Harriet Taylor

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Standard Name: Taylor, Harriet
Birth Name: Harriet Hardy
Married Name: Harriet Taylor
Married Name: Harriet Mill
Indexed Name: Harriet Hardy Taylor Mill
Used Form: Harriet Taylor Mill
HT wrote a number of essays, reviews, poems, and articles on a wide range of subjects, but is most remembered for her contributions to Victorian liberal feminist debate. She also collaborated with John Stuart Mill on philosophical, political, and critical works which appeared under his name.
Photograph of a painting of Harriet Taylor by an unidentified artist, c. 1834. She is seen from the waist up against a backdrop of trees and sky. She wears a gown with yellow bodice and hugely puffed white sleeve. Her dark, smooth hair, centre-parted, is done in a bun behind and ringlets at her ears. A thin gold chain sits round her forehead, with a red gem at its centre matching another gem and drop pearl at her neckline. He face is stylised, with big eyes and a startled look. National Portrait Gallery.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Dedications John Stuart Mill
She edited the work and also pointed out the need for a chapter on the labouring classes. Mill considered that this chapter in particular reflected her ideas and in many cases her wording of them...
Education Helen Taylor
HT was educated by her constant companion, her mother . Although she never attended school, she read widely in English, French and German, and studied history and religion.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press, 1951.
112-13
She had an early love for...
Family and Intimate relationships Helen Taylor
Two years later, Harriet Taylor married John Stuart Mill , who had already shared her life and that of her children for some time.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press, 1951.
169
Helen was present at the ceremony, together with her brother Algernon.
Family and Intimate relationships Sarah Flower Adams
William Bridges Adams wrote for the Monthly Repository under the pseudonym Junius Redivivus, and met his future wife through Harriet Taylor .
Stephenson, Harold William. The Author of Nearer, My God, to Thee (Sarah Flower Adams). Lindsey Press, 1922.
37
Thesing, William B., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 199. Gale Research, 1999.
199: 6
The couple made a no housekeeping pact, to avoid...
Family and Intimate relationships John Stuart Mill
In 1830 JSM met Harriet Taylor , who was married at the time, through William Fox .
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Banks, Olive. The Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists. New York University Press, 1985–2024, 2 vols.
208
Their intense friendship, based on similar intellectual and political pursuits, scandalized their social circle. Apparently Roebuck and...
Family and Intimate relationships John Stuart Mill
On 21 April 1851 JSM married Harriet Taylor , two years after the death of her husband.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press, 1951.
169
Family and Intimate relationships John Stuart Mill
Taylor 's death in November 1858 was a heavy blow to him.
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
502
qtd. in
Rose, Phyllis. Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages. Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.
139
For the rest of his life he spent some time every year staying at Avignon, where she had died.
Family and Intimate relationships Helen Taylor
HT 's mother was Harriet (Hardy) Taylor , known for her feminism, her writings, and her association with John Stuart Mill .
Friends, Associates Sarah Flower Adams
As her father established himself socially and politically within the Dalston community, she became involved in London's literary and intellectual circles. Among those she met, William James Linton , John Stuart Mill , and...
Friends, Associates Sarah Austin
John Stuart Mill became like an adopted son to the Austins.
Hamburger, Lotte, and Joseph Hamburger. Troubled Lives: John and Sarah Austin. University of Toronto Press, 1985.
30
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
A great affection developed between him and Sarah, whom he addressed by the title of Mutter. However, his feelings cooled during the...
Friends, Associates Jane Welsh Carlyle
On moving to London the Carlyles were introduced to Harriet Taylor through John Stuart Mill. Although JWC felt that Harriet was a woman she could really love,
qtd. in
Hanson, Lawrence, and Elisabeth Hanson. Necessary Evil: The Life of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Octagon Books, 1975.
189
she was also suspicious of her, and...
Friends, Associates Emily Davies
In London, ED met John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor . At Emily Faithfull 's parties, frequented by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Isa Craig , and Bessie Rayner Parkes, she met Anthony Trollope , Louis Blanc
Friends, Associates Lucie Duff Gordon
Guests at the Regent's Park home included her mother's second cousin Harriet Martineau ,
Her mother's grandmother and Martineau's grandmother were sisters.
Unitarian minister William Fox , and feminist writer Harriet Taylor (who was no...
Friends, Associates Lucie Duff Gordon
Her friends and acquaintances included (besides Caroline Norton , a particularly close friend) politicians Lord Lansdowne and Lord Monteagle ; writers William Thackeray , Charles Dickens , Emily Eden , Elliot Warburton , Alfred Tennyson
Intertextuality and Influence John Stuart Mill
He credited his deceased wife, Harriet Taylor Mill , with all that is most striking and profound
Mill, John Stuart, and John Jacob Coss. Autobiography. Columbia University Press, 1924.
186
in the book. Her essay Enfranchisement of Women, published almost two decades earlier, is in several...

Timeline

By 20 May 1837: Thomas Carlyle published his acclaimed History...

Writing climate item

By 20 May 1837

Thomas Carlyle published his acclaimed History of the French Revolution.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
499 (1837): 353
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

Texts

Taylor, Harriet. “Enfranchisement of Women”. Westminster Review, 1851.
Taylor, Harriet. “Enfranchisement of Women”. The Disenfranchised: The Fight for the Suffrage, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts and Tamae Mizuta, Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1995, pp. 1-37.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. Essays on Sex Equality. Editor Rossi, Alice S., University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Taylor, Harriet. “Introduction”. The Complete Works of Harriet Taylor Mill, edited by Jo Ellen Jacobs et al., Indiana University Press, 1998, p. xi - xxxv.
Robson, Ann P. et al. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Sexual Equality, University of Toronto Press, 1994, p. vii - xxxv; various pages.
Hayek, Friedrich Augustus von et al. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor; Their Correspondence [i.e. Friendship] and Subsequent Marriage. University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. Remarks on Mr. Fitzroy’s Bill for the More Effectual Prevention of Assaults on Women and Children. Printed for private circulation, 1853.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. “Sentiment and Intellect: The Story of John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill”. Essays on Sex Equality, edited by Alice S. Rossi, University of Chicago Press, 1970, pp. 1-63.
Mill, John Stuart et al. Sexual Equality. Editors Robson, Ann P. and John M. Robson, University of Toronto Press, 1994.
Taylor, Harriet. The Complete Works of Harriet Taylor Mill. Editors Jacobs, Jo Ellen and Paula Harms Payne, Indiana University Press, 1998.
Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor. “Wife Murder”. Morning Chronicle.