Emily Faithfull
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Emily Faithfull (27 May 1835 – 31 May 1895) was an English women's rights activist who set up the Victoria Press to publish the ''
English Woman's Journal The ''English Woman's Journal'' was a periodical dealing primarily with female employment and equality issues. It was established in 1858 by Barbara Bodichon, Matilda Mary Hays and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Published monthly between March 1858 ...
''.


Biography

Emily Faithfull was born on 27 May 1835 at Headley Rectory,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. She was the youngest daughter of the Rev. Ferdinand Faithfull (who ran a small boys' school at the Rectory) and Elizabeth Mary Harrison. Faithfull attended school in Kensington and was presented at court in 1857. Faithfull joined the Langham Place Circle, composed of like-minded women such as Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon,
Bessie Rayner Parkes Elizabeth Rayner Belloc (née Parkes; 16 June 1829 – 23 March 1925) was one of the most prominent English feminists and campaigners for women's rights in Victorian times and also a poet, essayist and journalist. Early life Bessie Rayner Pa ...
,
Jessie Boucherett (Emilia) Jessie Boucherett (November 1825 – 18 October 1905) was an English campaigner for women's rights. Life She was born in November 1825 at North Willingham, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. She was the grandchild of Lt. Colonel Ayscoghe ...
,
Emily Davies Sarah Emily Davies (22 April 1830 – 13 July 1921) was an English feminist who founded Girton College, Cambridge. She campaigned as a suffragist and for women's rights to university education. In her early life, she attended meetings of the ...
, and
Helen Blackburn Helen Blackburn (25 May 1842 – 11 January 1903) was a feminist, writer and campaigner for women's rights, especially in the field of employment. Blackburn was an editor of the '' Englishwoman's Review'' magazine. She wrote books about women wo ...
. The Langham Place Circle advocated for legal reform in women's status (including suffrage), wider employment possibilities, and improved educational opportunities for girls and women. Although Faithfull identified with all three aspects of the group's aims, her primary areas of interest centered on advancing women's employment opportunities. The Circle was responsible for forming the
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) was one of the earliest British women's organisations. The society was established in 1859 by Jessie Boucherett, Barbara Bodichon, Adelaide Anne Proctor and Lydia Becker to promote the ...
in 1859. In 1864, Faithfull was implicated in a divorce case between Admiral Henry Codrington and his wife Helen Jane Smith Codrington (1828–1876). Codrington was accused of attempting to rape Faithfull. These charges were dropped and Faithfull declined to provide testimony. It was also suggested that Faithfull and Helen were lesbian lovers. As a result of Faithfull's limited involvement and association with the case, her reputation suffered and she was shunned by the Langham Place Group. It was after this association with the case that Faithfull moved to destroy all of her private papers, in particular letters written to and from her family, leaving little behind besides her professional publications and a few treasured letters and clippings. Of her nephews, one was the actor
Rutland Barrington Rutland Barrington (15 January 1853 – 31 May 1922) was an English singer, actor, comedian and Edwardian musical comedy star. Best remembered for originating the lyric baritone roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1877 to 1896, his p ...
and another the
Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
John Faithfull Fleet John Faithfull Fleet C.I.E (1847 – 21 February 1917) was an English civil servant with the Indian Civil Service and became known as a historian, epigraphist and linguist. His research in Indian epigraphy and history, conducted in India ove ...
, ICS. Among her friends she counted
Richard Peacock Richard Peacock (9 April 1820 – 3 March 1889) was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer, Peacock and Company. He was later a Member of Parliament. Early life and education Born in Swaledale, Yorkshire, ...
, one of the founders of
Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English general engineering company and railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson founded the company in 1854. The company close ...
, Manchester locomotive manufacturers, to whom she dedicated the Edinburgh edition of her book ''Three Visits To America'' with the words to my "Friend Richard Peacock Esq of Gorton Hall" in 1882. She was a witness to the marriage of Peacock's daughter Jane Peacock to William Taylor Birchenough, the son of
John Birchenough John Birchenough JP (1 November 1825 – 7 May 1895) was an English silk manufacturer and local politician in Macclesfield, Cheshire in the nineteenth century. He was the head of the Macclesfield silk manufacturing firm Birchenough and Sons wi ...
, another silk manufacturer cited approvingly in ''Three Visits To America'' for his treatment of women employees. In 1888 Faithfull was awarded a
civil list A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government, typically for service to the state or as honorary pensions. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom, and its former colonies and dominions. It was ori ...
pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...
of £50. She died in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. She is a protagonist of
Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue (born October 1969) is an Irish Canadians, Irish Canadian novelist, screenwriter, playwright and literary historian. Her 2010 novel ''Room (novel), Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donog ...
's 2008 novel, ''The Sealed Letter'', which is based on the Codrington divorce case of 1864.


Victoria Press and ''Victoria Magazine''

With the object of extending women's sphere of labour, which was then very limited, in 1860 Emily Faithfull set up in London a printing establishment for women, called The Victoria Press. From 1860 until 1864, it published the feminist ''
English Woman's Journal The ''English Woman's Journal'' was a periodical dealing primarily with female employment and equality issues. It was established in 1858 by Barbara Bodichon, Matilda Mary Hays and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Published monthly between March 1858 ...
''. Both Faithfull and her Victoria Press soon obtained a reputation for its excellent work, and Faithfull was shortly afterwards appointed printer and publisher
in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household and public officials more generally, it indicates that a position is a permanent one (in contrast to positions that are extraordinary). In naval matt ...
to
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
. In 1863 she began the publication of a monthly, ''Victoria Magazine'', in which for eighteen years she continuously and earnestly advocated the claims of women to remunerative employment.


Activism

In January 1864 she published the first annual report of the Ladies' London Emancipation Society and she went on to publish other works on behalf of this society. In 1868 she published a novel, ''Change upon Change''. She also appeared as a lecturer, and, with the object of furthering the interests of women, lectured widely and successfully both in England and the United States, which latter she visited in 1872 and 1882. She was a member of the
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) was one of the earliest British women's organisations. The society was established in 1859 by Jessie Boucherett, Barbara Bodichon, Adelaide Anne Proctor and Lydia Becker to promote the ...
. She considered compositor's work (a comparatively lucrative trade of the time) to be a possible mode of employment for women to pursue. This was opposed by the London Printer's Union, which was open only to men and claimed that women lacked the requisite intelligence and physical skill.


Archives

The archives of Emily Faithfull are held at
The Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...
at the London School of Economics, ref 7EFA.


References


External links

*
Emily Faithfull
biography & selected writings at gerald-massey.org.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Faithfull, Emily 1835 births 1895 deaths English women's rights activists English printers Lesbian feminists Publishers (people) from London 19th-century British publishers (people) 19th-century English businesspeople