We are marking International Women’s Day in March with events at the Museum and in this month’s blog post, in which Museum Attendant Laura celebrates the lives of three extraordinary, but often overlooked, eighteenth century women.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel by Joseph Brown, after George Müller stipple engraving, 1840s. NPG D9005. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel by Joseph Brown, after George Müller stipple engraving, 1840s. NPG D9005. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
Caroline Herschel
Caroline Lucretia Herschel was one of the pioneering women who paved the way for female astronomers. She was born in 1750 in Hanover, Germany. Her brother was William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered the planet, Uranus. In 1772 Caroline moved to Bath in England to live with her brother, where he was working as a musician and music teacher. She became a singer and ran her brother’s household.
William became interested in astronomy and made his own telescopes. Caroline recorded her brother’s observations and polished the mirrors of the telescopes. The siblings made new discoveries and William became the King’s astronomer and was given a salary.
The Herschels moved closer to Windsor Castle and began using a specially built 20ft telescope. Caroline was officially named William’s assistant astronomer. A few years later they moved again and had a 40ft telescope built. By now Caroline was making her own discoveries, she found eight comets and several nebulae, such as NGC 7380, NGC 7789, and NGC 253 [1]. In 1787, her work was finally recognised, and she was granted an annual salary by George III. She began to cross-index a star catalogue by John Flamsteed, to which she made corrections and added 560 stars. The catalogue was published in 1798.
After her brother’s death in 1822, Caroline returned to Hanover. Along with Mary Somerville, Caroline was elected an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society. She was also elected an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and she was awarded a gold medal for science by the King of Prussia. So important were her contributions to astronomy, that several discoveries were named after her, including the asteroid 281 Lucretia, discovered in 1888. Caroline Herschel died in 1848, a rare example of an eighteenth-century woman whose professional contributions were recognised in her lifetime.
Eleanor Coade
Eleanor Coade manufactured and sold artificial stone, a cheaper alternative to traditional stone, which proved a huge success at a time when people were adorning their homes and gardens with neo-classicism sculptures. Born in 1733 in Exeter, Eleanor moved to London and set up in business as a linen draper. In 1769 she bought an artificial stone manufacturing business, where she adapted and improved an existing formula to make a material that looked like the real thing. It carved well, was resistant to weathering, could be made hollow and was quick to manufacture and mass produce. Many sculptures and decorations made from Coade stone still stand today, not just in Britain, but across the globe. George IV used Coade Stone in the refurbishment and extension of Buckingham Palace [1].
Eleanor brought out a catalogue in 1784, which had almost 750 designs [2]. To meet the high demand for her products, she opened a new showroom, called Coade’s Gallery. For 14 years she took on a business partner, but she remained the owner and was responsible for the majority of its success.
Eleanor died in 1821. She kept her formula secret from everyone but a select few, and never patented it. The business was bought after her death and continued manufacturing for another twenty years. Not much is known about Eleanor’s personal life, and there are no known portraits of her. She was an astute business woman, and incredibly successful in an industry that was dominated by men. When Eleanor died, she left some of her money to her married female friends, however there was a stipulation that the money was to be theirs alone, and not owned by their husbands, as was custom at the time.
Anna Williams
Anna Williams was born 1706 in Wales. She moved to London in 1727 with her father, Zachariah Williams, a physician and scientist. Anna could do needle work; write poetry and she knew French and Italian. She briefly assisted Stephen Gray, who was an investigator of electricity [1], before she went blind in 1740. Anna carried on as best she could and cared for her aging father. The two became known to Samuel Johnson, and he arranged for a surgeon to operate on her eyes, in the hope she might regain her sight. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful, and she remained blind for the rest of her life. Anna stayed on at Johnson’s home to recover and then became his housekeeper, with short intervals, for over thirty years [2].
Anna published a translation from French of Bléterie’s Life of the Emperor Julian in 1746, and in 1766 her Miscellanies in Prose and Verse was published, with contributions from Johnson. Although neither made much income for Anna, it was still a remarkable achievement for a blind woman, living in Georgian England, to became a published author. Anna still had little money, and she applied for an annual stipend of £10 from a charity for the blind. She was unsuccessful [3], however, thanks to a small allowance from Johnson and various contributions from others, Anna ended up with an income. As well as being a published poet and Johnson’s housekeeper, Williams also contributed her time to a Ladies’ Charity School. When she died, Anna made the school the sole beneficiary in her will [4].
Known for her bad temper, Boswell describes Anna as being “very peevish; and [he] wondered at Johnson’s patience with her . . .” Two of Anna’s biggest nemeses in Johnson’s household were Mrs. Desmoulins, who left the house in 1783, due to repeatedly clashing with Anna for years, and Francis Barber, who left Johnson’s in 1756 due to arguments with Williams – although he returned some years later. Johnson described his warring household in a letter: “Williams hates everybody. Levett hates Desmoulins and does not love Williams. Desmoulins hates them both. Poll loves none of them.”
Johnson drank tea with Anna most nights, which Boswell reports in his Life of Johnson. Boswell observed that when Anna poured out the tea, she determined the cup was full by putting her finger into the cup to touch it. Although in the footnotes, he admits he may have made a mistake, adding “. . . I have been informed . . . that she acquired such a niceness of touch, as to know, by the feeling on the outside of the cup, how near it was to being full.”
With Anna’s health continuing to decline, she spent three summers in the countryside, but she eventually succumbed to her ailments and died in 1783. Johnson was visiting a friend at the time and received the news of her death by letter telling him that “ . . . She died without struggle, retaining her faculties entire to the very last . . .” Johnson wrote to a friend “My loss is really great. She had been my domestick companion for more than thirty years, and when I come home, I shall return to a desolate habitation.” He also wrote to his daughter-in-law Lucy in 1783: “Last month died Mrs. Williams*, who had been to me for thirty years in the place of a sister . . .” It is possible that few knew Johnson the way Anna Williams knew him.
References
Caroline Herschel: [1] NGC 7380, NGC 7789, NGC 253 https://nasasearch.nasa.gov/search?query=caroline+herschel&affiliate=nasa&utf8=%E2%9C%93
[2] http://scientificwomen.net/women/herschel-caroline-43
Further reading: All Things Georgian: Tales from the Long Eighteenth-Century by Joanne Major & Sarah Murden.
Eleanor Coade: [1] [2] Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era: The Eighteenth-Century Struggle for Female Success in a Man’s World by Mike Rendell.
Anna Williams: [1] [3] [4] Dr Johnson’s Household by Lyle Larsen
[2] The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir by Michael Bundock
* Anna never married, but ‘Mrs’ was often used for an unmarried older lady, or for an unmarried business women.