Bessie Rayner Parkes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bessie Rayner Parkes
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| Born |
Elizabeth Rayner Parkes
16 June 1829 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
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| Died | 23 March 1925 (aged 95) Slindon, Sussex, England
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| Resting place | St Richard of Chichester Church, Slindon |
| Other names | Madame Belloc |
| Known for | Women's Rights Activism |
| Spouse(s) |
Louis Belloc
(m. 1867; died 1872) |
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Bessie Rayner Parkes (born Elizabeth Rayner Parkes; 16 June 1829 – 23 March 1925) was an important English activist for women's rights. She lived during the Victorian era. Bessie was also a talented poet, writer, and journalist. She worked hard to make life fairer for women in her time.
Contents
Bessie Parkes' Early Life
Bessie Rayner Parkes was born in Birmingham, England, on June 16, 1829. Her father, Joseph Parkes, was a successful lawyer with modern ideas. Her mother, Elizabeth Priestley, was the granddaughter of a famous scientist, Joseph Priestley. Even though her mother wasn't fully on board with Bessie's strong desire for change, she still loved her very much. Her father supported her goals in a quiet way.
Unlike most girls of her time, Bessie went to a special boarding school at age 11. This school was progressive and Unitarian, and she really enjoyed her time there. Bessie loved to write from a young age. Her parents enjoyed art and culture, which inspired her. Poetry was her first passion. Later, she used her writing skills to support her activism.
Fighting for Women's Rights
Bessie soon realized that women in Great Britain faced many unfair rules. These rules were different depending on a woman's social class. One of the first things Bessie and her friend Barbara Bodichon worked on was changing property laws for married women. At the time, married women couldn't own property. This changed with the Married Women's Property Act 1870.
In 1853, Bessie joined a group called the Committee for the Ladies' Address. This group worked to get signatures for an anti-slavery petition in the United States. They collected 576,000 signatures! Around the same time, Bessie also started speaking up for girls' education. She wrote an essay called "Remarks on the Education of Girls." In it, she said that women had very few career choices. She also criticized how little power women had compared to men.
Bessie was also upset about the difference between "ladies" and "women." "Ladies" were middle-class women. They would lose their social standing if they earned money. The only jobs considered acceptable were writing, painting, or teaching (often as a governess). Thanks to Bessie's efforts, by the end of the century, it became okay for middle-class women to get a good education and work for pay. Working-class women had always worked, whether they wanted to or not.
Bessie and her friends connected with women in other countries. This gave their efforts an international reach. In the 1860s, Bessie was part of the first women's group that worked to get women the right to vote.
Important Friendships
Bessie Rayner Parkes had many friends who were writers and politicians. Some of them included George Eliot, Harriet Martineau, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Her closest friendship was with Barbara Leigh Smith. They met in 1846. Their friendship inspired much of Bessie's work. After a trip around Europe, they both felt strongly about starting their activism. Their combined efforts led to the first organized women's movement in Britain.
The English Woman's Journal
Bessie became the main editor of the first British magazine for women's rights. It was called the English Woman's Journal. It was published every month in London from 1858 to 1864. The magazine closed due to money problems and disagreements among its supporters.
The English Woman's Journal became a central place for people who wanted to join the women's rights movement. Many new groups and projects grew from it. These included the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women. There was also the Victoria Printing Press, which was run entirely by women. Other projects included a Law-Copying Office and the Langham Place Group. This group was a place where women could meet and talk. The journal was very important. It gave many women jobs and an education they could keep forever.
The Victoria Printing Press
The Victoria Printing Press was a business Bessie started in 1860. Her goal was to help educate young women. Bessie believed that all young women should learn a skill. The printing press helped her achieve this. Bessie herself didn't know how to print when she bought the press. So, she hired a man to teach her. Then, she taught her staff how to print.
The Victoria Printing Press printed The English Woman's Journal from 1860 until it closed in 1864. It also printed other books and papers that supported Bessie's views. Bessie once told the women working at her press that learning a trade like printing was "One dream of my life."
Becoming a Catholic
Another important part of Bessie's life was her journey to the Roman Catholic Church. She became a Catholic in 1864. Bessie grew up in a Unitarian home, so she knew the Bible from a young age. As she got older, she became more and more religious. Her later poems show many Bible references, even more than her earlier works.
She followed the Oxford Movement, which was a religious movement. But what really impressed her was the social work done by Catholic nuns. She knew three English Cardinals personally and wrote about them.
Marriage and Family Life
When Bessie was 38, she fell in love with Louis Belloc, a Frenchman. He was the son of a well-known woman, Louise Swanton Belloc. Bessie met Louis during a trip to La Celle St. Cloud with her friend Barbara Smith. Louis was not very healthy and had a brain inflammation. They got married on September 19, 1867, in London.
They lived in France for five years. Their daughter later wrote a book about their happy marriage. Bessie and Louis had two healthy children. Bessie also had one miscarriage. The family lived through the Franco-Prussian War, which affected them greatly.
After Louis's death, Bessie moved back to England. She never truly got over losing her husband. Their children became famous writers. Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947) and Joseph Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) both had successful writing careers.
Later Years
Bessie continued to write even when she was very old. She always kept an eye on politics and society. However, after her marriage and her husband's death, she was less involved in women's rights groups. She traveled to the United States with her son in 1896. Bessie published five more books in the last 30 years of her life.
She felt sad about the terrible First World War but was also proud of her country. Near the end of the war, her oldest grandchild, a pilot in the Royal Air Force, was killed in France.
Bessie Rayner Parkes died in 1925, at the age of 95. She left a good amount of money in her will, which would be worth a lot today.
Bessie Parkes' Published Works
Bessie Rayner Parkes wrote fourteen books. These included poetry, essays, biographies, and travel stories. She also wrote for children and teenagers. She wrote a very helpful booklet about women's rights and many articles. Many people liked her writing during her lifetime. Her poetry was admired by famous writers like John Ruskin and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Poems (1852)
Poems was Bessie's first book. It had 66 poems, mostly about nature. She was inspired by her trip around Europe with her friend Barbara Leigh Smith in 1850. The unfairness she saw during her travels also inspired her work. It made her want to fight for women's equal rights.
Books by Bessie Rayner Parkes
- Summer Sketches and Other Poems (London, John Chapman, 1854)
- Remarks on the Education of Girls, with Reference to the Social, Legal, and Industrial Position of Women in the Present Day (London, John Chapman, 1854, 1st unsigned edition, 3rd signed edition 1856).
- Gabriel: A Poem (London, John Chapman, 1856)
- The History of our Cat Aspasia (London, Bosworth and Harrison, 1856). Illustrated by Annie Leigh Smith.
- Ballads and Songs (London, Bell & Daldy, 1863)
- Essays on Woman's Work (London, Alexander Strahan, 1865)
- Vignettes: Twelve Biographical Sketches (London and New York, Alexander Strahan, 1866)
- La Belle France (London, Dalby, Isbister & Co., 1877). Signed Bessie Parkes-Belloc.
- Peoples of the World (London, Paris & New York, Cassell Petter & Galpin, [1870]). Signed Bessie Parkes-Belloc.
- In a Walled Garden (London, Ward & Downey, 1st edition, 1895, 5th edition 1900). Signed Bessie Rayner Belloc.
- A Passing World (London, Ward & Downey, 1897). Signed Bessie Rayner Belloc.
- Historic Nuns (London, Duckworth, 1898). Signed Bessie R. Belloc.
- The Flowing Tide (London, Sands & Co., 1900). Signed Bessie Rayner Belloc.
- In Fifty Years (London, Sands & Co., 1904). Signed Bessie Rayner Belloc.
See also
In Spanish: Bessie Rayner Parkes para niños
