Frances Henrietta Müller (1846 – 4 January 1906) was a British women's rights activist and

theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

Biography

Müller was born in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, Chile to William Müller, a German businessman, and Maria Henrietta Müller who was English.Elizabeth Crawford, 'Henrietta

rances Rances refers to the following places: * Rances, Switzerland Rances () is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Rances is first mentioned around 972-73 as ''Rancias''. The name of Ra ...

Muller (c.1851-1906)', in ''The Women's Suffrage Movement. A Reference Guide 1866-1928'', London, Routledge, 2001, pg.428-430. As a child, she received little in the way of formal schooling but spoke six languages and was admitted to

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1873. It was there that she became involved in the

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 ...

movement, helping to found women's trade unions and the

Women's Printing Society The Women's Printing Society was a British publishing house founded in either 1874 or 1876 by Emma Paterson and Emily Faithfull with the company being officially incorporated as a cooperative in 1878. Involvement in the suffragist movement The ...

with

Emma Paterson Emma Anne Paterson (''née'' Smith; 5 April 1848 – 1 December 1886) was an English feminist and trade unionist. Life Emma Anne Smith was born in London on 5 April 1848, the daughter of Henry Smith (died 1864), headmaster of a school in St ...

. Müller left Cambridge in 1878 and in the same year stood for election to the London School Board. Her campaign was successful, and she became one of the first female members of the board.Brown, Susan; Clements, Patricia; and Grundy, Isobel (eds.) (2006)
"Henrietta Müller"
. ''Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. Retrieved on 27 September 2014. During her term, she convinced the board to employ female workers—"cannily pointing out that this would save money since women were paid less than men"—and was involved with

Annie Leigh Browne Annie Leigh Browne (14 March 1851 – 8 March 1936) was a United Kingdom educationist and suffragist. She co-founded College Hall, London, and funded and worked to get women elected to local government. Life Browne was born in Bridgwater in 1851 ...

and Mary Stewart Kilgour in establishing the first women's residence hall ( College Hall) in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

before leaving the board in 1885. In 1883 Müller, and others, founded the Society for Promoting the Return of Women as Poor Law Guardians, believing that work in the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

system was best suited to women. She was an executive member of the

National Vigilance Association The National Vigilance Association was a British society established in August 1885 "for the enforcement and improvement of the laws for the repression of criminal vice and public immorality".Rachael Attwood, "Stopping the Traffic: the National Vig ...

, which opposed the sexual exploitation of women and supported the closure of brothels, but resigned in 1888 when the organisation described pamphlets about

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

as "vicious literature"; Müller believed that contraception could empower women. She was also on the executive committee of 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 ...

and was a supporter of the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

Müller wrote numerous articles for 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 ...

'' which discussed the empowerment of unmarried women and criticised contemporary marriage. In 1888 she founded her own periodical, ''The Women's Penny Paper'' (later titled ''

The Woman's Signal ''The Woman's Signal'' was a weekly British feminist magazine published by Marshall & Son, London, from 4 January 1894 to 23 March 1899. It was edited by Lady Henry Somerset, Annie Holdsworth and Florence Fenwick-Miller. Although primarily a tem ...

''), the first women's newspaper in London; she edited the paper 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 ...

Helena B. Temple. By 1891, Müller had mostly withdrawn from politics and feminist activism, and joined 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 ...

. The next year she travelled to India as a lecturer on behalf of the society and became known as "the renowned woman-suffragist". After meeting

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

at the

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

in 1893 she edited a number of his books, including ''

Lectures from Colombo to Almora ''Lectures from Colombo to Almora'' (1897) is a book of Swami Vivekananda based on the lectures he delivered in Sri Lanka and India after his return from the West. Vivekananda reached Colombo, British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 15 January 1897. Af ...

'', published in 1897. She adopted a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

son in 1895. She later moved to China and then the United States, where she died in 1906 in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Her estate was left to her sister

Eva McLaren Eva Maria McLaren (née Müller; 1852 – 16 August 1921) was an English suffragist, writer and campaigner. She served as Superintendent of the Franchise department of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She was actively associated wit ...

, also a women's rights activist, with no mention of her adopted son in her will.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Henrietta 1846 births 1906 deaths Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge British editors British expatriates in China British expatriates in India British expatriates in the United States British tax resisters British Theosophists British women's rights activists British women journalists British women editors Chilean emigrants to England People from Valparaíso Chilean people of German descent British people of German descent Members of the London School Board 19th-century women writers Chilean suffragists Chilean expatriates in England Chilean editors Chilean women journalists