14 Facts About Arthur Munby

Arthur Joseph Munby was a British diarist, poet, portrait photographer, barrister and solicitor.

Arthur Munby was educated at St Peter's School, York and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1851, and was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1855.

Arthur Munby worked as a civil servant in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners' office from 1858 until his retirement in 1888.

Arthur Munby's published poetry included the collections Benoni and Verses New and Old.

Arthur Munby taught Latin at the Working Men's College for more than a decade and helped promote the Working Men's College Volunteer Corps, a response to the national call in 1859 for Volunteer Rifle Corps in response to a perceived war threat from Napoleon III.

In 1864, a sister Working Women's College was established; Arthur Munby was a leading spirit of the new college and taught there.

Arthur Munby had an interest in working-class women, particularly those who performed hard physical labour.

Arthur Munby strolled through the streets of London and other industrial cities and approached working women to ask about their lives and the details of their work, while noting their clothes and dialects.

Arthur Munby kept journals from 1859 to 1898 that recorded the details of his interactions and in them he expressed his desire for the strength and care of a working woman.

Arthur Munby was an amateur artist, and his diaries contain sketches of working women.

Arthur Munby collected hundreds of photographs of such subjects as women who worked at collieries, kitchen maids, milkmaids, charwomen, and acrobats.

Arthur Munby once visited Cullwick at her workplace where she is actually a servant.

Arthur Munby continued to play the role of his domestic servant and only took on the role of a wife and lady when they traveled to Europe.

Arthur Munby required they remain sealed until the 77th anniversary of his wedding day in 1950.