Time Period: 1859-1886
John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty
Introduction to Liberal history series. By James Moore.
On this day 11-6-1837
She was born Sophia Pease into a prominent Darlington Quaker family where her father was a director of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. In 1862 she married Theodore Fry whom she met while at school. Fry was elected Liberal MP for Darlington in 1880 and, inspired by the election and Gladstone’s Midlothian Campaign, Sophia Fry…
Millicent Garrett Fawcett, 1847-1929
Millicent Fawcett, a radical and pioneering feminist, is best known as the leader of the suffragists, the constitutional campaigners for women’s votes. Born in Aldeburgh on 11 June 1847, Millicent Garrett was the eighth of the 11 children born to businessman Newson Garrett and his wife Louisa, neé Dunnell. Her father, a Liberal, encouraged political…
Josephine Butler, 1828-1906
Josephine Butler was a social reformer with a broad feminist commitment, whose willingness to speak publicly on sexual issues distracted from her wider views. Born in Northumberland on 13 April 1828, Josephine Elizabeth Grey was the 7th child of John Grey, a cousin of Earl Grey, the Prime Minister responsible for the 1832 Reform Act,…