Jane Wigham: Difference between revisions
Victuallers (talk | contribs) husband was named John and he was the one who did not support her |
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Smeal was born in [[Glasgow]] in 1801, the daughter of [[William Smeal]], a grocer and [[Quakers|Quaker]] of the Glasgow society. She was educated as a Quaker at [[Ackworth School]] in Yorkshire. The family resided in [[Edinburgh]], later moving to [[Aberdeen]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whyte|first1=Iain|title='Send Back the Money!': The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery|date=2012|publisher=James Clarke & Co|accessdate=29 May 2015}}</ref> As Quakers, Smeal's family were unusual in Scotland. The 1851 census shows that there were less than 400 active Scottish Quakers at the time.<ref name="bread">{{cite book|last=Pickering|first=Paul A|author2=Alex Tyrrell |title=The people's bread: a history of the Anti-Corn Law League |page=55|publisher=Leicester University Press|year=2000|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oAzdnKItEIwC&pg=PA55 | isbn=978-0-7185-0218-8}}</ref> |
Smeal was born in [[Glasgow]] in 1801, the daughter of [[William Smeal]], a grocer and [[Quakers|Quaker]] of the Glasgow society. She was educated as a Quaker at [[Ackworth School]] in Yorkshire. The family resided in [[Edinburgh]], later moving to [[Aberdeen]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whyte|first1=Iain|title='Send Back the Money!': The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery|date=2012|publisher=James Clarke & Co|accessdate=29 May 2015}}</ref> As Quakers, Smeal's family were unusual in Scotland. The 1851 census shows that there were less than 400 active Scottish Quakers at the time.<ref name="bread">{{cite book|last=Pickering|first=Paul A|author2=Alex Tyrrell |title=The people's bread: a history of the Anti-Corn Law League |page=55|publisher=Leicester University Press|year=2000|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oAzdnKItEIwC&pg=PA55 | isbn=978-0-7185-0218-8}}</ref> |
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Smeal became the leader<ref name=elizaodnb/> and secretary of the radical [[Glasgow Ladies Emancipation Society]]. Her father William founded the [[Glasgow Emancipation Society|Glasgow Anti-Slavery Society]] in 1822.<ref name=drbleaflet>[http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DRB-Exhibition-Booklet.pdf Women on the Platform], DRBs Scottish Women’s History Group, retrieved 3 June 2015</ref> Smeal had a record of anti-slavery activity, long before the free Church became involved in the issue. In 1838 she published an important pamphlet with [[Elizabeth Pease]] of Darlington titled ''Address to the Women of Great Britain''. This document called for British women to speak in public and to form anti-slavery organisations for women.<ref name=pipes>{{cite book| |
Smeal became the leader<ref name=elizaodnb/> and secretary of the radical [[Glasgow Ladies Emancipation Society]]. Her father William founded the [[Glasgow Emancipation Society|Glasgow Anti-Slavery Society]] in 1822.<ref name=drbleaflet>[http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DRB-Exhibition-Booklet.pdf Women on the Platform], DRBs Scottish Women’s History Group, retrieved 3 June 2015</ref> Smeal had a record of anti-slavery activity, long before the free Church became involved in the issue. In 1838 she published an important pamphlet with [[Elizabeth Pease]] of Darlington titled ''Address to the Women of Great Britain''. This document called for British women to speak in public and to form anti-slavery organisations for women.<ref name=pipes>{{cite book|editor-last=Ewan|editor-first=Elizabeth L.|editor2-last=Innes |editor2-first=Sue |editor3-last=Reynolds |editor3-first=Sian | editor4-last=Pipes |editor4-first=Rose|title=The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women From the Earliest Times to 2004|date=2006|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|location=Edinburgh|isbn=0748626603|page=376|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zs6qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA376}}</ref> An address that Smeal prepared for [[Queen Victoria]] has been credited with being the "final blow" that ended slavery in the Caribbean.<ref name=smitley>{{cite book|last1=Smitley|first1=Megan|title=The Feminine Public Sphere: Middle-class Women and Civic Life in Scotland|date=2009|isbn=184779744X|page=1803|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uPhsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1803}}</ref> |
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In 1840 Smeal became the second wife of the Quaker John Wigham, who was a tea merchant and active abolitionist, in Glasgow. Wigham had lost two of his children and his wife in 1830, but the family was renewed when he married Smeal. Jane Smeal became Jane Wigham and she formed a close friendship and collaboration with her stepdaughter, [[Eliza Wigham]].<ref name=pipes/><ref name=elizaodnb/> Smeal and Wigham's marriage took place in the same year as the [[World's Anti-Slavery Convention]] in London, where Eliza was one of the delegates.<ref name=crawford>{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928|date=2003|isbn=1135434026|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2EK9P7-ZMsC&pg=PA708}}</ref> |
In 1840 Smeal became the second wife of the Quaker John Wigham, who was a tea merchant and active abolitionist, in Glasgow. Wigham had lost two of his children and his wife in 1830, but the family was renewed when he married Smeal. Jane Smeal became Jane Wigham and she formed a close friendship and collaboration with her stepdaughter, [[Eliza Wigham]].<ref name=pipes/><ref name=elizaodnb/> Smeal and Wigham's marriage took place in the same year as the [[World's Anti-Slavery Convention]] in London, where Eliza was one of the delegates.<ref name=crawford>{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=Elizabeth|title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928|date=2003|isbn=1135434026|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2EK9P7-ZMsC&pg=PA708}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 21:54, 18 July 2015
Jane Smeal | |
|---|---|
 Eliza Wigham, Mary A. Estlin, and Jane Wigham c. 1845 | |
| Born | 1801 |
| Died | 1888 (aged 86–87) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Ackworth School |
| Relatives | William Smeal, Eliza Wigham |
Jane Wigham or Jane Smeal (1801–1888) was a leading Scottish abolitionist. She was the stepmother of Eliza Wigham and the second wife of John Wigham.
Life
Smeal was born in Glasgow in 1801, the daughter of William Smeal, a grocer and Quaker of the Glasgow society. She was educated as a Quaker at Ackworth School in Yorkshire. The family resided in Edinburgh, later moving to Aberdeen.[1] As Quakers, Smeal's family were unusual in Scotland. The 1851 census shows that there were less than 400 active Scottish Quakers at the time.[2]
Smeal became the leader[3] and secretary of the radical Glasgow Ladies Emancipation Society. Her father William founded the Glasgow Anti-Slavery Society in 1822.[4] Smeal had a record of anti-slavery activity, long before the free Church became involved in the issue. In 1838 she published an important pamphlet with Elizabeth Pease of Darlington titled Address to the Women of Great Britain. This document called for British women to speak in public and to form anti-slavery organisations for women.[5] An address that Smeal prepared for Queen Victoria has been credited with being the "final blow" that ended slavery in the Caribbean.[6]
In 1840 Smeal became the second wife of the Quaker John Wigham, who was a tea merchant and active abolitionist, in Glasgow. Wigham had lost two of his children and his wife in 1830, but the family was renewed when he married Smeal. Jane Smeal became Jane Wigham and she formed a close friendship and collaboration with her stepdaughter, Eliza Wigham.[5][3] Smeal and Wigham's marriage took place in the same year as the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, where Eliza was one of the delegates.[7]
After the Ladies' Emancipation Society ceased activity, Jane and Eliza, along with some of their friends, set up the Edinburgh chapter of the National Society of Women's Suffrage. Priscilla Bright McLaren, the president, Elizabeth Pease, the treasurer, and McLaren's daughter Agnes McLaren joined Eliza as joint secretaries.[8][9] Despite a lack of support from her husband John; Jane and her stepdaughter established the Edinburgh society as one of the leading British groups supporting the controversial views of William Lloyd Garrison.[3]
John Wigham died in 1864 and Eliza remained on at the family home on South Gray Street in Edinburgh to care for her stepmother. Jane died in November 1888 after a prolonged illness.[3]
Legacy
Four of the women associated with Edinburgh in the nineteenth century were the subject of a campaign by Edinburgh historians in 2015. The group aimed to gain recognition for Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Priscilla Bright McLaren, Eliza Wigham, and Jane Smeal – the city's "lost heroines".[10]
References
- ^ Whyte, Iain (2012). 'Send Back the Money!': The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery. James Clarke & Co.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Pickering, Paul A; Alex Tyrrell (2000). The people's bread: a history of the Anti-Corn Law League. Leicester University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-7185-0218-8.
- ^ a b c d Lesley M. Richmond, 'Wigham, Eliza (1820–1899)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 3 June 2015
- ^ Women on the Platform, DRBs Scottish Women’s History Group, retrieved 3 June 2015
- ^ a b Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose, eds. (2006). The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women From the Earliest Times to 2004. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 376. ISBN 0748626603.
- ^ Smitley, Megan (2009). The Feminine Public Sphere: Middle-class Women and Civic Life in Scotland. p. 1803. ISBN 184779744X.
- ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2003). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928. ISBN 1135434026.
- ^ National Society of Women's Suffrage. Examiner; Jan 14 1871; 3285; British Periodicals pg 55
- ^ Eliza Wigham, The Scottish Suffragists, retrieved 30 May 2015
- ^ Campaign to honour four 'forgotten' heroines of Scottish history, HeraldScotland, 2 June 2015, retrieved 5 June 2015