, 1881.
83
as the indispensable condition of the whole moral life.
Cobbe, Frances Power. The Duties of Women. G. H. Ellis, 1881.
84
But freedom must be exercised properly, and Cobbe...
politics Maria Grey
With the assistance of her sister Emily Shirreff , MG founded the National Union for the Improvement of the Education of Women of All Classes .
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
174
politics Maria Grey
MG founded the Froebel Society in February 1875 with Emily Shirreff and Beata Doreck . In the 1880s she was instrumental in bringing the educational philosophy of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati to public attention.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
231, 274-5
politics Emily Davies
Under the direction of Charlotte Manning , five students began studying at the College at Benslow House, Hitchin, in October 1869.
Stephen, Barbara. Emily Davies and Girton College. Constable, 1927.
210, 219-20
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon donated some sketches to decorate the walls...
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.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
Residence Maria Grey
MG and her husband moved from Berkshire to her mother's home in Lowndes Square in London, where her sister Emily also lived.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
15
Residence Maria Grey
After four years in Gibraltar, Maria and her sister Emily Shirreff returned to England to avoid a cholera outbreak.
Ellsworth, Edward W. Liberators of the Female Mind: The Shirreff Sisters, Educational Reform, and the Women’s Movement. Greenwood, 1979.
11

Timeline

17 November 1871
The National Union for the Education of Girls of all Classes above the Elementary was founded by Maria Grey , with her sister Emily Shirreff and others.
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.
July 1873
Emily Shirreff outlined the purpose and goals of Girton College in the Fortnightly Review in an effort to raise funds.
1874
The Froebel Society was established to promote the notion of the kindergarten education.
June 1882
The Journal of Women's Education Union ceased publication in London.

Texts

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. 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.