Agnes Hamilton née Sillars (born c. 1794, died

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

22 October 1870) was a Scottish reformer, public lecturer and

phrenologist Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or ...

who argued for women's right to an education which promoted gender equality.

Life

She was born in about 1794 and her parents were Jane (born MacDougall) and Archibald Sillars. In 1819 married Edward Hamilton and they had a son, Archibald Sillars Hamilton. She comes to notice in 1832 when she was known as a lecturer on politics. By 1836, she was being described by the

Leeds Times The ''Leeds Times'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1833, and published at the office in Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ceased publication on 30 March 1901, with Robert Nicoll as one of its first editors, and Samuel Smiles ...

as a 'phenomenon in politics'. She gave public lectures on phrenology, religious liberty as a right, and on women's right to an education which promoted gender equality. By the 1840s she was reported as dealing in "practical phrenology". Hamilton would use a group of marbles to illustrate the principles of phrenology. Over fifteen years she said that she had analysed the heads of 60,000 people as she toured throughout Britain and Ireland. Where she gathered interest she would spend some months in that town but in other cases she would quickly move on. She was well received but she was not able to retire and she attracted varying reviews from acknowledged phrenologists

George Combe George Combe (21 October 1788 – 14 August 1858) was a Scottish people, Scottish lawyer and a spokesman of the phrenology, phrenological movement for over 20 years. He founded the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1820 and wrote ''The Constitu ...

and

Andrew Combe Andrew Combe (27 October 17979 August 1847) was a Scottish physician and phrenologist. Life Combe was born in Edinburgh on 27 October 1797, the son of Marion (née Newton) and George Combe (1745–1816), a brewer, and was a younger brother o ...

of the

Edinburgh Phrenological Society The Edinburgh Phrenological Society was founded in 1820 by George Combe, an Edinburgh lawyer, with his physician brother Andrew Combe. The Edinburgh Society was the first and foremost phrenology grouping in Great Britain; more than forty ph ...

. One account notes her as a "dirty old wench". Her son Archibald Sillars Hamilton was a phrenologist in his twenties and he left for Australia in 1854 where he continued that profession. Archibald was given the head of

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 185411 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader, bank robber and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing armour of the Kelly gang, a suit of bulletproof ...

after his death and he published an account of the skull's phrenology. Hamilton died in

in 1870.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Agnes Sillars 1790s births 1870 deaths Phrenologists Phrenology Health professionals from Edinburgh History of mental health in the United Kingdom