14 Facts About Eliza Ashton

Eliza Ann Ashton was an English-born Australian journalist and social reformer.

Eliza Ashton wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph in Sydney under the names Faustine and Mrs Julian Ashton.

Eliza Ashton was a founding member of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales.

Eliza Ashton attended a college for girls in North London, followed by a boarding school in France.

Eliza Ashton married the artist Julian Ashton on 1 August 1876 and moved with him to Australia in 1878.

Eliza Ashton was a journalist, writer and literary critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph of Sydney.

Eliza Ashton wrote an article on the education of girls in the Centennial Magazine.

Under the pseudonym Faustine she wrote mainly social commentary pieces while under the name Mrs Julian Eliza Ashton she was known as a literary critic with a keen analysis.

Eliza Ashton was described by a writer in Table Talk as a practical philosopher with no sympathy for the purely sentimental.

Eliza Ashton was an active social reformer, being a committee member of the Women's Literary Society in Sydney and a founding member of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales.

News of the proposal prompted a wave of criticism in the press and accusations that Eliza Ashton was trying to promote concepts of "free love," "concubinage" and prostitution.

Lady Jersey banned Eliza Ashton from visiting Government House, the Governor's official residence and called on the league to distance themselves from Eliza Ashton.

On 10 April 1892, Eliza Ashton gave another lecture on marriage, which was summarised by the Daily Telegraph and repeated later in the month by The Kerang Times.

On 11 July 1900, Eliza Ashton became ill with what was described as nervous prostration, before falling into unconsciousness the following day.