Jane will be introducing an extraordinarily wide-ranging pioneer, the professional artist and lifelong activist Barbara Bodichon, an unsung heroine: Florence Nightingale’s secret cousin and George Eliot’s best friend. Barbara opened so many of the doors we walk through today with barely a backward glance but who counted friendship and happiness far more important than fame.
Barbara founded the first university college for women; the first women’s suffrage society, and the campaign to allow women to keep their own property after marriage. Perhaps because her achievements were so diverse, history has not treated her with the respect she deserves. But look in the engine-room of every aspect of social change in Victorian Britain and you’ll find Barbara. Look for the origins of the various inclusivity and kindness campaigns of today and there she is again. And look on the walls or in the store-rooms of art galleries here and in the USA: her work, as that rare bird a professional woman artist, is startling.
Loving and beloved, Barbara was inspiring and remarkably modern: a role model for our times and huge fun.
Jane was born in Edinburgh and brought up in Yorkshire before going to Oxford to study English. She has worked in the antiquarian book trade and as an archivist and is now an acclaimed writer, lecturer and occasional broadcaster, specialising in social history through women’s eyes. Her best-selling titles include 'Bluestockings: the Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education' and 'Hearts and Minds: the Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote.' 'Trailblazer' is her thirteenth book.
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