Voicing A Female Legacy

“No woman of the 19th century was more bitterly reviled than Josephine Butler …” [1]

As previously explored in my post The Voiceless Fallen Woman, Josephine Butler was an influential figure in the campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in the latter 19th century.[2] Butler spoke openly about taboo topics such as sexual interaction and venereal disease to bring awareness to the world of prostitution.[3] In 1928, two months before the passing of the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act, The Women’s Freedom League newspaper The Vote published a piece on Butler titled ‘The Great Crusade’.[4] The most interesting aspect of this article is how the late Butler is represented and how her narrative is formulated to create a legacy that is reflective of feminist values in 1920’s Britain.

Throughout Britain, publications from women’s organisations provided a written voice within the women’s movement to reach out and communicate with other women. In The Vote, Butler is represented to readers as a martyr figure: a woman who dedicated her life to the abolition of the slave trade in her youth and sheltering unfortunate women in her later years, despite her work being criticised. The newspaper honours Butler for her ‘supreme courage to speak openly’ in order to provide a voice to socially unacceptable topics and her determined nature as she moved from a successful campaign to the next important cause. [5]

They wrote: “Her beauty, the charm of her gentile personality, and her profound sincerity, won the admiration and respect even of her opponents.” [6]

The image created of Butler in this passage embodies stereotypical feminine qualities, however, the discussion of Butler gaining admiration and respect remains true to the impact she made with her empowering speeches and her devotion to the Christian faith.[7] Although, the article is conscious of delicately phrasing Butler’s role during the campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, her cause is respected as her two decade struggle is referred to as ‘The Great Crusade’.[8]

Though Butler’s narrative is framed towards an audience with more favour towards women’s political rights than women’s personal rights, the article brings forth a new light to Butler and provides her with a legacy which reaches out to both men and women as her ‘life’s work has left a mark for all time’.[9] Butler in the 1800’s provided a voice and support for women who had none, and in 1920’s it is The Vote that is voicing a legacy for an influential woman who should not be forgotten.

[1] The Vote, Friday 20th April 1928. p121

[2] L. Bland, ‘Purifying the Public World: Feminist Vigilantes in late Victorian England’, Women’s History Review, 1:3 (1992) p399

[3] S. Jeffreys, The Spinster and her Enemies, Pandora Press (London, 1985) p7

[4]  The Vote, Friday 20th April 1928. p121

[5] Ibid. p121-122

[6] Ibid. p122

[7] A. Summers, ‘The Constitution Violated: The Female Body and the Female Subject in the Campaigns of Josephine Butler’, History Workshop Journal, 48 (1999) p9-11

[8] The Vote, Friday 20th April 1928. p121

[9] Ibid. p122

Image is taken from the header of the newspaper article: The Vote, Friday 20th April 1928. p121-122

Radicalism and a Family Legacy

  On 10th September 1797 Mary Wollstonecraft died of puerperal fever.[1] In his grief her husband William Godwin published the biography Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women.[2] Godwin was a man of optimism, believing that in telling the truth justice would be gained. For Godwin this was not the case as the truths behind Wollstonecraft’s suicide attempts and illegitimate pregnancies were not well received. Still, Wollstonecraft’s work was revisited and used to shape modern feminism from the early twentieth century.[3] Godwin’s legacy in contemporary culture, however, lies alongside the works of their daughter Mary Shelley (nee Godwin) who captivated the world of literature with her novel Frankenstein.

  Shelley followed in her parents’ footsteps by pursuing a literary career and continued on their thoughts and ideas. Godwin, like Wollstonecraft, was an influential radical writer during the 1790’s and his political views on society can be seen in Shelley’s writing, especially Frankenstein.[4]  Shelley portrays the evils within human society as Victor’s Creature is abandoned by his creator, abused and outcast because of his differences.[5] Such ideas had influenced Shelley from a young age and played a significant role in the literary partnership between herself and Godwin which crossed gender boundaries and focused on a need for social change. The ongoing cultural stigma behind radicalism leaves Godwin’s legacy overshadowed, however, the legacy of Shelley and her persistence to have his works published, before and after his death, keeps his passionate works iconic and inviting to a modern perspective.[6]

[1] C. Gordon, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, Penguin Random House UK (London, 2015) p2

[2] W. Godwin, Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women, J. Johnson (London, 1798)

[3]  C. Gordon, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. p22

[4] F. McIntosh-Varjebedian, ‘Radical Thought and History in Britain and France: The 1789 Aftermath’ Prose Studies, 35:2 (2013) p155

[5] M. Shelley, Frankenstein, Penguin Classics, (London, 1992)

[6] P. Clemit, ‘Mary Shelley and William Godwin: A literary-political partnership, 1823-1836’, Women’s Writing, 6:3 (1999) pp228, 293

Image: Samuel John Stump, Unknown woman, formerly known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1831, National Portrait Gallery Primary Collection: NPG 1719