Victoria, Lady Welby (27 April 1837 – 29 March 1912), more correctly Lady Welby-Gregory, was a self-educated British

philosopher of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, the ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

and watercolourist.

Life

Welby was born to the Hon. Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie and

Lady Emmeline Stuart-Wortley Lady Emmeline Charlotte Elizabeth Stuart-Wortley (née Manners; 1806 – 20 October 1855) was an English poet and writer, best known for her ''Travels in the United States, etc. During 1849 and 1850''. She was editor of '' The Keepsake'' volumes ...

, and christened Victoria Alexandrina Maria Louisa Stuart-Wortley. Following the death of her father in 1844, she travelled widely with her mother, and recorded her travel experiences in her diary. When her mother died on their travels in Syria in 1855, she returned to England to stay with her grandfather, John Manners, the 5th Duke of Rutland, at

Belvoir Castle Belvoir Castle ( ) is a faux historic castle and stately home in Leicestershire, England, situated west of the town of Grantham and northeast of Melton Mowbray. The Castle was first built immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066 an ...

. In 1858 she moved to

Frogmore Frogmore is an estate within the Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. It comprises , of primarily private gardens managed by the Crown Estate. It is the location of Frogmore House, a royal retreat, and Frogmore Cottage. ...

to live with a friend of her mother's – the Duchess of Kent,

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , house = , father = Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death ...

, Queen Victoria's mother. On the death of the duchess she was appointed a

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen ...

to her godmother, the Queen herself. In 1863 she married Sir William Earle Welby-Gregory, 4th baronet (1829–1898), who was active in British politics. She and Sir William lived together at

Denton Manor Denton is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 273 at the 2011 census. It is situated approximately both south-west of Grantham and west from the A1 road. H ...

in Lincolnshire. They had three children, including a daughter,

Nina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms * National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology * No income ...

, who married Edwardian rake and publisher Harry Cust. Once her children were grown and had moved out of the house, Welby, who had had little formal education, began a fairly intense process of self-education. This included mixing, corresponding, and conversing with some of the leading British thinkers of her day, some of whom she invited to the Manor. It was not unusual for Victorian Englishmen of means to become thinkers and writers (e.g. Darwin,

Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...

J. S. Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

). Welby is one of the few women of her place and time to do the same. Her early publications were on Christian theology, and particularly addressed the interpretation of the Christian

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

s. The first, ''Links and Clues'', was published in 1881, but like several that followed was little read and noticed. The process of wondering why this was so led Welby to become interested in language,

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

, persuasion, and philosophy. By the late 19th century, she was publishing articles in the leading English language academic journals of the day, such as ''

Mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

'' and ''

The Monist ''The Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of philosophy. It was established in October 1890 by American publisher Edward C. Hegeler. History Init ...

''. She published her first philosophical book, ''What Is Meaning? Studies in the Development of Significance'' in 1903, following it with ''Significs and Language: The Articulate Form of Our Expressive and Interpretive Resources'', in 1911. That same year, "Significs", the name she gave to her theory of meaning, was the title of a long article she contributed to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Her writings on the reality of time culminated in her article ''Time As Derivative'' (1907). ''What Is Meaning?'' was sympathetically reviewed for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' by the founder of American

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for ...

, which led to an eight-year correspondence between them, one that has been published three times, most recently as Hardwick (2001). Welby and Peirce were both academic outsiders, and their approaches to language and meaning had some things in common. But most of the correspondence consists of Peirce elaborating his related theory of

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

. Welby's replies did not conceal that she found Peirce hard to follow, but by circulating copies of some of Peirce's letters to her, she did much to introduce Peirce to British thinkers. Contemporary Peircians have since returned the favour by being sympathetic students of Welby's ideas. C. K. Ogden began corresponding with Welby in 1910, and his subsequent writings were very much influenced by her theories, although he tried to minimise this fact in his best-known book, '' The Meaning of Meaning'' (1923). She also corresponded with

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, F. C. S. Schiller,

Mary Everest Boole Mary Everest Boole (11 March 1832 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire – 17 May 1916 in Middlesex, England) was a self-taught mathematician who is best known as an author of didactic works on mathematics, such as ''Philosophy and Fun of Algebra'', an ...

, the Italian pragmatists

Giovanni Vailati Giovanni Vailati (24 April 1863 – 14 May 1909) was an Italian proto-analytic philosopher, historian of science, and mathematician. Life Vailati was born in Crema, Lombardy, and studied engineering at the University of Turin. He went on to le ...

and Mario Calderoni,She visited them in Italy in 1903: H. S. Thayer, 1968, ''Meaning and Action: A Critical History of Pragmatism''. P.333.

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

, J. Cook Wilson and

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson Le Roy, ...

. Welby's varied activities included founding the Sociological Society of Great Britain and the Decorative Needlework Society, and writing poetry and plays.

Significs

''"...every one of us is in one sense a born explorer: our only choice is what world we will explore, our only doubt whether our exploration will be worth the trouble. ..And the idlest of us wonders: the stupidest of us stares: the most ignorant of us feels curiosity: while the thief actively explores his neighbour's pocket or breaks into the "world" of his neighbour's house and plate-closet"''. ("Sense, meaning, and interpretation (I)" ''Mind'' N.S. V; 1898)

Welby's concern with the problem of meaning included (perhaps especially) the everyday use of language, and she coined the word ''significs'' for her approach (replacing her first choice of "sensifics"). She preferred "significs" to

and

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

, because the latter were theory-laden, and because "significs" pointed to her specific area of interest, which other approaches to language had tended to ignore. She distinguished between different kinds of sense, and developed the various relations between them and

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: *Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy * Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics *'' Pragmatics'', an academic journal i ...

, and social values. She posited three main kinds of sense: ''sense'', ''meaning'', and ''significance''. In turn, these corresponded to three levels of consciousness, which she called "planetary", "solar", and "cosmic", and explained in terms of a sort of Darwinian theory of evolution. The triadic structure of her thinking was a feature she shared with Peirce. Welby's theories on signification in general were one of a number of approaches to the

theory of language Theory of language is a topic from philosophy of language and theoretical linguistics. It has the goal of answering the questions "What is language?"; "Why do languages have the properties they have?"; or "What is the origin of language?". Even t ...

that emerged in the late 19th century and anticipated contemporary

, and

semiology Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...

. Welby had a direct effect on the Significs group, most of whose members were Dutch, including

Gerrit Mannoury Gerrit Mannoury (17 May 1867 – 30 January 1956) was a Dutch philosopher and mathematician, professor at the University of Amsterdam and communist, known as the central figure in the signific circle, a Dutch counterpart of the Vienna circle.J ...

and Frederik van Eeden. Hence she indirectly influenced L. E. J. Brouwer, the founder of

intuitionistic logic Intuitionistic logic, sometimes more generally called constructive logic, refers to systems of symbolic logic that differ from the systems used for classical logic by more closely mirroring the notion of constructive proof. In particular, systems ...

Bibliography

*185
''A Young Traveller's Journal of a Tour in North and South America During the Year 1850''
T. Bosworth. *1881. ''Links and Clues'' (under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

'Vita'). Macmillan & Co
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/nowiki>_edition(under_the_name_'Hon._Lady_Welby-Gregory')_1883. *1893._"iarchive:jstor-27897102/page/n1">Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_'' ltered">Second_[altered
/nowiki>_edition(under_the_name_'Hon._Lady_Welby-Gregory')_1883. *1893._"iarchive:jstor-27897102/page/n1">Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_186–202._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1897._''Grains_of_Sense''._ ltered">Second_[altered
/nowiki>_edition(under_the_name_'Hon._Lady_Welby-Gregory')_1883. *1893._"iarchive:jstor-27897102/page/n1">Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_186–202._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1897._''Grains_of_Sense''._J._M._Dent">J._M._Dent_&_Co. *1901,_"Notes_on_the_'Welby_Prize_Essay,"_''[ ltered">Second_[altered
/nowiki>_edition(under_the_name_'Hon._Lady_Welby-Gregory')_1883. *1893._"iarchive:jstor-27897102/page/n1">Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_186–202._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1897._''Grains_of_Sense''._J._M._Dent">J._M._Dent_&_Co. *1901,_"Notes_on_the_'Welby_Prize_Essay,"_''iarchive:nsmindreview10edinuoft">Mind_10'':_188–209. *1903._iarchive:whatismeaningst00welbgoog/page/n9.html" ;"title="archive:nsmindreview10edinuoft.html" ;"title="J._M._Dent.html" ;"title="iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft.html" ;"title="iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft.html" ;"title="ltered
/nowiki> edition">ltered">Second Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_186–202._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1897._''Grains_of_Sense''._J._M._Dent">J._M._Dent_&_Co. *1901,_"Notes_on_the_'Welby_Prize_Essay,"_''iarchive:nsmindreview10edinuoft">Mind_10'':_188–209. *1903._iarchive:whatismeaningst00welbgoog/page/n9">''What_Is_Meaning?_Studies_in_the_Development_of_Significance''._London:_Macmillan_&_Co. *1911._iarchive:significanceand00welbgoog/page/n7.html" ;"title="ltered
/nowiki> edition(under the name 'Hon. Lady Welby-Gregory') 1883. *1893. " Meaning_and_metaphor,"_''Monist_3'':_510–525._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_I"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_24–37._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985)._Extract_in_M._Warnock,_ed.,_1996._''Women_Philosophers''._London:_Everyman._. *1896._"Sense,_meaning,_and_interpretation_II"_''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind_5'':_186–202._Reprinted_in_Welby_(1985). *1897._''Grains_of_Sense''._J._M._Dent">J._M._Dent_&_Co. *1901,_"Notes_on_the_'Welby_Prize_Essay,"_''iarchive:nsmindreview10edinuoft">Mind_10'':_188–209. *1903._iarchive:whatismeaningst00welbgoog/page/n9">''What_Is_Meaning?_Studies_in_the_Development_of_Significance''._London:_Macmillan_&_Co. *1911._iarchive:significanceand00welbgoog/page/n7">''Significs_and_Language._The_Articulate_Form_of_Our_Expressive_and_Interpretative_Resources''._London:_Macmillan_&_Co. *1929._''Echoes_of_Larger_Life._A_Selection_from_the_Early_Correspondence_of_Victoria_Lady_Welby''._Edited_by_her_daughter_Emmeline_Cust.html" ;"title="iarchive:jstor-27897102/page/n1">Meaning and metaphor," ''Monist 3'': 510–525. Reprinted in Welby (1985). *1896. "Sense, meaning, and interpretation I" ''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind 5'': 24–37. Reprinted in Welby (1985). Extract in M. Warnock, ed., 1996. ''Women Philosophers''. London: Everyman. . *1896. "Sense, meaning, and interpretation II" ''iarchive:nsmindrev05edinuoft">Mind 5'': 186–202. Reprinted in Welby (1985). *1897. ''Grains of Sense''. J. M. Dent">J. M. Dent & Co. *1901, "Notes on the 'Welby Prize Essay," ''iarchive:nsmindreview10edinuoft">Mind 10'': 188–209. *1903. iarchive:whatismeaningst00welbgoog/page/n9">''What Is Meaning? Studies in the Development of Significance''. London: Macmillan & Co. *1911. iarchive:significanceand00welbgoog/page/n7">''Significs and Language. The Articulate Form of Our Expressive and Interpretative Resources''. London: Macmillan & Co. *1929. ''Echoes of Larger Life. A Selection from the Early Correspondence of Victoria Lady Welby''. Edited by her daughter Emmeline Cust">Mrs. Henry Cust. London: Jonathan Cape. *1931. ''Other Dimensions. A Selection from the Later Correspondence of Victoria Lady Welby''. Edited by her daughter Mrs. Henry Cust. With an Introduction by L. P. Jacks, M.A., D.D., LL.D., D.Litt. London: Jonathan Cape. *1983 (1903). ''What Is Meaning? Studies in the Development of Significance''. Reprint of the edition London, 1903, with an Introductory essay by

and a Preface by Achim Eschbach. Foundations of Semiotics, Volume 2.

John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company was founded in the 1960s by John and Claire Benjamins and is currently managed ...

. *1985 (1911). ''Significs and Language. The Articulate Form of Our Expressive and Interpretative Resources''. Reprint of the edition London, 1911, and of two articles by V. Welby. Edited and introduced by H. Walter Schmitz. Foundations of Semiotics, Volume 5. John Benjamins Publishing Company. *2001 (1977). ''Semiotic and Significs: Correspondence between Charles S. Peirce and Victoria Lady Welby''. Edited by Charles S. Hardwick, with the assistance of James Cook. Texas Tech University Press. ;Lectures * " An address delivered by the Hon. Mrs. Welby to the married women of Newton on the first Thursday in Lent, 1872"

Notes

External links

– short introduction *Nubiola, Jaime, 1996,

in I. Angelelli & M. Cerezo, eds, ''Proceedings of the III Symposium on History of Logic''. Gruyter. See the section titled "Peirce's reception in British philosophy: Lady Welby, Ogden and Russell."
Lady Welby Library
– a collection in Senate House Library, University of London.

an archive of over 5 metres Lady Welby's correspondence, research and reference notes, publications, poetry, newspaper clippings, and printed material, held at th
Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections
York University, Toronto, Canada.
'Authority record: Welby, Victoria, Lady, 1837-1912'
containing a list of correspondents, at ''atom'' (York University Libraries' Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections - Holdings Database)
Publications by Lady Victoria Welby
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welby, Lady Victoria 1837 births 1912 deaths 19th-century British non-fiction writers 19th-century British philosophers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English philosophers 19th-century English writers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English philosophers British maids of honour British people of Scottish descent British semioticians British women non-fiction writers Charles Sanders Peirce English logicians English people of Scottish descent English women non-fiction writers English women philosophers Epistemologists Metaphilosophers Metaphysicians Moral philosophers Ontologists People from Grantham Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of language Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of religion Pragmatists Semioticians

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Wives of baronets

Life

Significs

Bibliography

Notes

Further reading

External links