Elizabeth Heyrick

Though, as a woman, she worked behind the scenes (not in parliament but through print and private direct action) EH of Leicester was a major, under-recognised figure in the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade. Her pamphlet publications address war, cruelty to animals, workers' wages, prison reform, and other social and political topics as well as abolition. Her political thinking on many points startlingly anticipates later socialist positions. She also published lessons for children and a conduct book. The first of these is the genre in which, in the early nineteenth century, her writing career began. Though her sister knew of only sixteen of her pamphlets, the count has since risen steeply. But their unavailability in major reference libraries has hampered recognition of her.