EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: SOPHIA STURGE P/77

                                                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Sophia Sturge. She lived from 1795 - 1845. She was born in Elberton, Gloucestershire, UK. She was the fifth child of Joseph Sturge, a farmer, and his wife Mary Marshall. The family belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.

The abolitionist Joseph Sturge was Sophia's brother. She and her siblings were taught by tutors but their mother had to decide what could be afforded and Sophia's request for drawing and French had to be refused. However, the children taught themselves by correspondence. Sophia read well and would discuss ideas by letter. She attended a school in Wellington at some point, but did not enjoy it.

In 1815, Sophia became housekeeper for her brother Joseph Sturge. The big debate at that time was not just when, but how, to end slavery. Sophia and Joseph wanted it to end quickly and completely. Sophia founded the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, which although based in Birmigham, had national influence. She called on 3,000 households to ask for their support in boycotting sugar because of its link to slavery.

Sophia died in 1845.

Read Part Seenty-Eight HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: MARY HORNCHURCH LLOYD P/76

                                Read Part One HERE

 In this post I will continue my story on a woman named Mary Hornchurch Lloyd. She lived from 1795 - 1865. Whilst Mary was in Birmingham, she started an organisation to assist deaf-mutes with Lucy Townsend. Mary continued as  Honorary secretary of the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves or the Female Society of Birmingham when Lucy resigned after she moved to Thorpe in 1836. Mary later became the treasurer. In 1841 she became a minister in the Society of Friends and this required her to speak and travel around England.

For many years these anti-slavery organisations, that were run by women, were dismisssed as of marginal interest, but recent research has revealed that these groups had a distinct and national impact. These organisations were frequently more radical and they introduced new methods of raising awareness and pressure. These organisations organised campaigns to not purchase sugar and other products of slaves.

Mary died in Wood Green in 1865.

Read Part Seventy-Seven HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: MARY HORNCHURCH LLOYD P/75

                               Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Mary Hornchurch Lloyd. She lived from 1795 - 1865. She was born in Falmouth, UK. Her mother was a minister in the Society of Friends and her father was a cooper. Mary's mother died whilst she was a child and she quickly became the carer for her father until he died in 1818. She married Samuel Lloyd in 1823. 

In that same year, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded, of which she became a member. Other members were Jane Smeall Wigham, Elizabeth Pease, Elizabeth Heyrick, Anne Knight, William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson.

Lucy Townsend founded the first Ladies Anti-Slavery Society in Birmingham, West Midlands in 1825. Mary and Lucy were the first joint secretaries of - what was at first called the Birmingham and West Bromwhich Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves,- also known as Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, and around 1830 it became the Female Society for Birmingham.

By 1831 there were over seventy similar anti-slavery organisations. Lucy's organisation was publicised in America and beame a role model for similar organisations in the US.

Read Part Seventy-Six HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: ANNE KNIGHT P/74

                                                              Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Anne Knight. She lived from 1786 - 1862.

Anne carried on correspondence with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and his supporters in America. 

The World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 gave her the opportunity to meet American abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison and Lucretia Mott. The fact that the convention refused to seat the American female delegates, and the heated debates and discussions that resulted from that refusal, convinced Anne that there was a pressing need to campaign for womens' rights. The movement for womens' suffrage in Britain has been dated from the exclusion of women from the floor of this conference, as it made them realise that they were marginalised within the movement and limited in activities within the public sphere.

In the 1840s Anne's first published statements appeared. She composed and had printed handbills and pamphlets often written in the style of an open letter to a public figure, who she felt had shown lack of principle.

Anne helped to inspire the Sheffield Female Reform Association, the first associateion for womens' suffrage, which had its inaugural meeting in Sheffield in 1851.

In the late 1850's Anne moved to Waldersbach near Strassbourg, where she died in 1862.

Read Part Seventy-Five HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: ANNE KNIGHT P/73

                                                              Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Anne Knight. She lived from 1786 - 1862. She was  born in Chelmsford, UK. Her parents were William Knight and Priscilla Allen. Her parents' families were both Quakers and several of their members took an active part in the temperance and anti-slavery movements.

In 1825 Anne was a member of the Chelmsford Ladies Anti-slavery Society when she toured Europe with a group of Quakers. By this time she had acquired a good knowledge of French and German and made friendships with Quakers in France and Germany that lasted until her death.

Anne  supported full and immediate abolition of the slave trade without compensation for the slave owners. She also supported free trade and universal suffrage and campaigned fervently for womens' rights. 

By 1830 Anne was deeply involved im the attempt by Quakers to end slavery and spent much of her time arranging public meetings, distributing leaflets and organising petitions. 

As a member of the Chelmsford Ladies Anti-slavery Society, Anne worked with a number of abolitionists, including Elizabeth Pease. During this time she went to France several times. She asked George Thompson, a famous abolitionist orator, to undertake a speaking tour in France in 1834. He declined as he was too busy, so she undertook the tour herself addessing several French scientific congresses and numerous small gatherings. It appears that it was during this time that she began to consider what the role of women in reform activity should be.

Read Part Seventy-Four HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: LUCY JESSE TOWNSEND P/72

                                                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Lucy Jesse Townsend. She lived from 1781 - 1847. This was a time when the roles of men and women were clearly defined and deeply embedded in society. The men controlled all business matters whilst the women looked after domestic things. Therefore, women were only portrayed as appearing helpful in the national Anti-Slavery Society led by William Wilberforce, rather than activists in their own right, their role always minimalised. 

However, they then took to going from door to door canvassing and distributing leaflets emphasising the suffering of women under slavery. They began a systematic promotion to boycott slave-grown sugar. 

Very soon there was a network of over seventy anti-slavery women's groups throughout the country.

Lucy's organisation was published in America and it became a model for similar organisations in the US.

Amelia Moilliett also held anti-slavery meetings at her Hampstead Hall home. She noted that at the meeting on 25 January, 1827, 60-70 ladies of influence attended.

In 1836, Lucy moved to Thorpe, Notttingham, where her husband became Rector at St. Lawrence's Church. At that time she gave up the job of honorary secretary of the society but remained as a committee member. Lucy attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840. At that convention she met women who represented other leading ladies' organisations, such as Eliza Wigham from the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society, Mary Ann Rawson from the Sheffield Society, Jane Smeal from Glasgow, Amelia Opie from Norwich, Elizabeth Pease from Darlington and Anne Knight from Chelmsford.

Lucy died in 1847.

Read Part Seventy-Three HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: LUCY JESSE TOWNSEND P/71

                                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Lucy Jesse Townsend. She lived from 1781 - 1847. Her father was William Jesse from West Bromwich. Lucy married Rev. Charles Townsend, curate of West Bromwich in 1807. Apart from her duties as the vicar's wife and being a mother of six children, she was involved in many voluntary organisations and supported the anti-slavery movement.

On 8 April 1825, Lucy held a meeting at her home in West Bromwich inviting her friends and other influential women to discuss setting up an all female anti-slavery movement. Amongst those present were, Ameila Moilliett, Sarah Wedgwood, Sophia Sturge and Miss Galton to name just a few. This was the moment when the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves was established (later to be called The Female Society for Birmingham). A committee was formed with Elizabeth Heyrick as trasurer for the organisation. Lucy and her friend Mary Lloyd were joint secretaries and under their leadership the society developed.

The group planned to raise funds from subscriptions and donations. The sale of goods such as workbags and albums etc would follow, the workbags being sewn from East India cotton, silk or satin so as to avoid using the product of slave labour.

Read Part Seventy-Two HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: ELIZABETH COLTMAN HEYRICK P/70

                                                                             Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Elizabeth Coltman Heyrick. She lived from 1769 - 1831. 

Elizabeth aimed to promote public awareness of the issues of the slave trade and hit the profits of planters and of importers of slave-produced goods, so she encouraged a social movement to boycott sugar from the West Indies, visiting grocery shops in Leicester to persuade them not to stock it. 

Elizabeth believed women should be involved in these issues as they were qualified "not only to sympathise with the suffering, but also to plead for the oppressed."

In 1823, Elizabeth joined the new Anti-Slavery Society, the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominion. She was a founding member of the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves in 1825, the first ladies' anti-slavery society in the world.

Elizabeth was concerned with the welfare of long-term prisoners and worked as a prison visitor. Sadly, she did not live to see the Slavery Abolition Acts 1833 put one of her major social ambitions into practice. Elizabeth died in 1831.

Read Part Seventy-One HERE