Category: Women’s History

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An Amiable Wife

My post on Anne Law, Lady Ellenborough, is up for viewing on the English Historical Fiction Authors Blog.

As a female, I cannot help being interested in the lives of women of earlier times.  Finding information about some is easy, thanks to published letters and memoirs, newspaper archives, and (because of their own personal status or accomplishments or notoriety) even biographies.  With others, it is a challenge, and we may find ourselves finding that little data is available, and that as side details provided in the information related to a father, husband or other male relative.  One such lady is Anne Law, Lady Ellenborough.  The November/December issue of JANE AUSTEN’S WORLD magazine included a reference to her in “What Made The News in November & December 1812” that caught my attention. 

To read more about her, visit the blog at: https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2020/12/an-amiable-wife.html#comment-form

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Elizabeth Evans, Businesswoman and Philanthropist

Elizabeth Evans was the daughter of a wealthy, self-made businessman.  She married a man who was the son of a businessman, who was successful himself in his family’s business, and, after his death, married his half-brother.  During her second marriage, as a partner in the bank and businesses, Elizabeth utilized talents to make her mark as a businesswoman and as a philanthropist.  During the Georgian era, women were theoretically subsumed into their husbands.  However, there were some women who managed to make their marks in the business world.  Elizabeth Evans was one of them.

To read more about Elizabeth Evans, please visit the ENGLISH HISTORICAL FICTION AUTHORS blog.

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Mary Edwards, An Independent Woman

Over on the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, I write about Mary Edwards.

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Portrait of Mary Edwards by William Hogarth, 1742 from Wikimedia Commons (here.)

Mary Edwards (or Edwardes) has already been mentioned in the English Historical Fiction Authors blog (here) in connection with the arts and Hogarth.  She was a fascinating and strong-minded woman, not afraid to make decisions or to take her life into her own hands.

To read more about her, visit the English Historical Fiction Authors blog HERE

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Women’s Lives Recorded in Sketchbooks and Diaries

Today, I’m posting on the English Historical Fiction Authors’ Blog…

Diaries and sketchbooks fascinate me, especially those of women. Many of my favourites happen to have been drawn or written by English women in earlier times. The ability to depict one’s daily life in a way that is clear and entertaining to a third party, whether in art or in writing, is a real talent. (My own efforts tend to read more like the essay read in Cheech and Chong’s “Sister Mary Elephant”.) One cannot always assume that a diary written by a woman, especially a young, unmarried woman living with her parents or guardian, expressed her true feeling or opinions as her diary may not have been private. However, the details of one’s daily activities and the people with whom time was spent can give the viewer an idea of how life was lived on an intimate level. I’d like to introduce three of my personal favourites.

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My copy of Mrs Hurst Dancing & Other Scenes from Regency Life 1812-1823

To read more, please visit the English Historical Fiction Authors’ Blog HERE
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