Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women (eBook)

Florence S. Boos is Professor at the University of Iowa. She is the editor of Working-Class Women Poets of Victorian Britain: An Anthology (2008) and many articles and two special issues devoted to Victorian working-class writings. She is also the general editor of the William Morris Archive and the author/editor of several books on William Morris. 

Acknowledgements 8
Contents 10
List of Figures 12
Chapter 1 Introduction: Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women 14
Narrative Trajectory 19
Editorial Mediation and Working-Class Readers 21
Broader Patterns 24
Maternity, Sexuality, and Politics 26
Violence and Family Conflict 29
Religious Ties that Did Not Always Bind 33
Genre and Class 34
Authenticity 38
Transience and Dislocation 40
Sequence of Chapters 41
Chapter 2 Uneven Access: Working-Class Women and the Education Acts 45
The “Voluntary” Schools 47
The Education Acts of 1870, 1880, and Later 51
Before the “Acts” 54
After the “Acts” 62
Conclusion 71
Chapter 3 Under Physical Siege: The Early Victorian Autobiographies of Elizabeth Storie and Mary Prince 74
Elizabeth Storie 76
Mary Prince 83
Conclusion 93
Chapter 4 Memoir and People’s History in Janet Hamilton’s Sketches of Village Life 96
Janet Hamilton’s Life 97
Hamilton’s Early Publications 104
Hamilton’s Book Publications 109
Hamilton’s Essays on Education and Alcoholism 110
“Sketches of Village Life and Character” 117
Conclusion 125
Chapter 5 The Annals of the Poor—Rural and Conversion Narratives: Elizabeth Campbell, Christian Watt, Elizabeth Oakley, Mrs. Collier, Jane Andrew, and Barbara Farquhar 126
Elizabeth Duncan Campbell (1804–1878) 128
Christian Watt (1833–1923) 139
Elizabeth Green Oakley (1831–1900) 155
Religious Narratives: Mrs. Collier, Jane Andrew, and Barbara Farquhar (“a Labourer’s Daughter”) 163
Mrs. Collier: A Bible-Woman’s Story 164
The Autobiography of Jane Andrew 167
A Blockbuster Hit: Barbara Farquhar’s The Pearl of Days 173
Chapter 6 The Servant Writes Back: Mary Ann Ashford’s Life of a Licensed Victualler’s Daughter 180
Mary Ann Ashford (1787 to After 1861) 182
The Autobiography of Rose Allen 193
The Adventures of a Maid Servant 200
Mistress and Maid 202
Chapter 7 Ellen Johnston: Autobiographical Writings of “The Factory Girl” 208
Ellen Johnston: The “Queen of the Far-Flung Penny Post?” (c. 1828–c. 1874) 210
Chapter 8 From Servant to Schoolmistress: Janet Bathgate and Mary Smith 234
Janet Greenfield Bathgate (1804?–98) 235
Aunt Janet’s Legacy 239
The Life of Aunt Janet 244
Mary Smith (1822–89) 251
Chapter 9 ‘Truth’, ‘Fiction’ and Collaboration in The Autobiography of a Charwoman 270
The Frame Narrative: Annie Wakeman 275
The Autobiography: Elizabeth Dobbs’s Story 278
A Likely Original: Enter Martha Grimes 291
Why These Changes, and Who Was Responsible? 297
Chapter 10 Conclusion 302
Alternatives to Middle-Class Accounts 305
Coda: An Edwardian Turn 310
Bibliography 322
Index 332