The Early Feminists: Radical Unitarians and the Emergence of the Women's Rights Movement, 1831-51

This book redefines the origins of the women's rights campaigns in Britain. Contrary to the existing historiography, which argues that the Victorian feminist movement began in the 1850s, this book, by bringing to light a wealth of unused sources, demonstrates that a vibrant community existed during the 1830's and 1840's. Previously neglected, this remarkable group of writers and reformers established both the ideologies and personnel network which provided the foundations of the women's rights campaigns of the coming decades. This early feminist movement grew out of the radical views on women promoted by the Unitarian minister William Johnson Fox and his associates in the 1830s. Gleadle demonstrates that Fox and his circle may be seen as "radical unitarians"--divorced from the main Unitarian body and distinguished by distinctive ideological creeds. This study explores the radical unitarians' pioneering campaigns to elevate women's position and highlights their visionary commitment to a wider, humanitarian dream of establishing a more equal, more caring society.