Sylvia Pankhurst was, by any standards, a rebel. Born in Manchester in 1882, she was the daughter of Emmeline and sister of Christabel and Adel. Like them, she was an active and headline-grabbing participant in the struggle for women’s suffrage in early twentieth-century Britain. For example, in just one six-month period in 1914 she was … Read more
George Wardell was born in Toronto in 1840 to a landed family with connections in Canada, Britain and Ireland. He came from a family with a rich military tradition, following in the footsteps of his father, Major William Wardell, a veteran of several wars, and his grandfather, Lt.-Col. Wardell. George Wardell’s journey to Isandlwana began … Read more
In November 1836, fifteen-year-old Jenny Verner, whose family had been involved in setting up the Orange Order, eloped to Chester with the 21-year-old son of a Presbyterian minister, John Mitchel. They were caught by Jenny’s father, Captain James Verner, but on 3 February 1837 John and Jenny were married in Drumcree Church of Ireland church. … Read more
Mitchelstown Castle, Co. Cork, was the inheritance of Wollstonecraft’s employer, Caroline King, Lady Kingsborough. During 1777–8 her husband, Robert King, remodelled it in Palladian style and improved the estate with the assistance of Arthur Young, who described it in A tour in Ireland (1780). Robert and Caroline separated in 1789. Robert died as second earl … Read more
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) is revered by feminists as the author of A vindication of the rights of woman (1792), which advocated the rational education of women as a matter of public and national importance. She also published fiction, travel writing, criticism and educational books. While living in Revolutionary France in 1794, Wollstonecraft gave birth to … Read more