Who was Mary Wollstonecraft?
Philosopher and Women's Right's Campaigner.
Date and Place of Birth:
27th April 1759, London, England.
Family Background:
From family of six children, three girls and
three boys. Granddaughter of a wealthy Irish manufacturer who worked
in Spitalfields, London. Her father, John Edward Wollstonecraft,
originally a handkerchief weaver, spent the fortune in an unsuccessful
farm business and through drink and was prone to beat his wife Elizabeth
Dixon.
Education:
Local day schools in Beverley, Yorkshire.
Chronology/Biography of Mary Wollstonecraft:
1763: Moves to Epping
with her family.
1765: At the death
of her grandfather her father inherits some of his estate and the
family again move on this time to Barking.
1768: Family moves
on to Beverley in Yorkshire.
1774: Family moves
to Hoxton in North London.
1776: Family moves
to Laugharne in Wales.
1777: Family moves
to Walworth in London.
1778: Mary gets
her first employment as a lady's companion to Mrs Dawson in Bath.
Her family moves on again to Enfield in London.
1781: Mary moves
back home to nurse her sick mother.
1782: (19th April)
Death of her mother.(October) Mary moves in with the Blood family
as a ladies companion.
1784: Mary moves
in with her sister Eliza who is suffering from a bout of post natal
depression. Mary and Eliza set up a school together in Newington
Green. She made friends with Richard Price a Minister at the local
Dissenting Chapel who along with his friend Joseph Priestley
was the leader of a group of people called the Rational Dissenters.
1785: Mary goes
to Portugal to help Fanny Blood with her childbirth. Fanny dies
later in the year of consumption.
1786: The school
at Newington Green Closes. Mary goes to work as a governess to Lord
and Lady Kingsborough in County Cork, Ireland.
1786: Accompanies
the Kingsborough family to Bristol where she is dismissed. She then
moves to London where she takes up work as a translator.
1788: Goes to live
at 49 George Street Blackfriars, London. Mary begins work as a reviewer
for Joseph Johnson's "Analytical Review". She had met
Johnson as a radical friend of Richard Price.
1790: Mary's translation
of Salzmann's "Elements of Morality" is published by Johnson.
(November) She publishes "A Vindication of the Rights of Man"
anonymously at first and then under her own name as she was upset
by the attacks on her friend Price by Edmund Burke.
1791: Moves to Store
Street. First met William Godwin at a dinner
held by Johnson.
1792: (August) Mary,
Johnson and the Fuseli's set out for France but only get as far
as Dover. (December) Mary goes to France alone this time.
1793: (April) Mary
Meets the American timber merchant Gilbert Imlay in Paris and registers
as his wife at the American Embassy for protection against imprisonment
during the Terror. She moves to Neuilly-sur-Seine but returns to
Paris when she realises she is pregnant.
1794: (January)
Moves to Le Havre. (May) Mary gives birth to Imlay's daughter Frances.
1795: (April) Returns
to England and lives in Charlotte Street, London where she makes
an unsuccessful attempt at suicide by jumping off Putney Bridge
realising that Imlay already has a mistress and does not want her.
(June) She goes to Scandinavia with her maid and Fanny to recuperate.
(August) Returns again to London. (October) Makes a second attempt
at suicide.
1796: (April) Meets
Godwin again.(July) Begins a relationship
with Godwin.
1797: (March) Moves
into 29 The Polygon, Somers Town, London with Godwin
after their marriage. (30th August) Gives birth to a daughter Mary
(later to become Mary Shelley).
Written Works:
- 1786:
“Thoughts on the Education of Daughters”.
- 1788: "Mary",
"Original Stories from Real Life Conversations Calculated
to regulate the Affections and Form the Mind of Truth and Goodness"
- 1789: “The
Female Reader”. “Miscellaneous Pieces for the Improvement of Young
Women”.
- 1792:
“A Vindication of the Rights of Women”.
- 1794: "An
Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French
Revolution.
- 1796:
“Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and
Denmark”.
- 1797: "On
Poetry", "Our Relish for the Beauties of Nature".
- (1798): "Memoirs
of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman" and
"Posthumous Works" both published by Godwin.
Marriage:
March 1797 to William Godwin
at St. Pancras Church, London.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
The British Library.
The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, E1 7NT.
Date and Place of Death:
10th September 1797, London, England of puerperal
fever after the birth of her daughter Mary.
Age at Death:
38.
Site of Grave:
Re-interred in St. Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth,
Dorset, England with Husband William Godwin
next to Daughter Mary Shelley.
