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| The Englishwoman's Review | |
|---|---|
| Title | The Englishwoman's Review |
| Category | Women's periodical |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Firstdate | 1866 |
| Finaldate | 1910s |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Englishwoman's Review was a British annual periodical published from the mid‑19th century into the early 20th century that documented and advocated for women's occupations, rights, and public roles during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It served as a nexus for activists, reformers, and professionals, connecting figures associated with suffrage, philanthropy, and education to institutions and campaigns in London, Manchester, and beyond. The Review trafficked in profiles, reports, and statistical summaries that intersected with debates involving parliamentary actors, legal reforms, and civic organizations.
Founded in 1866 amid a surge of Victorian periodicals, the Review emerged in the milieu of Women's Suffrage agitation, Langham Place social networks, and philanthropic projects tied to Octavia Hill and Josephine Butler. Its establishment followed antecedents such as The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine and contemporaries like The Woman's Herald and The Vote. Early backers included activists associated with the National Society for Women's Suffrage, members of the Ladies' Association, and reformers who had participated in the 1870 Education Act debates and campaigns around the Married Women's Property Act 1870. The timing aligned with initiatives at Girton College, Somerville College, and practitioner campaigns in municipal offices in Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.
Editorial leadership featured prominent feminists, social reformers, and journalists drawn from networks centered on Millicent Fawcett, Barbara Bodichon, and Emily Davies. Contributors included writers and campaigners linked to Josephine Butler, Emma Paterson, and Louisa Hubbard, alongside professionals associated with Queen Victoria's century of change and legal advocates who had engaged with the Judicature Acts and Common Law Procedure. The Review published work by activists who also appeared in The Women's Franchise, Votes for Women, and pamphlets distributed by the Women's Social and Political Union or the National Union of Women Workers. Physicians and reforming doctors such as those connected to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake contributed reports on women's medical training, while educators associated with Cheltenham Ladies' College and North London Collegiate School wrote on pedagogy.
The Review combined profiles of women professionals, statistical returns on employment, summaries of parliamentary questions, and reports of conferences such as the International Council of Women and meetings at Queen's Hall. Recurring themes included legal reform tied to the Married Women's Property Act 1882, access to higher education as practised at Newnham College and Lady Margaret Hall, the admission of women to the Bar of England and Wales, and public health initiatives endorsed by reformers like Florence Nightingale. It carried accounts of municipal service in authorities of Liverpool and Glasgow, campaigns for nursing reform linked to Nightingale Training School, and commentary on literary women whose circles included George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Christina Rossetti. The Review also chronicled women's participation in voluntary associations such as the British Red Cross precursor movements and industrial training efforts connected to the Trade Union Congress and the early women's sections of the Co-operative Movement.
Issued annually in an octavo format with a mix of essays, statistical tables, and biographical sketches, the Review was sold through booksellers in London and provincial distributors in Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, and Glasgow. It circulated among subscribers including members of the Ladies' National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, delegates to the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and professional networks tied to King's College London and University College London. Printed by presses familiar with reformist journalism and advertised in the columns of contemporaneous titles such as The Times and The Guardian (then Manchester Guardian), the periodical reached readerships in Britain and the British Empire, including colonial professionals in India and settler communities in Australia.
Contemporaneous reviews in journals linked to the Sunday Times, The Spectator, and liberal organs noted the Review's role as a compendium of women's public activity. It influenced policy debates around the Matrimonial Causes Act 1878 and fed evidence used by commissions concerning women's employment and education that reported to actors in Parliament of the United Kingdom. Activists at conferences such as the International Congress of Women drew on its surveys when preparing resolutions, and its alumni and contributors were prominent in forming organizations like the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the Women's Royal Army Corps precursor volunteer work. Critics from conservative circles, including commentators tied to The Saturday Review and some clergy associated with Church of England dioceses, disparaged its advocacy; supporters among liberal politicians and reforming civil servants praised its empirical compilations.
Palaeographers and librarians have preserved runs in institutional collections at the British Library, Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, and the archives of Girton College and Somerville College. Digitization projects by university libraries and consortiums for Victorian periodicals have made many volumes searchable alongside collections like the Nineteenth Century Collections Online and the Making of the Modern World databases. Microfilm and bound copies survive in local record offices in Sussex, Surrey, and Yorkshire, and academic researchers consult holdings during projects associated with the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics and cataloguing initiatives coordinated with the National Archives.
Category:Victorian magazines Category:British women's history