Julia Wedgwood, a Victorian feminist and female intellectual. Who was she and why has she been forgotten?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Julia Wedgwood (1833–1913) was a non-fiction writer who chose an unusually wide range of subjects, including theology, the Classical world and German Biblical criticism. She was also a leading feminist who wrote several influential pieces on female enfranchisement, campaigned in the 1870 elections to the London School Board and taught informally at what became Girton College. She was the niece of Charles Darwin, the great scientist, and had a short but intense relationship with Robert Browning, the poet. She was also close to many other leading Victorian cultural figures. Yet her achievements as a writer are now largely forgotten as is her role as a feminist. This article re-examines her life and career before considering why she has fallen out of the record and what that suggests about the influence of misleading stereotypes in our approach to nineteenth century women’s non-fiction writing and the study of first wave feminism.