The background to the Brownlow Hill workhouse in Liverpool will be familiar to readers of my earlier books in this series. A new element in this story is the struggle for women to be allowed a proper education. In this a publication called The English Woman’s Review played a leading part. It was edited from 1862 by Emily Davies. This brought her into contact with other women who were campaigning for the same rights, women such as Barbara Bodichon, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, (the first woman to qualify as a doctor) and her younger sister Millicent Fawcett. Also involved were Dorothea Beale, who became the first headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies College, and Frances Buss, who was the first principal of the North London Collegiate School for Ladies. Their activities prompted an anonymous writer to produce the following ditty:
Miss Buss and Miss Beale
Cupid’s darts do not feel.
How different from us
Miss Beale and Miss Buss.
In this period universities refused to allow women to study as undergraduates. In 1869, Emily Davies, with the support of the women mentioned above, set up Girton College, Cambridge. Women were able to study the same subjects as men, but Cambridge refused to award them degrees until 1948!
The background to the Australian parts of the book was much less familiar, though I have visited the area more than once. For the historical data regarding the development of Rutherglen and its surroundings I am deeply indebted to Mr Kevin Mayhew of Chiltern who provided me with several documents, including an invaluable survey of the built environment and social structure of the area.