The First English Feminist

For our debut post, I thought it only fitting to write about a woman who has been dubbed "The First English Feminist".

We're going back 356 years, to the North East of England and the town (now city) of Newcastle. Its 30 years since the plague struck and wiped out one-third of the population. Its 20 years since Charles 1 was imprisoned in Newcastle during the civil war. The year is 1666 and Mary Astell is born into a middle class family, her father is a coal merchant. Mary was born into a world where women didn't receive any formal education although we do know that Mary was fortunate to receive an informal education from her uncle.

Newcastle at this time was prone to civil unrest and riots and while we can't say for certain, this may have had a lasting impact on Mary's views on politics.

In 1688, Mary moved to Chelsea, London both of her parents had passed, and she had no family who could (or would) support her, she lived her life in the capital as an impoverished gentlewoman. During this time she asked for assistance from William Sancroft, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, he provided financial support and introduced her to her future publisher. It's safe to say Mary was grateful for this as she later dedicated a book of poetry to him.

Mary soon found herself in a circle of other influential women including Elisabeth Elstob (a pioneer of Anglo-Saxon studies) and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (who introduced and advocated for smallpox inoculations in the UK).

By 1694, Mary had published her first book (anonymously) "A Serious Proposal To The Ladies, for the Advancement of their true and greatest Interest". The book was both highly controversial and hugely popular, mainly because Mary argued that women were not intellectually inferior to men and that women should have access to education so that they could make their own decisions and control their own lives.

In 1700 she published "Some reflections on marriage" where she criticised marriage without consent, in it she asked “for what poor woman is ever taught that she should have a higher design than to get her a husband?” However at no point does she call for marriage reform, in fact, she argued that while marriage wouldn't benefit women it was an opportunity for women to grow spiritually through patient, Christian suffering.

9 years later, Mary, Lady Catherine Jones and a number of independent, aristocratic women funded a school for the daughters of war pensioners (these daughters were the daughters of the Chelsea pensioners). The school was backed by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (now known as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge).

Its believed that Mary was the first headmistress although there's not a lot of evidence to show that was the case.

When she was 60, Mary moved in with Lady Catherine Jones, its believed that Lady Catherine was a lesbian and there is some speculation that the pair were more than friends due to the fact neither woman married and Lady Catherine's ashes were buried with her good friend Mary Kendall. Having said this, Mary was an incredibly religious woman and was sick so it may have been that she was living with a long term friend who could help her while she was ill.

Mary passed away in 1731 following a mastectomy to remove breast cancer. While she was alive Mary Astell was celebrated and saitirised but within 2o years of her death, she was soon fading into obscurity. Only four of her letters survive and that's because they were written to wealthy aristocrats.

In 2021 a deputy librarian at Magdalen College, Cambridge discovered a collection of 47 of Marys work which showed how involved she was with the philosophy and literature of her time.

There's no statues or plaques commemorating Mary's life but there are plans to unveil a blue plaque in her memory in 2023 in her hometown of Newcastle.