![Pakenham House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Pakenham_House.JPG)
Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden (24 January 185823 December 1889) was an English writer, poet and philosopher. She studied, wrote and lectured on philosophy and science, alongside publishing two volumes of poetry. Several collected works were published following her death at the young age of 31. In her honour,
Robert Lewins established the Constance Naden Medal and had a bust of her installed at
Mason Science College
Mason Science College was a university college in Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of Birmingham University. Founded in 1875 by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the college was incorporated into the University o ...
(now the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
).
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
considered her one of the nineteenth century's foremost female poets.
Early life
Constance Naden was born on 24 January 1858
at 15 Francis Road,
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
, Birmingham, England to Caroline Ann Woodhill Naden who died within two weeks of giving birth, and Thomas Naden, an architect, later president of the
Birmingham Architectural Association
The Birmingham Architectural Association (BAA), known between 1933 and 1967 as the Birmingham and Five Counties Architectural Association, is a professional association of architects based in Birmingham, England, and affiliated to the West Midland ...
.
She was brought up by her mother's parents, Caroline and Josiah Woodhill,
from 12 days old until her grandparents' deaths.
Naden's well-read and devout
baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
grandparents lived at Pakenham House, Edgbaston.
[ Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.] Her father lived with the Woodhills for a time, but by 1871 the census shows that he was living nearby with a new wife and Naden's four half-siblings aged between three and seven.
At age eight Naden was sent to a local
Unitarian day school, where she developed a talent for painting.
She submitted some paintings to the
Birmingham Society of Artists, one of which (titled ‘Bird's Nest and Wild Roses’) was accepted for display at the Society's Spring Exhibition in 1878.
Education
She became interested in philosophy, languages and the sciences. In 1879, Naden attended the
Birmingham and Midland Institute
, mottoeng = Endless Learning
, established = 1854 by Act of Parliament
, city = Birmingham
, province = West Midlands
, country = United Kingdom
, president = Sir David Cannadine
, vice_president = Dr Serena Trowbridge, Sami ...
to study botany and French,
and from 1881 to 1887 attended
Mason Science College
Mason Science College was a university college in Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of Birmingham University. Founded in 1875 by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the college was incorporated into the University o ...
to study physics, geology, chemistry, physiology, and zoology;
she also became a member of the
Birmingham Natural History Society
Birmingham Natural History Society was a learned society for the study of the natural history of Birmingham, England, and in the surrounding Midlands region, and beyond. It was founded in 1858, and was a registered charity. The Society has had ...
.
Naden also edited the Mason College magazine.
[Marion Thain, "Scientific Wooing": Constance Naden's Marriage of Science and Poetry' Victorian Poetry, 41.1 (2003), pp.151–169]
From the late 1870s onwards Naden developed a philosophy called Hylo-Idealism in collaboration with Robert Lewins, MD, whom she first met in 1876 and corresponded with for the rest of her life. The key principle of this philosophy is that "Man is the maker of his own Cosmos, and all his perceptions – even those which seem to represent solid, extended and external objects – have a merely subjective existence, bounded by the limits moulded by the character and conditions of his sentient being." She was interested in
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
's concept of a unifying philosophy that sought to explain the universe through the principles of evolution. In his work ''The Social Organism'' (1860), Spencer compares society to a living organism and argues that, just as biological organisms evolve through natural selection, society evolves and increases in complexity through analogous processes. Naden agreed with this, since the theme of unity is central to Hylo-Idealism, which seeks to reconcile materialism and idealism, poetry and science, the self and other.
Writing career and adult life
In 1881, Naden published her first volume of poetry ''Songs and Sonnets of Springtime''.
This is a diverse collection, and her sonnet sequence that describes the changing of the seasons is particularly notable. In 1885 she won the "Paxton prize" for an essay upon the geology of the district.
She published a second volume of poetry ''A Modern Apostle, the Elixir of Life, the Story of Clarice, and other Poems'' in 1887. In this volume appear her best known poems, the 'Evolutional Erotics', which are written from a comic anthropological perspective about human relationships, using Darwin's theory of
sexual selection
Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of t ...
as a basis. She also wrote in the ''Journal of Science,'' ''Knowledge,'' ''The Agnostic Annual'' and other periodicals.
She authored many of her scientific and philosophical essays under the signatures of CN, CA and Constance Arden.
Also in 1887, she won the "Heslop" gold medal for her essay, ''Induction and Deduction''. Her grandmother Woodhill died on 21 June 1887 and she inherited a considerable fortune, which allowed her to travel to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
(
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
),
Palestine,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
with her friend the educationalist and campaigner for women's right to higher education,
Madeline Daniell
Madeline Margaret Daniell (née Carter) (19 May 1832 – 21 April 1906) was a Scottish educationalist and campaigner for women's rights to higher education.
Biography
Daniell was born on 19 May 1832 in Secrole, India to Helen Gray and Major ...
.
While in India she became interested in its society, particularly regarding equality and the position of women.
She returned to England in June 1888 and bought a house on Park Street,
Grosvenor Square,
which she shared with Daniell.
She raised funding to allow Indian women to study medicine and became a member of the
National Indian Association
:Should not be confused with the Indian National Association
The National Indian Association was formed in Bristol by Mary Carpenter. The London branch was formed the following year. After the death of Mary Carpenter, Elizabeth Adelaide Manning ...
.
She joined the
Aristotelian Society, endeavoured to form a Spencer society, and belonged to various societies of benevolent aims. On 22 October 1889 she delivered an address upon Mr. Herbert Spencer's ''Principles of Sociology'' to the sociological section at Mason College.
She also spoke about the need for women's suffrage at public events, as recorded by reports in the Women's Penny Paper.
Naden was described as:
slight and tall, with a delicate face and ‘clear blue-grey eyes.’ She was regular and active in her habits. She had a penetrating voice, and was thoroughly self-possessed in public speaking.
While some noted her tendency towards sarcasm in formal debates and academic discussions, she was well-loved and had very warm personal and intellectual friendships. This is attested to by the poignant remembrances of her friends in the posthumous ''Memoir'', for example Prof.
Charles Lapworth
Charles Lapworth FRS FGS (20 September 1842 – 13 March 1920) was a headteacher and an English geologist who pioneered faunal analysis using index fossils and identified the Ordovician period.
Biography
Charles Lapworth was born at Faring ...
wrote that he saw her "not so much a student,
utas an interested and sympathetic fellow-worker, and in her early death I have lost one of the best and dearest of my personal friends".
Illness and death
![Constance Naden grave, Key Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, May 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Constance_Naden_grave%2C_Key_Hill_Cemetery%2C_Birmingham%2C_May_2015.jpg)
In 1889 a diagnosis of infected ovarian cysts was deemed to require surgery; on 5 December she was operated on by
Lawson Tait
Lawson Tait, born Robert Lawson Tait (1 May 1845 – 13 June 1899) was a pioneer in pelvic and abdominal surgery and developed new techniques and procedures. He emphasized asepsis and introduced and advocated for surgical techniques that significa ...
, and while initially this was a success, on 23 December she died of a related infection. Naden's last letter to Robert Lewins, which is printed on the opening pages of the 1891 essay collection ''Further Reliques of Constance Naden'' details the circumstances of the surgery and her worries regarding it. She was buried in the nonconformist
Key Hill Cemetery
Key Hill Cemetery, ( OS grid reference SP059882), originally called Birmingham General Cemetery, is a cemetery in Hockley (the Jewellery Quarter), Birmingham, England. It opened in 1836 as a nondenominational cemetery (in practice nonconfor ...
, Birmingham. The gravestone was badly damaged over the course of the twentieth century, and in September 2017 a campaign was launched to replace it with a more fitting memorial. A rededication ceremony for the new gravestone took place on Saturday 11 May 2019.
Remembrance
Naden was lauded after her death for her philosophical writings, by
Robert Lewins, M.D., her contributions to poetry, her support of the women's suffrage cause in popular women's periodicals, and for her "Pantheistic view of immortality" by
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
,
in which he ranked her among the nineteenth century's top female poets. Lewins founded the Constance Naden Medal at Mason College in her honour,
which is awarded each year, first for the "best competitive philosophical essay" and now for the best Faculty of Arts master's degree thesis at the University of Birmingham.
Lewins also commissioned a bust of Naden which he presented to Mason's College. It sits on a plinth of three books, the spine of which are inscribed "Songs and Sonnets of Springtime'' and ''A Modern Apostle, The Elixir of Life, etc." on the front and "Induction and Deduction and Hylo-Idealism" on the back.
It was originally placed in the college's library. Mason College became the University of Birmingham in 1900, and the bust stands in the Cadbury Research Library Reading Room.
On 14 December 2009, the
Birmingham Civic Society
Birmingham Civic Society is a voluntary body in Birmingham, England, and is registered with the Civic Trust.
History
The society was founded at an inaugural meeting on 10 June 1918 in the Birmingham Council House. The first president of the ...
provided a commemorative blue plaque which was unveiled by the
Lord Mayor. It is located at her childhood home, Pakenham House 20 Charlotte Road,
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
. The inscription reads "Constance C.W. Naden 1858–1889 Poet, Scientist and Philosopher lived here for most of her life."
Naden's grave in
Key Hill Cemetery
Key Hill Cemetery, ( OS grid reference SP059882), originally called Birmingham General Cemetery, is a cemetery in Hockley (the Jewellery Quarter), Birmingham, England. It opened in 1836 as a nondenominational cemetery (in practice nonconfor ...
is shared with her mother and maternal grandparents. During the twentieth century the stone was broken up and buried by the city council along with other memorials in the area; in 2010 it was excavated by the Friends of the Cemetery but it remained illegible. On 11 May 2019, following a successful fundraising campaign by the Constance Naden Trust, a rededication ceremony was held to mark the installation of Constance Naden's new gravestone. The replacement stone reproduces the text on the original but draws additional attention to Naden's achievements with the words ‘Poet, philosopher, artist, Scientist’ newly inscribed near the top of the stone along with a line from her 1881 poem ‘The Pantheist's Song of Immortality’: ‘For earth is not as though thou ne’er hadst been’.
Posthumous publications
Three books were published posthumously, ''Induction and deduction, and other essays'' (1890), ''Further Reliques of Constance Naden'' (1891) and ''The Complete Poetical Works of Constance Naden'' (1894).
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
, who had been an important scientific and philosophical influence on her work, remarked: "I can think of no woman, save '
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
,' in whom there has been this union of high philosophical capacity with extensive acquisition. Unquestionably her subtle intelligence would have done much in furtherance of rational thought; and her death has entailed a serious loss."
Critical reception
Naden's poetry has received increasing attention since the 1980s, as people sought to recover lost women's voices. A range of scholarship on her life and works has appeared, with particular focus on the interplay between literature and science in her works, her relationship with
freethought, and her proto-feminist ideas. Clare Stainthorp has published an overview of the first three decades of critical writings on Naden, in which she also suggests avenues for future research. In 2019, Stainthorp's book ''Constance Naden: Scientist, Philosopher, Poet'' provided the first in depth consideration of Naden's life and explored the significance of her published and unpublished poems and essays.
Notes
References
Further reading
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* Clare Stainthorp (2017), "Constance Naden: A Critical Overview", ''Literature Compass'' 14.8
*Clare Stainthorp (2018), "On the Discovery of a Sequence of Constance Naden’s Notebooks: Finding Her Voice, 1875–1879", ''Victorian Poetry'' 56.3, 233–63.
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External links
The Complete Poetical Works of Constance NadenConstance Naden: A Memoir (1890)Constance Naden's Year in Sonnets*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naden, Constance
1858 births
1889 deaths
English philosophers
English women poets
Victorian women writers
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People from Edgbaston
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
19th-century English poets
19th-century English women writers
Burials at Key Hill Cemetery