Anna Brownell Jameson

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Standard Name: Jameson, Anna Brownell
Birth Name: Anna Brownell Murphy
Nickname: Nina
Married Name: Anna Brownell Jameson
Indexed Name: Anna Brownwell Murphy
ABJ , a prolific and professional writer of non-fiction, is best remembered for her travel writing, her treatises on art, and her provocative studies of fictional and famous women. In England she is noted for her feminist criticism and biography, and for her support of the younger set of writers and activists who founded the English Woman's Journal. In Canadian literary history she is remembered primarily for her forward-looking, feminist travel narrative Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada. Critics are just beginning to take stock of the achievements and influence of one of the foremost women of letters in early Victorian England.
Mermin, Dorothy. Godiva’s Ride: Women of Letters in England 1830-1880. Indiana University Press, 1993.
xiii
Sepia-toned photograph of Anna Brownell Jameson, standing with her elbow resting on a book that sits atop a small cloth-draped table. She wears a light dress with white lace trim around the neck, a second layer over the shoulders, apparently a built-in shawl trimmed with dark gauzy cloth. A long, dark, gauzy scarf is draped behind her and over her arms. Her dark curly hair is topped by a bonnet of light and dark ribbons. In one hand she holds a small pair of spectacles.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Anthologization Elizabeth Barrett Browning
For a young woman who had never attended university (as she of course could not at this time) to offer a translation from a classical language was both courageous and confident.
It was a long...
Dedications Bessie Rayner Parkes
BRP dedicated the work to Anna Jameson .
Parkes, Bessie Rayner. Essays on Woman’s Work. Alexander Strahan, 1865.
prelims
Some of the essays were reprinted from earlier articles in the English Woman's Journal. This text too was reissued by Cambridge University Press in 2010...
Friends, Associates Jessie Boucherett
Partly through her membership of the Kensington Society (a social and political discussion group of about fifty women inaugurated in 1865), JB broadened her acquaintance with significant members of the feminist movement, including Frances Power Cobbe
Friends, Associates Fanny Kemble
Mary Russell Mitford was another who knew FK well even apart from their connection through the theatre.
Mitford, Mary Russell. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself in Letters To Her Friends. Editor L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, Harper and Brothers, 1870, 2 vols.
2: 119-20
Other friends from this period or soon afterwards included the future poet and novelist Caroline Norton
Friends, Associates Fanny Kemble
Harriet Siddons was the widow of Sarah Siddons 's youngest son, the actor-manager Henry . While in Edinburgh, FK met Anna Jameson and engaged in frivolous courtships.
Marshall, Dorothy. Fanny Kemble. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977.
28, 42
Clinton, Catherine. Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars. Simon and Schuster, 2000.
33
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Gaskell
EG was glad to escape the storm of controversy that her novel had raised in Manchester, and to be feted in London. She already knew Mary Howitt and Geraldine Jewsbury (who lived in Manchester). Although...
Friends, Associates Jessie White Mario
JWM employed Anna Jameson 's niece and biographer Gerardine Bate Macpherson as her personal secretary. Gerardine lived in with the Marios for a year, until she died in 1878 (in Jessie's arms).
Daniels, Elizabeth Adams. Jessie White Mario: Risorgimento Revolutionary. Ohio University Press, 1972.
179
Friends, Associates Bessie Rayner Parkes
Writer Anna Jameson played an important role in the lives of these two women, acting in a maternal role, encouraging Parkes in her poetic endeavours and Smith in her artistic projects.
Rendall, Jane. “A Moral Engine? Feminism, Liberalism and the English Womans JournalEqual or Different: Womens Politics 1800-1914, edited by Jane Rendall, Basil Blackwell, 1987, pp. 112-38.
114
Friends, Associates Anna Swanwick
Other friends mentioned by her niece and biographer were Fredrika Bremer , Anna Brownell Jameson , Frances Power Cobbe , Thomas Carlyle , George MacDonald , Lady Eastlake , Elizabeth Rundle Charles , Lady Martin
Friends, Associates Harriet Martineau
HM 's social circle vastly expanded at this time until she knew virtually all the prominent people, particularly the political men, of her day. As she recorded in her Autobiography, however, she refused to...
Friends, Associates Harriet Martineau
For nearly six years she was an invalid, though she was able to work very productively for the first few years and remained well enough to receive visitors. She was helped financially by two female...
Friends, Associates Augusta Ada Byron
AAB remained close friends with Mary Somerville's family, and particularly with her eldest son by her first marriage, Woronzow Greig , for the rest of her life. Somerville not only fostered Ada's mathematical aptitude, but...
Friends, Associates Georgiana Chatterton
In Italy GC met one of her closest friends, Helen Selina Blackwood , Caroline Norton 's elder sister.
Dering, Edward Heneage, and Georgiana Chatterton. Memoirs of Georgiana, Lady Chatterton. Hurst and Blackett, 1878.
26
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Back in England, she met and liked Walter Savage Landor .
Dering, Edward Heneage, and Georgiana Chatterton. Memoirs of Georgiana, Lady Chatterton. Hurst and Blackett, 1878.
37
She moved and entertained...
Friends, Associates Mary Russell Mitford
She knew most of the literary women of her day, including Felicia Hemans (who wrote to ask her for an autograph),
L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, editor. The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford as Recorded in Letters from Her Literary Correspondents. Hurst and Blackett, 1882, 2 vols.
1: 173-4
Jane Porter , Amelia Opie (that warm-hearted person),
Mitford, Mary Russell. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself in Letters To Her Friends. Editor L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, Harper and Brothers, 1870, 2 vols.
2: 213
Friends, Associates Matilda Hays
She remained friends with Anna Jameson , Isa Craig , and Emily Faithfull , but the biographer of the last-named surmises that Hays's loyalty to Faithfull (whose reputation was tarnished because of her involvement in...

Timeline

1826: William Saunders and Edward John Otley established...

Writing climate item

1826

William Saunders and Edward John Otley established themselves as the lending-library and bookselling firm of Saunders and Otley at 50 Conduit Street, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 271

December 1855: Barbara Leigh Smith, later Bodichon, founded...

National or international item

December 1855

Barbara Leigh Smith , later Bodichon, founded the Married Women's Property Committee (sometimes called the Women's Committee) to draw up a petition for a married women's property bill.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press, 1985.
78-9
Shanley, Mary Lyndon. Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England. Princeton University Press, 1989.
32-3
Chedzoy, Alan. A Scandalous Woman: The Story of Caroline Norton. Allison and Busby, 1995.
245-8

14 March 1856: A petition for Reform of the Married Women's...

National or international item

14 March 1856

A petition for Reform of the Married Women's Property Law, organized by the Married Women's Property Committee and signed by many prominent women, was presented to both Houses of Parliament.
Shanley, Mary Lyndon. Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England. Princeton University Press, 1989.
32, 35
Helsinger, Elizabeth K. et al. The Woman Question. Garland, 1983.
2: 14
Dunicliff, Joy. Mary Howitt: Another Lost Victorian Writer. Excalibur Press of London, 1992.
208
Karl, Frederick R. George Eliot: Voice of a Century. W.W. Norton, 1995.
214

May 1856: J. W. Kaye published anonymously Outrages...

Women writers item

May 1856

J. W. Kaye published anonymously Outrages on Women, a ground-breaking consideration of wife assault, in the North British Review.
Kaye, John William. “Outrages on Women”. North British Review, Vol.
25
, May 1856, pp. 233-56.
233

2 May 1857: A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened...

Building item

2 May 1857

A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened in what had been the central courtyard of the British Museum .
Barwick, George. The Reading Room of the British Museum. Ernest Benn, 1929.
65, 71, 88, 102, 104-5, 136, 139
Walkowitz, Judith R. City of Dreadful Delight. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
69

1858: Louisa Twining became secretary of the newly-founded...

National or international item

1858

Louisa Twining became secretary of the newly-founded Workhouse Visiting Society .
Prochaska, F. K. Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England. Clarendon, 1980.
176

March 1858: The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine...

Women writers item

March 1858

The English Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine on the theory and practice of organised feminism, began publication in London, with financial support from Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and others, under the editorship of...

7 July 1859: The first meeting of the Society for Promoting...

Building item

7 July 1859

The first meeting of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women was held in London; founding members included Anna Jameson , Emily Faithfull , Jessie Boucherett , Adelaide Procter , Bessie Rayner Parkes , Isa Craig , and Sarah Lewin .
Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany, 1994.
42

August 1864: The English Woman's Journal, a practical...

Building item

August 1864

The English Woman's Journal, a practical and theoretical source of organized feminism from London, merged into The Alexandra Magazine and English Woman's Journal.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
under Anna Brownell Jameson
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
1-2

April 1879: James Murray—editor since 1 March of what...

Writing climate item

April 1879

James Murray —editor since 1 March of what was to become the Oxford English Dictionary—issued an Appeal for readers to supply illustrative quotations.
Winchester, Simon. The Meaning of Everything. Oxford University Press, 2003.
93, 107, 109

18 August 1882: The Married Women's Property Act gave women...

National or international item

18 August 1882

The Married Women's Property Act gave women the right to all the property they earned or acquired before or during marriage.
Holcombe, Lee. Wives and Property: Reform of the Married Women’s Property Law in Nineteenth-Century England. University of Toronto Press, 1983.
256
Soldon, Norbert. Women in British Trade Unions 1874-1976. Gill and Macmillan, 1978.
7
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
82
Hurwitz, Edith F., and Renate Bridenthal. “The International Sisterhood”. Becoming Visible: Women in European History, edited by Claudia Koonz, Houghton Mifflin, 1977, pp. 325-4.
353
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
“Property Rights of Women”. What You Need to Know About Women’s History.
Blackstone, Sir William, and Edward Christian. Commentaries on the Laws of England. 15th ed., Vol.
4 vols.
, T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1809.
Roberts, Marie Mulvey, and Tamae Mizuta, editors. The Wives: The Rights of Married Women. Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1994, http://University of Waterloo - Porter.
Lacey, Candida Ann, editor. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and the Langham Place Group. Routledge, 1987.

Texts

Jameson, Anna Brownell. A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies, Original and Selected. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. A First or Mother’s Dictionary for Children. W. Darton, Jun.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. A Lady’s Diary. H. Colburn, 1826.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Anna Jameson: Letters and Friendships (1812-1860). Editor Erskine, Beatrice Caroline, T. Fisher Unwin, 1915.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical, and Historical. Saunders and Otley, 1832, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London. Saunders and Otley, 1844.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Handbook to the Public Galleries of Art in and near London. J. Murray, 1842, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell, and Wilhelm Heinrich Ludwig Grüner. “Introduction”. The Decorations of the Garden-Pavilion in the Grounds of Buckingham Palace, J. Murray, Longman, P. and D. Colnaghi, F.G. Moon, and L. Grüner, 1846.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Legends of the Madonna, as Represented in the Fine Arts. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Legends of the Monastic Orders, as Represented in the Fine Arts. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850.
Jameson, Anna Brownell, and Ottilie von Goethe. Letters of Anna Jameson to Ottilie von Goethe. Editor Needler, George Henry, Oxford University Press, 1939.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Memoirs and Essays Illustrative of Art, Literature, and Social Morals. R. Bentley, 1846.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Memoirs of Celebrated Female Sovereigns. H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters. C. Knight, 1845, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Sacred and Legendary Art. London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Shakespeare’s Heroines: Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical, and Historical. A. L. Burt.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Sisters of Charity, Catholic and Protestant, Abroad and at Home. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Sisters of Charity, Catholic and Protestant; and, The Communion of Labor. Hyperion Press, 1976.
Amelia, Princess of Saxony. Social Life In Germany, Illustrated in the Acted Dramas of Her Royal Highness the Princess Amelia of Saxony. Translator Jameson, Anna Brownell, Saunders and Otley, 1840, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. The Beauties of the Court of King Charles the Second. H. Colburne, 1833.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. The Communion of Labour: A Second Lecture on the Social Employments of Women. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1856.
Jameson, Anna Brownell, and Elizabeth Rigby. The History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art. London, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. The Loves of the Poets. H. Colburn, 1829, 2 vols.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. “The Milliners”. Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors: Nineteenth-Century Writing by Women on Women, edited by Susan Hamilton, Broadview, 1995, pp. 21-6.
Jameson, Anna Brownell. The Relative Position of Mothers and Governesses. Second, Spottiswoode and Shaw, 1848.