Sophia Dobson Collet (1 February 1822 – 27 March 1894) was a 19th-century English feminist

freethinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other metho ...

. She wrote under the pen name ''Panthea'' in

George Holyoake George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and " jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to J ...

's ''Reasoner'', wrote for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' and was a friend of the leading feminist

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy group ...

Family background

Sophia Dobson Collet was born Sophia Dobson in the parish of

St. Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

, the fifth of seven children of John Dobson (1778–1827), and his wife ( and first cousin), Elizabeth Barker (1787–1875). She was described by Richard Garnett in the biography of

William Johnson Fox William Johnson Fox (1 March 1786 – 3 June 1864) was an English Unitarian minister, politician, and political orator. Early life Fox was born at Uggeshall Farm, Wrentham, near Southwold, Suffolk on 1 March 1786. His parents were strict Cal ...

as having attacks of a "disabling illness". Her elder brother was the Chartist radical Collet Dobson Collet (1812–1898). Another of her brothers was the engineer Edward Dobson (1816/17?–1908). She was the aunt of social reformer

Clara Collet Clara Collet (10 September 1860 – 3 August 1948) was an economist and British civil servant. She was one of the first women graduates from the University of London and was pivotal in many reforms which greatly improved working conditions and pa ...

(1860–1948), who worked with Charles Booth on his great investigative work ''

Life and Labour of the People of London ''Life and Labour of the People in London'' was a multi-volume book by Charles Booth which provided a survey of the lives and occupations of the working class of late 19th century London. The first edition was published in two volumes as ''Life ...

''; and of Sir Wilfred Collet, governor of

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

and British Guiana.

South Place Ethical Chapel

Collet was a supporter of the South Place Ethical Chapel (now

Conway Hall Ethical Society The Conway Hall Ethical Society, formerly the South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world and is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kin ...

) and wrote several hymns for the organisation. Her brother Charles was its musical director. She was friends with the South Place composer

Eliza Flower Eliza Flower (1803 – 12 December 1846) was a British musician and composer. In addition to her own work, Flower became known for her friendships including those with William Johnson Fox, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor. B ...

and

Sarah Fuller Flower Adams Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams) (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter. A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", report ...

. It is at South Place that she came into contact with

. She would contribute to both ''The Reasoner'' and ''The Movement'' from the 1840s to 1850s as well as have continued correspondence with Holyoake long after. She is also credited with preserving many of Fox's writings. She wrote an appraisal of George Holyoake and his work in ''George Jacob Holyoake and modern atheism: a biographical and critical essay'' in 1855 which was well received. The book was an expanded version of what she had written as Panthea in the ''Free Inquirer''. It echoed the same conciliatory tone between religion and non-religion that Holyoake had long espoused.

Feminism

Collet remained a Unitarian even as South Place moved into a non-religious direction. However, she "condemned the oppression of women in Scripture and the subordinate position assigned to them by Christianity." She joined the

Moral Reform Union A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

, wrote articles on

women's education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

and supported

William Thomas Stead William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was a British newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst e ...

during his imprisonment in 1885. Stead would occasionally attend lectures at South Place. Her efforts to help

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 ...

repeal the

Contagious Diseases Acts The Contagious Diseases Acts (CD Acts) were originally passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 85), with alterations and additions made in 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 35) and 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 96). In 1862, a com ...

in India put a strain on her relationship with

Richard Holt Hutton Richard Holt Hutton (2 June 1826 – 9 September 1897) was an English journalist of literature and religion. Life and work The son of Joseph Hutton, a Unitarian minister, Richard Holt Hutton was born at Leeds. His family moved to Londo ...

of ''

''. Her name appears on the petition for

female 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 ...

published by ''

The Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,00 ...

''.

Later life

Collet met

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

and had a lifelong interest in

transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...

Moncure D. Conway Moncure Daniel Conway (March 17, 1832 – November 15, 1907) was an American abolitionist minister and radical writer. At various times Methodist, Unitarian, and a Freethinker, he descended from patriotic and patrician families of Virginia and ...

recollected in his autobiography that

had asked after her as well. She also had an interest in

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...

and the

Hindu reform movements Contemporary groups, collectively termed Hindu reform movements, reform Hinduism, Neo-Hinduism, or Hindu revivalism, strive to introduce regeneration and reform to Hinduism, both in a religious or spiritual and in a societal sense. The movement ...

. She published several books on this topic including ''The Brahmo Year-Book'', ''Lectures and Tracts by

Keshub Chunder Sen Keshub Chandra Sen ( bn, কেশবচন্দ্র সেন; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within ...

'' (1870), ''A Historical Sketch of the Brahmo Somaj'' (1873), ''Outlines and Episodes of Brahmic Histor'' (1884). F. H Stead published the ''Life and Letters of

Raja Rammohun Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...

'' after her death in 1900. She is buried in the dissenters section on the west side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Publications

* ''George Jacob Holyoake and modern atheism: a biographical and critical essay'' (1855) * ''The Brahmo Year-Book'' * ''Lectures and Tracts by Keshub Chunder Sen'' (1870) * ''A Historical Sketch of the Brahmo Somaj'' (1873) * ''Outlines and Episodes of Brahmic History'' (1884)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collet, Sophia Dobson 1822 births 1894 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English Unitarians English suffragists English feminists English non-fiction writers People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society