Philanthropy and the Construction of Women's Citizenship: Lady Frederick Cavendish and Miss Emma Cons - Hardcover

Andrea Geddes Poole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1442642319 ISBN 13: 9781442642317

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2013

Synopsis

British social reformers Emma Cons (1838--1911) and Lucy Cavendish (1841--1924) broke new ground in their efforts to better the lot of the working poor in London: they hoped to transform these people's lives through great art, music, high culture, and elite knowledge. Although they did not recognize it as such, their work was in many ways an affirmation and display of citizenship. This book uses Cons's and Cavendish's partnership and work as an illuminating point of departure for exploring the larger topic of women's philanthropic campaigns in late Victorian and Edwardian society.Andrea Geddes Poole demonstrates that, beginning in the late 1860s, a shift was occurring from an emphasis on charity as a private, personal act of women's virtuous duty to public philanthropy as evidence of citizenly, civic participation. She shows that, through philanthropic works, women were able to construct a separate public sphere through which they could speak directly to each other about how to affect matters of significant public policy -- decades before women were finally granted the right to vote.

About this title

Product Description:

Unusual book

Review:

'Poole's book does a wonderful job of showing Victorian philanthropy not only as a forum for interactions between rich and poor, but also one in which the middle and upper classes could intermingle in an enlarging public sphere.'

- Ellen Ross - American Historical Review February 2015

'This is a highly enjoyable and absorbing account; its accessible style should lend its appeal to a wide constituency.'

- Kathryn Gleadle - Journal of British Studies vol 54:01:2015

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1442642319
• ISBN 13: 9781442642317
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288