Charles Jones : Radical Sisters: Four Victorian Women

Together, the adult lives of Eliza (c.1820-1850), Caroline (1816-1889), Matilda (1816/17-1866) and Emilie Ashurst (1826?-1893) spanned the greater part of Queen Victoria’s reign. Daughters of a wealthy Radical lawyer, the artistic and political causes they embraced cover many of the most progressive tendencies of the period, ranging from translation of the novels of George Sand to patronage of James McNeill Whistler and the unification of Italy to the women’s suffrage.Besides the opportunity they offer to re-examine metropolitan middle-class radicalism, the careers of these four women raise the question of whether provincial non-conformist Radicals may have been over-valued in twentieth century historiography of the British labour movement as well as perennial issues about the relative importance of political parties and social movements in achieving political change.