(Emilia) Jessie Boucherett (November 1825 – 18 October 1905) was an English campaigner for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

Life

She was born in November 1825 at

North Willingham North Willingham is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Sixhills) was 181 at the 2011 census. It is situated east from the ...

, near Market Rasen,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. She was the grandchild of Lt. Colonel

Ayscoghe Boucherett Lieutenant-Colonel Ayscoghe Boucherett, (16 April 1755 – 15 September 1815) was a British landowner, businessman and Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby from 1796 to 1803. Born into a family of the Lincolnshire landed gentry, Boucherett ...

and the youngest child of his son Ayscoghe and Louisa, daughter of Frederick John Pigou of Dartford, Kent. She was educated at the school of the four Miss Byerleys (daughters of

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indust ...

's relative and partner, Thomas Byerley) at Avonbank,

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

, where

Mrs. Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

had been a pupil. Boucherett's activities for women's causes were inspired by reading the ''

English Woman's Journal The ''English Woman's Journal'' was a periodical dealing primarily with female employment and equality issues. It was established in 1858 by Barbara Bodichon, Matilda Mary Hays and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Published monthly between March 1858 a ...

'', which reflected her own aims, and by an article in the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

'' about the problems of the many 'superfluous' women in England during the middle years of the nineteenth century, a time when there were far more women than men in the population. On 21 November 1865, Jessie Boucherett with the help of Barbara Bodichon and

Helen Taylor Lady Helen Marina Lucy Taylor (''née'' Windsor; born 28 April 1964) is a relative of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Katharine, Duchess of Kent, and a great-granddaughter of George V. Early l ...

brought up the idea of a parliamentary reform.. They started a campaign to achieve the right to vote for women. With

Barbara Bodichon Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (born Barbara Leigh Smith; 8 April 1827 – 11 June 1891) was an English educationalist and artist, and a leading mid-19th-century feminist and women's rights activist. She published her influential ''Brief Summary ...

and

Adelaide Anne Procter Adelaide Anne Procter (30 October 1825 – 2 February 1864) was an English poet and philanthropist. Her literary career began when she was a teenager, her poems appearing in Charles Dickens's periodicals ''Household Words'' and '' All the ...

, Boucherett helped found the

Society for Promoting the Employment of Women The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) was one of the earliest British women's organisations. The society was established in 1859 by Jessie Boucherett, Barbara Bodichon and Adelaide Anne Proctor to promote the training and emp ...

in 1859. This became in 1926 the ''Society for Promoting the Training of Women'' which today operates as the registered charity ''Futures for Women''. Also in 1859, Boucherett and Procter joined the

Langham Place Group The ''English Woman's Journal'' was a periodical dealing primarily with female employment and equality issues. It was established in 1858 by Barbara Bodichon, Matilda Mary Hays and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Published monthly between March 1858 a ...

. A small but determined group which campaigned for the improvement of the situation of women, it was active between 1857 and 1866. Boucherett was a promoter of the

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 ...

movement and a strong supporter of the Married Women's Property Act. She founded 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 ...

'' in 1866, and edited it until 1870, when she founded with

Lydia Becker Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a leader in the early British suffrage movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in biology and astronomy. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage mov ...

the ''

Women's Suffrage Journal The ''Women's Suffrage Journal'' was a magazine founded by Lydia Becker and Jessie Boucherett in 1870. Initially titled the ''Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage Journal'' within a year its title was changed reflecting Becker's desir ...

''.Phillips, Melanie. ''The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas Behind It.'' London: Abacus, 2004. . p. 132.

Works

*''Hints on Self-Help for Young Women'', 1863 *''The Condition of Women in France', 1868 *'How to Provide for Superfluous Women', in

Josephine Butler Josephine Elizabeth Butler (' Grey; 13 April 1828 – 30 December 1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture ...

, ed., ''Women's Work and Women's Culture'', 1869 *'The industrial position of women', in

Theodore Stanton Theodore Weld Stanton (10 February 1851 in Seneca Falls, New York – 1925) was an American journalist. Biography He was the son of journalist and abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton a descendant of Thomas Stanton and reformer Elizabeth Cady Stan ...

, ed., ''The Woman Question in Europe'', 1884 *''The Condition of Working Women and the Factory Acts'', with

Helen Blackburn Helen Blackburn (25 May 1842 – 11 January 1903) was a feminist, writer and campaigner for women's rights, especially in the field of employment. Blackburn was an editor of the ''Englishwoman's Review'' magazine. She wrote books about women work ...

, 1896

References

Sources

*F. Hays, ''Women of the Day'', 1885. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boucherett, Emilia Jane 1825 births 1905 deaths English feminists English activists English women activists