Abstract
[Truncated abstract] This is a study of a woman’s life that identifies how an upper-middle-class upbringing, that included attempted tertiary education, induced her into a marriage and life-style that was the antithesis of her early aspirations. Her life in the early twentieth-century was to engender a sense of grievance that embittered relations with her family. While she was to take advantage of her travels to undertake a lecturing career, her sense of personal fulfilment was only to be met during the 1940s ‘Blitz’ of London. Her rich life-story is the essence of this thesis.
David Lambert and Alan Lester among others have written that Biography remains a powerful way of narrating the past. Philip Zeigler considers that the all-important job of biographers is above all to understand their subjects and to convey that understanding to their readers. An essential element of this study is therefore not only of 'the Life' but also of 'the Times'.
The 1890s in Britain was a decade of diverse middle-class anxieties about the emerging status and roles of young women. Perhaps it is inevitable that residual reactionary pressures, impacting here on women of the upper-middle-class, inhibited the trumpeted social and educational advances. In this context one woman's experiences challenge some generalizations made by those historians who have extolled the period as one during which women were enabled to take advantage of opportunities provided by tertiary education.
David Lambert and Alan Lester among others have written that Biography remains a powerful way of narrating the past. Philip Zeigler considers that the all-important job of biographers is above all to understand their subjects and to convey that understanding to their readers. An essential element of this study is therefore not only of 'the Life' but also of 'the Times'.
The 1890s in Britain was a decade of diverse middle-class anxieties about the emerging status and roles of young women. Perhaps it is inevitable that residual reactionary pressures, impacting here on women of the upper-middle-class, inhibited the trumpeted social and educational advances. In this context one woman's experiences challenge some generalizations made by those historians who have extolled the period as one during which women were enabled to take advantage of opportunities provided by tertiary education.
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
Publication status | Unpublished - 2013 |