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WOMEN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
from Cambridge University Library

Part 1: Rare printed autobiographies covering thirty-three women's lives, 1713-1859

With the publication of Barbara Penny Kanner’s Women in Context: Two Hundred Years of British Women Autobiographers: A Reference Guide and Reader (G K Hall, 1997) scholars gained access to a structured overview of more than 1,000 women’s autobiographical texts from the 1720’s to the modern era. Many of these were relatively unknown and record the experiences of the poor as well as the rich, professional women as well as voluntary workers, and well travelled women as well as those that stayed at home.

This new microfilm project begins the task of making these sources more widely available by reproducing the original texts (filming first or early editions). Part 1, published in September 1999, covers the lives of 33 women who lived between 1713 and 1859, with a total of 54 texts.

One of the first autobiographies is A Narrative of the Life of Mrs Charlotte Charke, Daughter of Colley Cibber (1755) which describes the life and experiences of Charlotte Charke (1713-1760). There is much on 18th Century Theatre as she both acted and wrote farces for the stage and knew Henry Fielding and David Garrick. Her great success as Macheath in The Beggar’s Opera is described, as well as her proclivity for cross-dressing off-stage which will make her of great interest to gay studies.

The Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington, Written by Herself (3 volumes, 1800) offers a polished account of the life of an Anglo-Irish writer (c1706-1750) whose fortunes veered from the friendship and patronage of Jonathan Swift, to imprisonment in London for debt. At one stage her husband encouraged her to form liaisons with other men to further his career and she later bemoaned the lack of jobs for women, so there is much interesting commentary on the position of women in the 18th century. By way of counterpoint, we also include her husband’s reaction to the Memoirs and her own Biography for Boys (1799) and Biography for Girls (1800) suggesting gender differences.

Ann Candler (1740-1814), workhouse inmate and poet, details her troubled life in Poetical Attempts by Ann Candler, a Suffolk Cottager, with a Short Narrative of Her Life (1803). The loss of three children in infancy, desertion by her husband and workhouse life are all described.

The Memories of The Life of the Late Mrs Catharine Cappe, Written by Herself (1822) take us into the life of an Evangelical social reformer who established a Female Benefit Club for miners’ wives and daughters in Yorkshire and founded District Committees of Ladies to help poor women throughout the country. Once again, in addition to the autobiography we also feature her Observations on Charity Schools, Female Friendly Societies, and other Subjects (1805), Thoughts on various charitable and other institutions (1814) and Thoughts on the desirableness and utility of ladies visiting the female wards of hospitals and lunatic asylums (1816).

Also featured are:
Mary Alexander (1760-1809), Mary Ashford (1787-c1840), Elizabeth Ashridge (1713-1755), Catharine Cary (c1770-c1825), Mary Clarke (1776-1852), Margaret Coghlan (c1763-?), Lady Elizabeth Craven (1750-1828), Ann Crowley (1766-1826), Mary Dudley (1750-1823), Grace Elliott (1765-1823), Anne Grant (1755-1838), Priscilla Gurney (1757-1828), Dorothea Herbert (1770-1829), Mary Jemison (1743-1833), Elizabeth Johnston (1764-1848), Cornelia Knight (1757-1837), Lady Sydney Morgan (c1783-1859), Elizabeth Mortimer (1754-1835), Charlotte Papendiek (1765-1839), Catherine Phillips (1727-1794), Hester Thrale Piozzi (1741-1821), Hannah Robertson (1724-c1800), Mary Robinson (1758-1800), Mary Schimmelpennick (1778-1856), Mary Sherwood (1775-1851), Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), Mary Talbot (1778-1808), Joanna Turner (1732-1785) and Mary Wells (c1740-1787).



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