26 Facts About Barbara Bodichon

Barbara Bodichon was a leading mid-19th-century feminist and women's rights activist.

Barbara Bodichon published her influential Brief Summary of the Laws of England concerning Women in 1854 and the English Woman's Journal in 1858.

Barbara Bodichon's brother was the Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith.

Barbara Bodichon's parents did not marry as her father's radical views included the belief that marriage laws were injurous to the legal rights of women.

Barbara Bodichon was the eldest of five children born to the couple.

Barbara Bodichon's father had four sisters including Frances "Fanny" Smith, who married William Nightingale, their daughters were Florence Nightingale ; and Joanna Maria, who married John Bonham-Carter MP and founded the Bonham Carter family.

Barbara Bodichon was a Dissenter, a Unitarian, a supporter of free trade, and a benefactor to the poor.

Barbara Bodichon became pregnant by him and he took her to the south of England, housing her in a rented lodge at Whatlington, near Battle, East Sussex, as "Mrs Leigh", the surname of Ben Smith's relations on the Isle of Wight.

Barbara Bodichon's birth caused scandal, as the couple did not marry.

Early in her life, Barbara Bodichon showed a force of character and breadth of sympathies that would win her prominence among philanthropists and social workers.

Incidentally this was in the year that the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, for which Barbara Bodichon had campaigned, allowed women access to divorce courts.

In 1866, cooperating with Emily Davies, Barbara Bodichon produced a scheme to extend university education to women.

The first small experiment in this, at Hitchin, developed into Girton College, Cambridge, to which Barbara Bodichon gave liberally of her time and money.

On 21 November 1865 Barbara Bodichon, helped by Jessie Boucherett and Helen Taylor, brought up the idea of a parliamentary reform aimed at achieving the right to vote for women.

Barbara Bodichon was an early member of the Society of Female Artists and showed 59 art works with them between 1858 and 1886.

Barbara Bodichon was George Eliot's intimate friend and the first to recognise the authorship of Adam Bede.

Barbara Bodichon was an English leader in the movements of education and political rights for women during the 1800s.

Barbara Bodichon's marriage did not deter her from continuing her campaigns for women's rights to education.

Barbara Bodichon studied at the Ladies' College in Bedford Square founded in London, England in 1849.

Barbara Bodichon came from a liberal Unitarian family with a private income.

In 1854, Barbara Bodichon published the Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women, which was crucial in the passage of the Married Women's Property Act.

In 1866, in collaboration with Emily Davies, she presented the idea of university education for women, being able to conduct the first experiment at a college in Hitchin, which developed into Girton College and of which Barbara Bodichon became a dedicated patron.

Barbara Bodichon studied under the English artist William Henry Hunt to develop her skill in watercolours.

Barbara Bodichon belonged to the Langham Place Circle, a group of forward-thinking women artists who developed the English Woman's Journal.

In 1859, Barbara Bodichon, along with many female artists including Eliza Fox, Margaret Gillies, and Emily Mary Osborn all signed a petition demanding access for women to the Royal Academy School.

Barbara Bodichon was accepted, much to the embarrassment of the Academy.