Alice Mona Alison Caird (née Alison; 24 May 1854 – 4 February 1932) was an English novelist and essayist. Her feminist writings and views caused controversy in the late 19th century. She also advocated for
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
and
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
, and contributed to advancing the interests of the
New Woman
The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...
in the public sphere.
Life and writings
Caird was born in
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, the elder daughter of John Alison of
Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
, Scotland, who some biographies claim to have invented the
vertical boiler
A vertical boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube boiler where the boiler barrel is oriented vertically instead of the more common horizontal orientation. Vertical boilers were used for a variety of steam-powered vehicles and other mobile ma ...
, and Matilda Hector, who the
1871 census records state was born in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
, at the time part of Denmark. Her parents were married on 21 June 1853 in St Leonards (near
Glenelg, South Australia
Glenelg is a beach-side suburb of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Located on the shore of Holdfast Bay in Gulf St Vincent, it has become a tourist destination due to its beach and many attractions, home to several hotels and dozens of ...
), her father being based in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and her mother Matilda the eldest daughter of a prominent citizen. Caird wrote stories and plays from early childhood that reveal a proficiency in French and German as well as English. One childhood friend was the art critic
Elizabeth Sharp
Elizabeth Sager Sharp CNM, DrPH, FAAN, FACNM, (December 16, 1933 - February 7, 2016) was an American nurse and midwife who specialized in maternal and newborn health. In 1999, she received the American College of Nurse-Midwives' Hattie Hemsch ...
, who married
William Sharp.
In December 1877, she married James Alexander Henryson, son of Sir
James Caird. Her husband farmed some 1700 acres (688 ha) of estates in Cassencary, Scotland. Some eight years older, he supported her independence. While he lived at Cassencary and Northbrook House,
Micheldever
Micheldever is a village in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever .
The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and flint. Parts of th ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, she spent much time in London and abroad. She mixed with literary people, including
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
, who admired her work, and educated herself in the humanities and science. The Cairds had one child, a son born on 22 March 1884 and named Alison James (see England and Wales birth records), but whom she called Alister. Her husband adopted the surname Henryson-Caird in 1897; he died in 1921.
Caird published her first two novels, ''Whom Nature Leadeth'' (1883) and ''One That Wins'' (1887), under the pseudonym "G. Noel Hatton", but little heed was paid to them. Her later writings bore her own name. She became prominent in 1888 when the ''
Westminster Review
The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until ...
'' printed an article by her, "Marriage", in which she analysed indignities historically suffered by women in marriage, calling its present state a "vexatious failure" and advocating equality and autonomy between marriage partners. London's ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' responded with a series called "Is Marriage a Failure?", which drew a reported 27,000 letters from around the world and continued for three months.
Feeling her views had been misunderstood, she published another article, "Ideal Marriage", later that year. Her many essays on marriage and women's issues written in 1888–1894 were collected in ''The Morality of Marriage and Other Essays on the Status and Destiny of Women'' in 1897.
Caird next published the novel ''The Wing of Azrael'' (1889), which deals with marital rape: Viola Sedley murders her cruel husband in self-defence. Next came a short story collection, ''A Romance of the Moors'' (1891), where in the title story, a widowed artist, Margaret Ellwood, stirs up a young couple by counselling them to each become independent and self-sufficient. Her best-known novel, ''The Daughters of Danaus'' (1894), tells of Hadria Fullerton, who aspires to be a composer, but finds that her obligations to her family and parents and as a wife and mother, allow little time for it. This has since been seen as a feminist classic. Also well known is her short story "The Yellow Drawing-Room" (1892), where Vanora Haydon defies the conventional separation of spheres of men and women. Such works of hers have been called "fiction of the New Woman".
Active in the
women's suffrage movement
Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, 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 gran ...
from her early twenties, Caird joined the
National Society for Women's Suffrage
The National Society for Women's Suffrage Manchester Branch
The National Society for Women's Suffrage was the first national group in the United Kingdom to campaign for women's right to vote. Formed on 6 November 1867, by Lydia Becker, the organis ...
in 1878 and later the
Women's Franchise League
The Women's Franchise League was a British organisation created by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst together with her husband Richard and others in 1889, fourteen years before the creation of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. The Pr ...
, the
Women's Emancipation Union The Women's Emancipation Union was founded by Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy in September 1891 following an infamous court case. Regina v Jackson, known colloquially as the Clitheroe Judgement, occurred when Edmund Jackson abducted his wife in a ...
, and the
London Society for Women's Suffrage
The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. Originall ...
. Her essay "Why Women Want the Franchise" was read at the 1892 WEU Conference. In 1908, she published the essay "Militant Tactics and Woman's Suffrage" and took part in the second
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
women's suffrage demonstration. She was also opposed to
vivisection
Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...
, writing much on the subject, including "The Sanctuary of Mercy" (1895), "Beyond the Pale" (1896), "The Ethics of Vivisection" (1900), and a play, "The Logicians: An episode in dialogue" (1902), where characters argue opposing views on the issue.
Caird was a member of the
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
from 1904 to 1909. Among her later writings is an illustrated volume of travel essays, ''Romantic Cities of Provence'' (1906), and novels: ''The Stones of Sacrifice'' (1915), showing harmful effects of self-sacrifice on women, and ''The Great Wave'' (1931), a work of social-science fiction attacking the
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
of negative
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
.
Mona Caird died on 4 February 1932 in
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
at the age of 77.
Bibliography
Caird wrote seven novels, several short stories, various essays and a travel book:
*''Whom Nature Leadeth'' (1883) novel
*''One That Wins'' (1887) novel
*
Marriage' (1888) essay
Ideal Marriage (1888) essay
*''
The Wing of Azrael'' (1889) novel
*"The Emancipation of the Family" (1890) essay
*''A Romance of The Moors'' (1891) stories
*"The Yellow Drawing-Room" (1892) story
A Defence of the So-Called Wild Women (1892) essay
*
The Daughters of Danaus' (1894) novel
The Sanctuary of Mercy (1895) essay
*"
A Sentimental View of Vivisection" (1895) essay
*"
Vivisection: An Appeal to the Workers" (1895) essay
Beyond the Pale: An Appeal on Behalf of the Victims of Vivisection (1897) extended essay
*''
The Morality of Marriage and Other Essays on the Status and Destiny of Women'' (1897) essays
''The Pathway of the Gods''(1898) novel
*"
The Ethics of Vivisection" (1900) essay
*''The Logicians: An episode in dialogue'' (1902) play
*
Romantic Cities of Provence' (1906) travel
Militant Tactics and Woman's Suffrage (1908) essay
*"The Stones of Sacrifice" (1915) essay
*''The Great Wave'' (1931) novel
Notes
References
Further reading
*Beverly E. Schneller
"Caird, (Alice) Mona (1854–1932)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 21 February 2007
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caird, Mona
1854 births
1932 deaths
19th-century English novelists
19th-century English non-fiction writers
19th-century English women writers
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
Anti-vivisectionists
British vegetarianism activists
British women essayists
Deaths from cancer in England
English animal rights activists
English feminist writers
English pacifists
English feminists
English Theosophists
English suffragettes
English suffragists
English women dramatists and playwrights
English women non-fiction writers
English women novelists
National Society for Women's Suffrage
People from Ryde
Victorian novelists
Victorian women writers