Charlotte Carmichael Stopes facts for kids

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (born Charlotte Brown Carmichael; 5 February 1840 – 6 February 1929) was an important British scholar, writer, and champion for women's rights. She also wrote several books about the life and works of William Shakespeare.

Her most famous book was British Freewomen: Their Historical Privilege, published in 1894. This book greatly influenced and inspired the early 20th-century women's suffrage movement in Britain, which fought for women's right to vote. Charlotte married Henry Stopes, who studied old fossils and was also a brewer and engineer. They had two daughters, and their oldest was Marie Stopes.

Early Life and Big Dreams

Charlotte Stopes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on February 5, 1840. Her father, James Ferrier Carmichael, was a landscape painter who sadly died when Charlotte was just 14 years old.

Even as a child, Charlotte loved making up stories for her brothers and sisters. She dreamed of becoming a writer. When she was 21, she published her first collection of stories called Alice Errol and Other Tales. After finishing the best schooling a young woman could get back then, she worked as a governess (a private teacher for children) through the 1860s and early 1870s. Being a governess was one of the very few jobs available to educated women at that time.

Breaking Barriers in Education

In 1865, a woman named Sarah Mair started the Ladies' Edinburgh Debating Society. This group published a writing journal called The Attempt. Charlotte Carmichael joined the society by 1866 and published many pieces in their journal.

In 1867, Mary Crudelius suggested creating university-level classes for women. These classes would be run by the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women. Charlotte Carmichael was at this meeting. She was eager to attend these classes and even found 12 other women who were interested!

The first classes began in 1868. Professor David Masson, an English Literature professor from Edinburgh University, taught them. At this time, women were not allowed to officially attend the university or earn a degree. However, Charlotte achieved the highest certificate a female student could get, earning top honors in subjects like literature, philosophy, and science. She was actually the first woman in Scotland to earn a "Certificate of Arts." She used her education to help women and to study English history, especially about Shakespeare.

In 1876, Charlotte went to Glasgow to help the movement for women's higher education there. During this trip, she attended a meeting of the British Science Association. This started her long connection with the association. It was at this meeting in Glasgow that she met Henry Stopes. Even though he was 11 years younger, they would marry three years later.

Life in London and New Ideas

After Charlotte and Henry married on June 3, 1879, they went on a honeymoon across Europe and the Near East, even visiting Egypt. When they returned to Britain, Charlotte went to Edinburgh, where their first daughter, Marie, was born in 1880.

Later, they moved to London and settled in Upper Norwood. Their second daughter, Winnie, was born there in 1884. Henry was very busy with his work, which left Charlotte feeling a bit alone in their new home. She missed the intellectual life she was used to. So, she started organizing meetings and classes herself! These included a reading group, a logic workshop, and a group focused on women's rights.

Charlotte became very interested in Victorian dress reform, which was about making women's clothes more comfortable and practical. She joined the Rational Dress Society. Her work with this group helped her become known as a feminist. At a British Association meeting in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1889, Charlotte surprised everyone by organizing a special session. She spoke about rational dress to a large audience, and her speech was even reported in newspapers across Britain!

Charlotte stayed in Norwood until 1892, when her husband's business went bankrupt. They had to sell their house. To get away from the difficulties, Charlotte took her daughters to Edinburgh. There, she enrolled them in a new girls' school called St George's School, Edinburgh. She also tried to get a university degree, which she had been denied earlier. However, she needed two more courses that unfortunately overlapped, so she couldn't take them in one year. She gave up on getting the degree and returned to London. She found lodging near the British Museum, which allowed her to continue her important research on Shakespeare.

Fighting for Women's Rights

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes' study of British women's history became her most popular and important book. British Freewomen: Their Historical Privilege was published in 1894. This book was reprinted many times and became a key reference for the British women's suffrage movement. This movement worked to gain voting rights for women.

Helen Blackburn, who had helped Charlotte with her research, bought the entire first edition of the book. Many copies were sent to members of the House of Commons (the main part of the British Parliament). Historians say that British Freewomen was perhaps the most important book that showed women's fight for the vote as a story of losing rights, resisting, and then getting them back. Charlotte's ideas were often used by people fighting for women's suffrage in books, speeches, and even in court. Charlotte was a member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She wrote pamphlets and spoke publicly to support women's rights campaigns.

Shakespearean Scholar

Charlotte's first book, The Bacon/Shakespeare Question, was published in 1888. In this book, she argued against the popular idea that Francis Bacon actually wrote Shakespeare's plays. This was the first of many scholarly works she wrote about Shakespeare and the literature of his time.

Her books in this field included Shakespeare's Family (1901), Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries (1907), and Burbage and Shakespeare's Stage (1913). She also published many notes and articles. In 1916, Charlotte Stopes received the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize from the British Academy for her amazing Shakespearean research. This was 13 years before she passed away in February 1929.

After Charlotte Stopes died, The Times newspaper published a comment saying:

The Royal Society of Literature has lost a distinguished veteran among its Fellows, and the study of Shakespeare a brave and devoted servant.

Later Life and Legacy

For much of her later life, Charlotte Stopes faced money problems after her husband's business went bankrupt in 1892 and he died in 1902. Even though her daughter Marie became independent after winning a scholarship and getting a university job, Charlotte still had her younger daughter, Winnie, to care for.

Her financial difficulties eased a bit in late 1903. She was given a government pension of £50 a year because of her literary work, especially her studies of the Elizabethan period (Shakespeare's time). In 1907, she received another grant of £75 a year from the Carnegie Trust.

As a Shakespearean scholar, her recognition continued to grow. In 1912, she was chosen as an honorary member of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1914, she became a founding member of a new Shakespeare Association. This group promoted Shakespearean scholarship through events and lectures until 1922.

Charlotte Stopes died on February 6, 1929, in Worthing, Sussex. She was 89 years old. She was buried at Highgate Cemetery.

Works by Charlotte Carmichael Stopes

• The Bacon/Shakespeare Question (London: T.G. Johnson, 1888).
• British Freewomen: Their Historical Privilege (London: Swann Sonnenschein, 1894).
• Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries, (Stratford-upon-Avon Press, 1897; revised edition, 1907).
• Shakespeare's Family: a Record of the Ancestors and Descendants of William Shakespeare (London: Eliot Stock, 1901).
• The Sphere of 'Man' in Relation to that of 'Woman' in the Constitution (London: T Fisher Unwin, 1908).
• William Hunnis and the Revels of the Chapel Royal (London: Louvain; David Nutt, 1910).
• Burbage and Shakespeare's Stage (London: De La More Press, 1913).
• Shakespeare's Industry (London: Bell & Sons, 1916).
• The Life of Henry, Third Earl of Southampton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922).

Images for kids

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  Grave of Charlotte Carmichael Stokes in Highgate Cemetery (east side)

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  CCStopesDedication

See also

In Spanish: Charlotte Carmichael Stopes para niños