Arthur Munby
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Arthur Joseph Munby (19 August 1828 – 29 January 1910) was a British
diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
,
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
, portrait photographer,
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
and
solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
. He is also known by his initials, A. J. Munby.


Munby in Victorian Society

The Victorian Era (1837-1901) was a period of great social change. Historian Leonore Davidoff writes that "The nineteenth century was the time when traditional social boundaries were being eclipsed by the rapid development of a market economy and the creation of a 'class' society". Social norms and boundaries were being redefined by the emerging Middle (Upper) class, which had the resources and time to formulate and propagate new social norms and rituals, and determine what was acceptable behavior and what was taboo. Victorian norms around sexuality insisted on the physical separation of male and female bodily functions and sexual acts from the public sphere. As class divisions were exacerbated by the growth of capitalism and industrialization, class designations began to take on gendered undertones. Ideas like manhood and womanhood were introduced to greater Victorian society, and manhood was tied to financial independence and participation in the imperial economy. According to a scholarly analysis society was seen as hierarchical, with gender playing an important role in said hierarchy. Women were seen as subordinate to men, and it is argued Victorian male identity was tied around maintaining control of this hierarchy in both the private and public spheres. Arthur Munby’s relationship with Hannah Cullwick revolved around redefining the established sexual and social norms of Victorian Britain. Their relationship also pushed the social boundaries surrounding race and empire by engaging via Cullwick’s racial crossdressing. The transgressions of sexuality in the public and private spheres, and the intermingling of different socio-economic classes, offered Munby and Cullwick the chance to exercise agency and control over the rigid norms of Victorian society.


Biography

Arthur Munby was born in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, graduating with a BA in 1851, and was
called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
from
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in 1855. Munby became a barrister per the wishes of his father, as well as fulfilling his role as the eldest son in his family. He worked as a civil servant in the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...
' office from 1858 until his retirement in 1888. His published poetry included ''Benoni'' (1852) and ''Verses New and Old'' (1865). He taught
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
at the Working Men's College for more than a decade and helped promote the Working Men's College Volunteer Corps, a response to the national call for Volunteer Rifle Corps (1859) to combat a perceived war threat from
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
. Munby penned verses of support, the ''Invicta: a Song of 1860'', for the 19th
Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...
, a regiment to which the W.M.C.V.C. was attached. Harrison, J. F. C. ,''A History of the Working Men's College (1854-1954)''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954 In 1864, a sister Working Women's College was established; Munby was a leading spirit of, and teacher at, the new college. Munby had an interest in working-class women, particularly those who performed hard physical labour. A pastime was wandering the streets of London and other industrial cities where he approached working women to ask about their lives and the details of their work, while noting their clothes and
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
s. The observations were recorded in his journals. These journals explore what Munby practiced with his wife, Hannah Cullwick, as well as his desire for the strength and care of a working woman. He was an amateur artist, and his diaries contain sketches of working women. He collected hundreds of photographs, such as women who worked at collieries, kitchen maids, milkmaids, charwomen, and acrobats. His diaries and images provide historical information on the lives of working-class Victorian women. Much of his interest is alluded to in his last book, ''Faithful Servants: being epitaphs and obituaries recording their names and services'' (1891). His papers are housed at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, there is a list of his papers on the Cambridge Janus website


Hannah Cullwick

In 1854 Munby met
Hannah Cullwick Hannah Cullwick (26 May 1833 – 9 July 1909) was an English diarist who revealed less-known aspects of the relations between Victorian servants and their masters. Working in domestic service, she caught the attention of Arthur Munby, a pro ...
, a Shropshire-born maid-of-all-work and diarist. They formed a relationship in which Munby was the master, whom Cullwick addressed as 'massa', and Cullwick the slave, with him training her in the virtues of hard work and loyalty. However, Cullwick used this master/slave dynamic to prove her own worth outside of Munby and put herself in a place of power. For example, she used the slave band Munby gave her to display the fact that she was a working-class woman, and that she was not ashamed of it; this can be seen in Cullwick’s journal when she says "my hands and arms are tho' chief to me, to get my living with." Hannah Cullwick gave Munby the opportunity to explore the contrast between woman and man, hardy and delicate, as well as cross-class fluidity that was taboo in Victorian Society. Other fetish scenarios between the couple which place Cullwick in the dominant role included elements of
ageplay Ageplay or age play is a form of roleplaying in which an individual acts or treats another as if they are a different age. Ageplay is roleplaying between adults, and involves consent from all parties. Ageplay is not necessarily sexual. Portraying ...
and infantilism, with Cullwick holding him in her lap or carrying him.Hughes, Kathryn

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',18 January 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2021
Further evidence of Cullwick as a dominant force in the couple’s relationship can be seen in Cullwick’s occupation. At one point in Munby’s journal, he depicts a time where he visits Cullwick at her workplace where she is actually a servant instead of just playing one. He says, "But to see her stand in a drawing room in her servant’s dress and know that she is a servant and that the piano, the books, the pictures belong to her mistress… this I could not endure". They married secretly in 1873 but Cullwick resisted his efforts to make her into a lady and she lived with him as a domestic servant, not a wife. She played the role of a lady wife on trips to Europe. They separated in 1877, but continued to see each other until Cullwick's death in 1909. From 1887 onwards, the couple rented a cottage in the Shropshire village of Hadley, and they regularly spent time together. In 1903, they moved to Wyke Place in
Shifnal Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of the county town of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of the city of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 mo ...
, just a few metres from the house where she was born. The landlord was her brother Jim Cullwick. The marriage was secret from all but a few close friends; he revealed it to his brother only a few months before his own death from
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
in
Pyrford Pyrford is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey, England. It is on the left bank of the River Wey, around east of the town of Woking and just south of West Byfleet; the M25 motorway is northeast of the edge of the former parish. The ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
.


References


Further reading

* Flanders, Judith; ''Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England''. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004 * Atkinson, Diane; ''Love and Dirt: The Marriage of Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick''. New York: Macmillan, 2003 * Reay, Barry; ''Watching Hannah: Sexuality, Horror and Bodily De-formation in Victorian England''. Reaktion, 2002. () * Hudson, Derek; ''Munby: Man of Two Worlds''. Gambit, 1972. () * Hiley, Michael; ''Victorian Working Women: Portraits from Life''. Gordon Fraser, 1979 () {{DEFAULTSORT:Munby, Arthur Portrait photographers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English diarists English educational theorists English civil servants English barristers English solicitors 1828 births 1910 deaths British diarists English male poets English male non-fiction writers 19th-century English lawyers