Lady Florence Caroline Dixie (née Douglas; 25 May 18557 November 1905) was a Scottish writer,
war correspondent, and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
. Her account of travelling ''Across Patagonia'', her children's books ''The Young Castaways'' and ''Aniwee; or, The Warrior Queen'', and her feminist utopia ''Gloriana; or, The Revolution of 1900'' all deal with feminist themes related to girls, women, and their positions in society.
Early life
Born in
Cummertrees
Cummertrees is a coastal village and civil parish of Annandale in the historical county of Dumfriesshire in Dumfries and Galloway. It lies about inland, on the Pow Water to the northwest of Powfoot, from Dumfries and from Annan.
Etymology
...
,
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
, Scotland on 25 May 1855, Lady Florence Douglas was the daughter of
Caroline Margaret Clayton (1821–1904), daughter of
General Sir William Clayton, 5th Baronet (1786–1866), Member of Parliament for
Great Marlow
Great Marlow is a civil parishes in England, civil parish within Wycombe district in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the Ha ...
,
[''DIXIE, Lady Florence, poet, novelist, writer; explorer and a keen champion of Woman's Rights'' in ''Who Was Who'' online a]
7345683
at xreferplus.com (subscription required), accessed 11 March 2008 and
Archibald Douglas (1818–1858) 8th
Marquess of Queensberry
Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was inh ...
.
She had a twin brother, Lord James Edward Sholto Douglas (died 1891), an older sister, Lady Gertrude Douglas (1842–1893), and three older brothers:
John, Viscount Drumlanrig (1844–1900), later 9th Marquess of Queensberry,
Lord Francis Douglas
Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas (8 February 1847 – 14 July 1865) was a novice British mountaineering, mountaineer. After sharing in the first ascent of the Matterhorn, he died in a fall on the way down from the summit.
Early life
Born ...
(1847–1865), and the Reverend
Lord Archibald Edward Douglas (1850–1938).
[G. E. Cokayne ''et al.'', eds., ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', new edition, 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; new edition, 2000), volume X, page 694]
Lady Florence has been described as a tomboy
who tried to match her brothers in physical activities, whether swimming, riding, or hunting.
She rode astride,
wore her hair short in a boyish crop, and refused to conform to fashion when being presented to
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
She and her twin brother James were particularly close during childhood, calling each other "Darling" (Florence) and "Dearest" (James).
She was also close to her older brother John, whom she resembled in temperament, both being "fearless, dynamic and opinionated".
Her childhood was marked by a number of dramatic and even tragic events. On 6 August 1858, when she was three, Lady Florence's father died in what was reported as a shooting accident,
but he was widely believed to have killed himself.
In 1862, his widow, Caroline, acted upon a long-formed conviction and converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. She took her youngest children, Archibald, then twelve, and Florence and James, aged seven, to France, where she could educate them as she wished. This led the children's guardians to threaten Lady Queensberry with an action under English law to take her children away from her. The three were too young to choose a guardian under Scottish law. In the event, they remained in France for two years. Falconer Atlee, the British Consul at Nantes, offered them a place of safety when their first location was discovered, and the Emperor
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 ...
eventually extended Lady Queensberry his protection, ensuring that she could keep the custody of the three children. Archibald converted to Rome and took holy orders, becoming a priest. Caroline's older daughter, Gertrude, also became a Roman Catholic. When her Anglican fiancé would not agree to their children being brought up in that faith, Gertrude's engagement was broken off. She entered a convent in Hammersmith and completed her novitiate to become a Sister of the Black Veil in 1867, but later left the order.
Eventually, it was agreed that Caroline would retain custody of her younger children, and they returned to England. Lady Florence was first educated at home by a
governess
A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...
, but is described as "defiant, rebellious and restless".
After returning from France at the age of nine, the twins were separated. James was sent to a Roman Catholic boarding school, and Florence to a
convent school
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
, which she hated. But she found some consolation in writing poetry: her
childhood verses were published much later as ''The songs of a child, and other poems'', under the pseudonym 'Darling'.
[Middleton, Dorothy, "Dixie ée Douglas Florence Caroline, Lady Dixie (1855–1905)" in '']Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2004
Another tragedy struck the family just days before Florence's eldest brother, John Douglas, was to reach his majority as 9th Marquess of Queensberry. As guests gathered for a lavish celebration, word came that on 14 July 1865, the 18-year-old Lord Francis Douglas had fallen to his death with three others, after achieving the
first ascent
In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...
of the
Matterhorn
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...
.
Lord Queensberry travelled post-haste to
Zermatt
Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
...
, with the intention of bringing his brother's body home, but nothing had been found of Lord Francis but some tattered shreds of his clothing. Queensberry, alone, without a guide, and starting out by moonlight, attacked the Matterhorn himself and made it as far as "the Hut". It was largely a matter of chance that two guides found and rescued him before he died of cold.
He wrote apologetically to Florence, "I thought and thought where he was, and called him, and wondered if I should ever see him again. I was half mad with misery, and I could not help it."
"Exceedingly amiable and talented"
Francis's death was deeply felt by his family.
In 1876, Florence accompanied Queensberry on a return to Zermatt, and he showed her the slopes where Francis had died.
Beyond the family, the tragedy was a long-running sensation, reported by newspapers all over the world, often in tones both sensational and denunciatory.
Marriage and children
![Bosworth Hall 1791](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Bosworth_Hall_1791.png)
On 3 April 1875, at the age of nineteen, Douglas married
Sir Alexander Beaumont Churchill Dixie, 11th Baronet (1851–1924),
[Theakstone, John]
''Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works by Women Travellers, 1837–1910''
(dated Summer 2003) online at victorianresearch.org (accessed 8 March 2008) known as "Sir A.B.C.D." or "Beau".
Beau, who had succeeded his father as the 11th baronet on 8 January 1872, had an income of £10,000 per year,
, a
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
,
Bosworth Hall, near
Market Bosworth
Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of ...
, and a London townhouse in the fashionable district of
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
.
He served as
High Sheriff of Leicestershire
This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries mos ...
for 1876.
Though Florence was only five feet tall, while Beau stood 6′ 2″, Florence became the dominant partner in the marriage, reportedly ruling her husband "with a rod of iron".
The young couple had two sons,
George Douglas (born 18 January 1876), who later became the
12th baronet, and Albert Edward Wolstan (born 26 September 1878, died 1940), whose godfather was the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
.
[Profile](_blank)
staleyandco.com; accessed 11 March 2008.
Both husband and wife shared a love of adventure and the outdoor life, and are generally considered to have had a happy marriage, certainly the happiest of the Douglas siblings. Nonetheless, Beau's habits of drinking and of gambling for high stakes had catastrophic consequences for the family. The couple were reportedly referred to by contemporaries as "Sir Always and Lady Sometimes Tipsy". In 1885 Beau's ancestral home and estate at Bosworth were sold to pay his debts.[
Following loss of the estate, the couple moved to Glen Stuart, Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.] One of the houses on Lord Queensberry's Scottish estate of Kinmount
Kinmount is a village with a population of approximately 500, located on the Burnt River in Ontario, Canada. The village is apportioned by three municipalities, they are, City of Kawartha Lakes, Minden Hills and Trent Lakes. The village's hinte ...
, it had previously been the home of Lady Florence's mother, the Dowager Marchioness.
Writing
In 1877, Lady Florence published her first novel, ''Abel Avenged: a Dramatic Tragedy''.[ A number of Dixie's books, particularly her children's books ''The Young Castaways, or, The Child Hunters of Patagonia'' and ''Aniwee, or, The Warrior Queen'', and her adult novels ''Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900'' and ''Isola, or the Disinherited: A Revolt for Woman and all the Disinherited'' develop feminist themes related to girls, women, and their positions in society. Her final novel, a semi-autobiographical work entitled ''The Story of Ijain, or the Evolution of a Mind'' appeared in 1903.]
Although she published fiction for both adults and children, Dixie is best remembered for her travel books, ''Across Patagonia'' (1880) and ''In the Land of Misfortune'' (1882), both of which are still reprinted. In these books Dixie presents herself as the protagonist of the story. By doing so she defies the male tradition of quoting other travel writers who have visited and written on the area, and creates a unique feminine style of travel writing in the nineteenth century.
''Across Patagonia''
In December 1878, two months after the birth of their second son, Edward, Dixie and her husband left their aristocratic life and their children behind them in England and traveled to Patagonia. She was the only female in her traveling party. She set out accompanied by her brothers, Lord Queensberry and Lord James Douglas, her husband Sir Alexander Beaumont Churchill Dixie, and Julius Beerbohm. Beerbohm, a family friend, was hired as the group's guide because of his previous experience in Patagonia. Dixie debated going elsewhere, but chose Patagonia because few Europeans had ever set foot there.
Once in Patagonia, Dixie paints a picture of the landscape using techniques reminiscent of the Romantic tradition of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
and others, using emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
and physical sensation to connect to the natural world. While she describes the land as "uninviting and feared territory", Dixie's actions demonstrate that survival in a wild land requires both strength and agency.
During her travels in Patagonia, Dixie is "active, hardy, and resilient", rejecting Victorian gender constructs that depicted women as weak and in need of protection. Furthermore, in writing ''Across Patagonia'' (1880), Dixie never mentions her husband by name or title (simply referring to him as "my husband"), and presents herself as the expedition hero rather than the men being the heroes of the story. She recounts times where she outsmarts or outlasts the men or remains their equal.
While social issues such as European women's suffrage can be seen in her narrative, she says little about the natives of Patagonia. She has been criticized by Monica Szurmuk for not addressing the military campaigns of General Julio Argentino Roca
Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz (July 17, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was an army general and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 1880 to 1886 and from 1898 to 1904. Roca is the most important representative of the Generation ...
against indigenous people of the time. However, Szurmuk also notes that Dixie's writing has a transgressive quality that acknowledges mutuality:
Lady Dixie shared her observations of Patagonia with Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
. She took issue with Darwin's description of the Tuco-tuco
A tuco-tuco is a neotropical rodent in the family Ctenomyidae.Parada, A., G. D’Elia, C.J. Bidau, and E.P. Lessa. 2011. Species Groups and the Evolutionary Diversification of Tuco-Tucos, genus ''Ctenomys'' (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae). ''Journal of M ...
in his ''Journal of Researches'' (1839). While Darwin had suggested that the Tuco-tuco were nocturnal creatures that lived almost entirely underground, Lady Dixie had seen the Tuco-tuco out during the daytime.[Darwin Correspondence Database](_blank)
accessed Fri 8 March 2013 She sent Darwin a copy of ''Across Patagonia''; Darwin's copy of this book is part of the Library of Charles Darwin located in the Rare Books Room of Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
.
When she returned from Patagonia, Dixie brought home with her a jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
, which she called Affums and kept as a pet. Affums killed several deer in Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many ...
and had to be sent to a zoo.
A hotel at Puerto Natales
Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part ...
in the Chilean part of Patagonia is named the ''Hotel Lady Florence Dixie'' in her honor.
Her experiences in Patagonia inspire much of her later work, both her writing for children, and her work with the women's suffrage movement. Her two children's books, ''The Young Castaways'' and its sequel ''Aniwee'', are set in Patagonia and depict strong female characters.
''In the Land of Misfortune''
In 1881, Dixie was appointed as a field correspondent of the ''Morning Post
''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''.
History
The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...
'' of London to cover the First Boer War
The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...
(1880–1881)[ and the aftermath of the ]Anglo-Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...
. She and her husband traveled to South Africa together. In Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, she stayed with the Governor of the Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
. She visited Zululand, and on her return interviewed the Zulu king Cetshwayo
King Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchw ...
, being held in detention by the British.
Her reports, followed by her ''A Defence of Zululand and Its King from the Blue Book'' (1882) and ''In the Land of Misfortune'' (1882), were instrumental in Cetshwayo's brief restoration to his throne in 1883.[ In Dixie's ''In the Land of Misfortune'', there is a struggle between her individualism and her identification with the power of the ]British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, but for all of her sympathy with the Zulu cause and with Cetshwayo, she remained at heart an imperialist.[
]
A Feminist Utopia
Dixie held strong views on the emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...
of women, proposing that the sexes should be equal in marriage and divorce, that the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
should be inherited by the monarch's oldest child, regardless of sex, and even that men and women should wear the same clothes.[ She was a member of the ]National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...
, and her obituary in the ''Englishwoman's Review
''The Englishwoman's Review'' was a feminist periodical published in England between 1866 and 1910.
Until 1869 called in full ''The Englishwoman's Review: a journal of woman's work'', in 1870 (after a break in publication) it was renamed ''The ...
'' emphasized her support for the cause of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
(i.e. the right to vote): "Lady Florence... threw herself eagerly into the Women's Movement, and spoke on public platforms."
In 1890, Dixie published a utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
n novel, ''Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900'', which has been described as a feminist fantasy.[ It also interweaves elements of romance and ]detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
. In it, women win the right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, as the result of the protagonist, Gloriana, posing as a man, Hector D'Estrange, and being elected to the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
. The character of D'Estrange is reflective of Oscar Wilde,[Heilmann, Ann, ''Wilde's New Women: the New Woman on Wilde'' in Uwe Böker, Richard Corballis, Julie A. Hibbard, ''The Importance of Reinventing Oscar: Versions of Wilde During the Last 100 Years'' (Rodopi, 2002) pp. 135–147, in particular p. 139] but perhaps even more so of Dixie herself. Another of the many active, competent and powerful women characters in the book is Scottish Lady Flora Desmond (who, as ''The Athenaeum'' pointed out, has a name very similar to the author). Flora helps to organize a 200,000 member Women's Volunteer force, and herself leads their elite mounted White Regiment. A host of women characters are instrumental to the plot, both in supporting and opposing the hero/heroine: as noted by Walker, the adventures in ''Gloriana'' occur to women rather than to men.
The book ends in the year 1999, with a description of a prosperous and peaceful Britain whose government has deeply benefited from the engagement of women. In the preface to the novel, Dixie proposes not only women's suffrage, but that the two sexes should be educated together and that all professions and positions should be open to both. In the novel, she goes farther and says:[Gates, Barbara T. (ed.), ''In Nature's Name: An Anthology of Women's Writing and Illustration, 1780–1930'' (]University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 2002
pages 61–66
online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 9 March 2008)
Women and sports
Women's football
Dixie played a key role is establishing the game of women's association football
Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...
, organizing exhibition match
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
es for charity, and in 1895 she became President of the British Ladies' Football Club
The British Ladies' Football Club was a women's association football team formed in Great Britain in 1895. The team, one of the first women's football clubs, had as its patron Lady Florence Dixie, an aristocrat from Dumfries, and its first captain ...
, stipulating that "the girls should enter into the spirit of the game with heart and soul." She arranged for a women's football team from London to tour Scotland.
Blood sports
During her early life and travels, Dixie was an enthusiastic sportswoman, an intrepid rider and shot. As the following reminiscence shows, part of the appeal of hunting in Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
was the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with active male peers:
Dixie's skills on horseback were sufficient to be mentioned in sporting magazines. The following account gives a vivid idea of the risks involved in a fox hunt
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...
:
In Patagonia, survival of the party as a whole depended on the equal participation of all those within it. Dixie shared the responsibility and the dangers of necessary tasks such as hunting for food for the party.
However, she was also "haunted by a sad remorse" for the death of a beautiful golden deer of the Cordilleras, which was exceedingly tame and trusting.[ During the 1890s, Dixie's views on ]field sports
Field sports are outdoor sports that take place in the wilderness or sparsely populated rural areas, where there are vast areas of uninhabited greenfields. The term specifically refer to activities that mandate sufficiently large open spaces and ...
changed dramatically, and in her book ''The Horrors of Sport'' (1891) she condemned blood sports
A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities charact ...
as cruel.[ Dixie later became Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Association.
]
Politics
Dixie was an enthusiastic writer of letters to newspapers on liberal and progressive issues, including support for Scottish and Irish Home Rule
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...
.
Her article ''The Case of Ireland'' was published in '' Vanity Fair'' on 27 May 1882.[
Nevertheless, she was critical of the ]Irish Land League
The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farme ...
and the Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
s, who reportedly made an unsuccessful attempt to attack her in March 1883.
The incident received international attention, but considerable doubt was expressed, then and later, about whether such an attack had actually occurred.
Alleged assassination attempt
Reports were published of an attempt to assassinate Lady Florence Dixie at her residence, the Fishery, situated near the Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
, and about two and a half miles from Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
. Lady Florence Dixie gave the following account to the newspapers:
Questions were raised in the House of Commons on 19 and 20 March,
and again on the 29th, about the investigation, but Lady Dixie's account was not supported by others, and was dismissed.
Alleged kidnapping
In her obituary, printed 8 November 1905, ''The New York Times'' suggested that Dixie had claimed to be kidnapped by Irish agitators.
Death
Lady Florence Dixie died of diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
on 7 November 1905. She was buried beside her twin brother in the family burial ground on Gooley Hill on the Kinmount estat
''The New York Times'' reported that the "Author, Champion of Woman's Rights, and War Correspondent" had died on 7 November at her home in Glen Stuart, Dumfriesshire.
Likenesses
A monochrome lithography, lithograph of Dixie by Andrew Maclure was published in 1877. She is seated on horseback and holding a riding crop
Riding is a homonym of two distinct English words:
From the word ride
* In equestrianism, riding a horse
* Riding animal, animal bred or trained for riding
* Riding hall, building designed for indoor horse riding
From Old English ''*þriðing''
...
. A copy is in the National Portrait Gallery.[
A more significant lithograph, by ]Théobald Chartran
Théobald Chartran (20 July 1849 – 16 July 1907) was a classical French academic painter and portrait artist.
Early life
Chartran was born in Besançon, France on 20 July 1849. His father was Councilor at the Court of Appeals and he was the ne ...
, printed in colour, appeared in '' Vanity Fair'' in 1884 and is one of the long series of caricatures published in the magazine between 1868 and 1914. These were all coloured illustrations featuring notable people of the day, and each was accompanied by a short (usually adulatory) biography. Of more than two thousand people so honoured, only eighteen were women. Featured in the magazine on 5 January 1884, Dixie joined this small band, which included Queen Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868.
Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...
(1869), Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
(1879), the Princess of Wales (1882) and Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts (21 April 1814 – 30 December 1906), born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughte ...
(1883). Victoria, Princess Royal
Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of German Emperor Frederick III. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingd ...
, and Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, followed later in 1884.
Bibliography
The published works of Lady Florence Dixie include:
Books
*''Abel Avenged: a Dramatic Tragedy'' (London, Edward Moxon, 1877)[Anderson, Monica, ''Women and the Politics of Travel, 1870–1914']
page 266
online at books.google.co.uk] (accessed 8 March 2008)
*''Across Patagonia'' (Edinburgh, Bentley, 1880)[
*''Waifs and Strays: The Pilgrimage of a Bohemian Abroad'' (London: Griffith, Farren Okeden and Welsh, 1880, 60 pp)][AfricaBib]
(accessed 21 May 2013)
*''In the Land of Misfortune'' (London: Richard Bentley, 1882, 434 pp)
*''A Defense of Zululand and Its King from the Blue Books'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1882, 129 pp)
*''Redeemed in Blood'' (London, Henry & Co., 1889)[
*''Gloriana; or, The Revolution of 1900'' (London, Henry & Co., 1890)][
*''The Young Castaways; or, The Child Hunters of Patagonia'' (1890), for children][
*''Aniwee; or, The Warrior Queen'' (1890), for children][
*''Isola; or, The Disinherited: A Revolt for Woman and all the Disinherited'' (London, Leadenhall Press, 1902)][
*''The Story of Ijain; or, The Evolution of a Mind'' (London, 1903)][
]
Shorter works
*"The Case of Ireland" in '' Vanity Fair'', issue dated 27 May 1882[
*"Cetshwayo and Zululand" in ''Nineteenth Century'' Volume 12 No. 2 (August 1882) pp. 303–312]
*"In the Land of Misfortune" (1882)[Anderson, Monica, ''Women and the Politics of Travel, 1870–1914'', p. 119 ''et seq.'']
*"On Cetshwayo and his Restoration" in ''Vanity Fair'', 12 July 1884, pp 21–22[
*"Memoirs of a Great Lone Land" in ''Westminster Review'', Volume 139 (March 1893) pp. 247–256]
*"The True Science of Living: The New Gospel of Health" in ''Westminster Review'', Volume 150 (1898) pp. 463–470[
*"The Horrors of Sport" (]Humanitarian League
The Humanitarian League was a British radical advocacy group formed by Henry S. Salt and others to promote the principle that it is wrong to inflict avoidable suffering on any sentient being. It was based in London and operated between 189 ...
publication no. 4, 1891)[
*''The Mercilessness of Sport'' (1901)][
*Introduction to ]Joseph McCabe
Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. He was "one of the great mouthpieces of freethought in England". Becomi ...
's ''Religion of Woman'' (1905)
Private letters
Unpublished works include:
*Florence Dixie to William Gladstone, 11 August 1882 (British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
: Gladstone Papers 391, Add. MS. 44476, f. 127)[
*Florence Dixie to William Gladstone, 23 October 1883 (British Library: Gladstone Papers 391, Add. MS. 44483, f. 257)][
*Florence Dixie to William Gladstone, 21 May 1890 (British Library: Gladstone Papers 425, Add. MS. 44510, f. 34)][
*Florence Dixie to Mr Clodd, 3 July 1903 (]University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
: Brotherton Collection)[
*Correspondence with Lord Kimberley (]Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
)[
*Correspondence with ]Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
available via th
Darwin Correspondence Project website.
About her
*"Woman's Mission" in ''Vanity Fair'', 16 August 1884, pp 114–116[
*"Woman's Mission" in ''Vanity Fair'', 23 August 1884, pp 134–135][
]
Ancestry
Descendants
Lady Florence Dixie's eldest son, George Douglas Dixie (18 January 1876 – 25 December 1948) served in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
as a midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
and was commissioned into the King's Own Scottish Borderers
The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's O ...
in 1895. On 26 November 1914, he was promoted a temporary captain in the 5th Battalion the KOSB. He married Margaret Lindsay, daughter of Sir Alexander Jardine, 8th Baronet, and in 1924 succeeded to his father's title and was known as Sir Douglas Dixie, 12th Baronet.
When he died in 1948, Sir Douglas was succeeded by his son, Sir (Alexander Archibald Douglas) Wolstan Dixie, 13th and last Baronet (8 January 1910 – 28 December 1975). The 13th Bt. married Dorothy Penelope King-Kirkman in 1950, as his second wife. They had two daughters; 1) Eleanor Barbara Lindsay; and 2) Caroline Mary Jane. Both daughters have issue.[''Dixie, Sir (Alexander Archibald Douglas) Wolstan'', in ''Who Was Who 1971–1980'' (London, A. & C. Black, 1989 reprint, )]
References
*Adler, Michelle, ''Skirting the Edges of Civilisation: British Women Travellers and Travel Writers in South Africa, 1797–1899'' (PhD dissertation, University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, 1996)[
*Adler, Michelle, "Skirting the Edges of Civilsation: Two Victorian Women Travellers and 'Colonial Spaces' in South Africa" (about Lady Florence Dixie and Sarah Heckford) in Darian-Smith, Kate, Gunner, Liz and Nuttall, Sarah (eds.) ''Text, Theory, Space: Land, Literature and History in South Africa and Australia'' (London & New York: Routledge, 1996) pp. 83–98][
*Anderson, Monica, "Role-Play and Florence Dixie's 'In the Land of Misfortune'" in ''Women and the Politics of Travel, 1870–1914'' (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2006, ) pp 119–154][
*Czech, Kenneth P., ''With Rifle and Petticoat: Women as Big Game Hunter'' (New York, Derrydale Press, 2002, 189 pp)][
*Frawley, Maria H., ''A Wider Range: Travel Writing by Women in Victorian England'' (PhD. dissertation, ]University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
, Newark, 1991, 334 pp)[
*Frawley, Maria H., ''A Wider Range: Travel Writing by Women in Victorian England'' (Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and London: Associated University Presses, 1994, 237 pp)]
*Qingyun Wu, "The Discourse of Impersonation: The Destiny of the Next Life and Gloriana; or, The Revolution of 1900", paper presented to the Pennsylvania Foreign Language Conference, Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...
, 16–18 September 1988
*Roberts, Brian, ''Ladies in the Veld'', especially chapter entitled "The Lady and the King: Lady Florence Dixie" (London: John Murray, 1965) pp. 75–181[
*Stevenson, Catherine B., "The Depiction of the Zulu in the Travel Writing of Florence Dixie", paper presented at the 1980 ]African Studies Association
The African Studies Association (ASA) is a US-based association of scholars, students, practitioners, and institutions with an interest in the continent of Africa. Founded in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North ...
Conference, 15–18 October 1980, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (New Brunswick, New Jersey: ASA, Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
, 198[
*Stevenson, Catherine B., ''Victorian Women Travel Writers in Africa'' (Boston: Twayne, 1982, 184 pp.)][
*Stevenson, Catherine B., "Female Anger and African Politics: The Case of Two Victorian Lady Travellers" in ''Turn of the Century Women'' Volume 2, 1985, pp 7–17][
*Tinling, Marion, "Lady Florence Dixie, 1855–1905" in ''Women Into the Unknown: A Sourcebook on Women Explorers and Travelers'' (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1989)][
*
*
]
Notes
External links
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*
*
''Gloriana''
(1890), University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
digital library (full text)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixie, Florence
1855 births
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