Anna Wheeler (author)
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Anna Wheeler (c. 1780 – 1848), also known by her maiden name of Anna Doyle, was an Irish-born British writer and advocate of political rights for women and the benefits of contraception. She married Francis Massey Wheeler when she was "about 16" and he was "about 19", although the year is not known. They separated twelve years later. After his death she supplemented her income by translating the works of French philosophers. She was an acquaintance of
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
,
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S.– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...
, and Frances Wright. The philosopher William Thompson described his book ''Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain them in Political, and Hence in Civil and Domestic, Slavery'' as the "joint property" of himself and her. A staunch advocate of political rights for women and equal opportunities in education, she was friendly with French feminists and socialists.


Early life

Anna Doyle was the daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Milley Doyle, a
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
clergyman,Edward Cave, John Nichols, eds., ''The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle'' (1834), p. 276: "Francis Massey Wheeler, Esq. of Lizard Connell, born in 1776, married Anne daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Milley Doyle (elder brother of General Sir John Doyle, Bart. G.C.B. and uncle of Major-General Welbore Ellis Doyle..." Rector of Newcastle, County Tipperary. She had no formal education, but learned French, geography, reading and writing at home. In 1795, at about the age of fifteen, she married Francis Massey Wheeler, of Lizard Connell, heir to an estate at Ballywire, who proposed to her at a ball. Born in 1776, and a grandson of Hugh Massy, 1st Baron Massy (1700–1788) he was himself only nineteen, and they set up home in
County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...
. According to the autobiography of her daughter Rosina, Wheeler had five daughters, Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Autobiography (MS.) although a more general source says two. Her daughter Rosina Doyle Wheeler, who later wrote that she had been born in 1802, became the novelist Rosina Bulwer Lytton. Wheeler read widely, taking in both the French
Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...
thinkers and Mary Wollstonecraft. Her husband was an abusive alcoholic, so she separated from him after twelve years by moving to
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to live with her uncle, General Sir John Doyle then in post as
Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey The lieutenant governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the lieutenant governor is to act as the ''de facto'' head of state in Guern ...
. In 1815 she moved to London, to benefit the education of her daughters. By 1816 she had started journeying through France. One of her brothers, Sir John Milley Doyle (1781–1856) was a commander of British and Portuguese forces in the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
and the War of the Two Brothers.


Later life

Wheeler's husband died in 1820 and left her penniless, so she supplemented her income by translating into English the works of Charles Fourier and other French Owenite philosophers. She managed to spend her life travelling, staying with friends and promoting the news and ideas of the feminist movement. She lived principally in London, Dublin,
Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...
, and Paris. In London, she met
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
,
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S.– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...
and Frances Wright, and became close friends with William Thompson. In 1825, provoked by James Mill's dismissal of political representation for women, Thompson wrote ''Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain them in Political, and Hence in Civil and Domestic, Slavery''. Thompson described the book as the "joint property" of himself and Anna Wheeler. They were both advocates of the benefits of contraception. Wheeler was one of the first women to campaign for women's rights at public meetings in England. She sometimes spoke at the South Place Chapel, "a radical gathering-place" then under the leadership of the Reverend William Johnson Fox and now better known as Conway Hall. Unitarians, like Quakers, supported female equality, and this chapel, situated on
Finsbury Square Finsbury Square is a square in Finsbury in central London which includes a six-rink grass bowling green. It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the north of the City of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the p ...
in central London, gave her the pulpit to speak on "The Rights of Women". In this address of 1829, Wheeler forensically refuted arguments for male superiority and encouraged women to work together to create an organisation "to obtain... the removal of the disabilities of women and the introduction of a national system of equal education for the Infants of both sexes." A staunch advocate of political rights for women and of equal opportunities in education, Wheeler was a friend of the French feminists and socialists Flora Tristan and Desirée Veret.Dolores Dooley, ''Equality in Community'' (Cork University Press, 1996) In the early 1830s. she helped to establish the journal '. Her other friends and associates included Henri Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier, Suzanne Voilquin (editor of ''Tribune des femmes''), Marie-Reine Guindorf, and Jeanne Deroin. In 1833 William Thompson died, leaving Wheeler an
annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals based on a contract with a lump sum of money. Insurance companies are common annuity providers and are used by clients for things like retirement or death benefits. Examples ...
of £100, which was then enough to maintain a modest household.


Publications

*William Thompson, ''Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other, Men'' (1825); Thompson credited Wheeler with many of the ideas in this tract. *Anna Wheeler, ''The Rights of Women'' (1830), published in '' The British Co-operator''. *Anna Wheeler, ''Letter from Vlasta'' (1833)


Death and descendants

Wheeler was forced to withdraw from public life in the 1840s due to ill health, and she died on 7 May 1848 in Camden, London, having refused invitations to take part in the revolution in France of that year. Wheeler's daughter Rosina Bulwer Lytton was a novelist and outspoken public speaker. Her grandson Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, served as
Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...
from 1876 to 1880, and two of her great grandsons became the
second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
and third Earls of Lytton. One of Wheeler's great-granddaughters was the sister-in-law of the Prime Minister Gerald Balfour, while another, Lady Constance Lytton, followed Anna's role model and became a leading
suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
protester, hunger striker and writer, and a third, Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton, dismayed her parents by successfully proposing to the architect Edwin Landseer Lutyens and later became a Theosophist. The biographers Mary Lutyens and Jane Ridley (born 1953) are descendants of that marriage.


See also

* History of feminism


References


Further reading

*Bonnie S. Anderson, ''Joyous Greetings: The First International Women's Movement 1830–1860'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) *Margaret MaFadden, ''Golden Cables of Sympathy: the Transatlantic Sources of Nineteenth-Century Feminism'' (Lexington, Ky: University of Kentucky Press, 1999) *Karen Offen, ''European Feminisms 1700–1795: a Political History'' (Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press, 2000) * *William Thompson, ed. by Dolores Dooley, ''Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other, Men'' (1825, reprinted Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1997) *Anna Wheeler, "To the Editor of The Crisis", in ''The Crisis'' dated August 1833; reprinted in Marie Mulvey Roberts and Tamae Mizuta (eds.), ''The Rebels, Irish Feminists'' (London: Routledge / Thoemmes Press, 1995) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Anna 1780s births 1848 deaths Writers from County Tipperary Irish feminists British feminist writers British suffragists Socialist feminists Feminism and history British salon-holders Women of the Victorian era 19th-century Irish writers 19th-century Irish women writers People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society People from Newcastle, County Tipperary