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1791 to 1799

1791

born ..... Empress Marie Louise .....  eldest daughter of Francis 1,Emperor of Austria and Maria Theresa of Naples. She was also the niece of Marie Antoinette and became the second wife of the Emperor Napoleon . When the Treaty of Schonbrunn was signed Napoleon extracted from the Austrian Emperor the promise of his daughter's hand although such a marriage was in direct breach of the Church and was very unpopular with the Austrian people. Nevertheless Napoleon divorced Josephine and married Marie Louise in 1810 with Berthier acting as his proxy. Four days later she set out for France, was met on the road by the Emperor and on April 1st the religious ceremony was performed. This was followed by festivals and public rejoicing. The events were marred however by a fire which broke out in the house of the Austrian Ambassador during a grand ball and in which the hostess and several others lost their lives. In 1811 her first son was born and it seemed to increase Napoleon's affections for her. Two years later she was appointed Regent when he left to commence his campaign against Germany. They never met again. As the allied armies approached in 1814 she fled to Orleans with her son for the protection of her father.  However, when her husband abdicated his throne and went to Elba it was agreed by the allies that she should obtain the sovereignty of the duchies of Parma and Placentia. When Napoleon was exiled to St Helena she did not conceal her indifference to this nor her association with her chamberlain, Count Neipperg, whom she married in private when Napoleon died. They had a large family. Her government of the duchies was wholly regulated by Austrian policy but in 1831 she was forced to leave Parma due to an insurrection and also again in 1847 when she took refuge at Vienna. She died here on December 18th 1847

1792

England ..... Feminism: a reform movement aiming at the social educational and political equality of women with men - the first great document of feminism was the 'Vindication of the Rights of Women" and was published in this year by the English author Mary Wollstonecraft

France ..... on April 1st a Dutch woman Etta Palm Aelders voiced a passionate argument for women's rights, including the right to divorce, before the French Legislative Assembly. Her first significant contribution to the debate about women's rights had been in 1790 when she published Discourse on the Injustice of the Laws in Favor of Men, at the Expense of Women

born ..... Annabella Byron (Anne Isabella) neé Milbanke ..... English philanthropist who was the wife of Lord Byron and mother of the mathematician Ada, Countess of Lovelace and grandmother of the traveller Anne Blunt. She married Lord Byron in 1815 but they separated in 1816 after Ada was born.  She moved in radical circles and was particularly noted for her commitment to schemes for improving education, especially women's education, many of which she funded. In 1854 she bought the Red Lodge on behalf of the social reformer Mary Carpenter who opened it  as a home for girl offenders.  She was also involved in other reforms, movements and as a friend of Harriet Beecher Stowe was involved in the anti-slavery movement

1793

England ..... the first successful Caesarian section to be performed by a qualified medical practitioner in Britain took place in Blackburn, Lancashire, when a child was delivered from a patient with a fractured pelvis ..... and .....

between 1793 and 1815, during the war with France, women assumed patriotic roles by raising money, providing clothing and making speeches  ..... and .....

born ..... Marie Danilova ..... the greatest Russian dancer of the 19th century. She entered the St Petersburg Imperial School of Ballet and at the age of eight was an exceptional pupil. A year later she began to get roles in various ballets and whilst still a student began to get ballerina roles. In 1809 she graduated ahead of her class but never reached the official status of dancer. Her health was weak and the constant rehearsals and hard work did not help and despite careful medical attention she died at the age of seventeen in 1810. No other Russian dancer either before or after her has had so much poetry written about her

1795

England ..... the 'Articles, Rules, Orders and Regulations" of the Friendly Associated Cotton Spinners of Manchester, England and surrounding areas accepted women as equal members. As well as joining these societies women set up their own all-female Friendly or Benefit Societies or Box clubs. They rose up in the West Country, Gloucester, Manchester and in Birmingham in the house of Mary Adams. The rules were strict. In Manchester any member who fell sick or was unable to work at her trade, calling or employ would be paid benefit of 5s a week for six months. Another in Manchester ruled that benefit in the case of sickness, old age or infirmity be paid to any member who was incapable of work seven days running. The Birmingham society excluded from membership those over forty years old and no sickness benefit was paid to any member who became ill of venereal disease or any other disorder ' contracted or occasioned by a loose and vicious life'. The North Shields Society of 1825 excluded the distempered or lame and benefit was refused to any member 'lamed by quarrelling, or who bears a bastard and she who puts a period to her own days shall forfeit both funeral charges and legacy to the box.' These organisations were the means by which the sober and industrious pulled themselves up and away from the squalor of working class life and the quarrelling, drunkenness, illness, prostitution and misery which drove many of them to suicide ..... and .....

on July 30th, a crowd of women and children gathered in Manchester's Market Place to protest about bread prices. Angry at the shortage of food, they fought with stall-holders and smashed the windows of flour dealers warehouses and homes. A cavalry charge broke up the riot, injuring several people, but protests continued sporadically until 1812  ..... and .... 

born ..... Mary Baker neé Wilcox alias ' Princess Caraboo'.....  the daughter of a Devon village cobbler, a servant girl whose head was always full of wild ideas above her station and who set up an elaborate ruse to try to obtain a ticket to America. She dressed in a turban and oriental robes and appealed to a magistrate in Gloucester pretending that she could not understand anything he said. Mr Worrall, the magistrate, brought in an interpreter and the tale came out that she was a princess, the daughter of a Chinese father and Malayan mother and that she came from a land called Javasu of which she produced a mass of details. She claimed to have been kidnapped by pirates but had managed to escape from them in the English Channel. She was visited by a Dr Wilkinson who was so impressed by her and her story that he published a paper about her and her fame spread. The fashionable people came from miles around to pay court to her and this was her undoing for one of those who came turned out to be a former landlady who recognised her. Her hoax was revealed but her benefactors gave her the money and put her on an emigrant ship to America. However she was back after a few years trying her act in Bath but no-one took her up. She eventually married and died in Bristol in 1865

1796

born ..... Princess Charlotte August ..... only daughter of King George 1V and Caroline of Brunswick (1768). Her parents separated soon after her birth and as she was heir to the British throne was brought up in total seclusion. In 1816 she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg but died in childbirth the following year ..... and .....

born ..... Euphrasia Pelletier (Rose Virginia) ..... of parents who were refugees from the Vendee wars. When she was eighteen she joined the Institute of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge and was made superior of the house in 1825. Soon afterwards she was sent to a new foundation at Angers. She returned to Touis where she met with strong opposition and was accused of innovation, ambition and insubordination, but she rode out the storm and in 1835 official approval was given to the Institute of the Good Shepherd at Angers. This foundation did rescue work for women and those in moral danger and during her 33 years of direction, 110 convents were opened in four continents. She died in 1868 and was canonised in 1940. Her festal day is April 24th ..... and .....

born ..... Margaret Eaton neé O'Neill ..... always known as Peggy she was the daughter of a Washington innkeeper and in 1829 married her second husband John Henry Eaton, Secretary of State for War under President Jackson. Because of her alleged premarital intimacy with Eaton and because of her background the wives of the other cabinet ministers refused to mix with her. Eventually her husband was forced to resign his post in 1831 despite the strenuous efforts of President Jackson who even transferred his support to a presidential candidate Van Buren who was favourably disposed to Peggy. However in Europe she was a great social success when her husband became Ambassador to Spain in 1836. When he died she married a young dancing instructor

1797

England ..... Martha Mears wrote 'Candid Advice to the Fair Sex on the Subject of Pregnancy' a practical book on gynaecology and obstetrics, in which she stressed the need for hygiene in pregnancy and the naturalness of childbirth. This book was also an attempt to dispel certain beliefs concerning pregnancy, one of them being that it was a pathological state ..... and ..... 

in February Jemima Nicholas, a cobbler who, armed with a pitchfork, captured 12 French soldiers and imprisoned them in a church when French troops landed near Fishguard in Pembrokeshire. Their farcical campaign, plundering a handful of farms and advancing two miles inland, ended when they apparently mistook women gathered in Fishguard wearing traditional red cloaks and tall black hats for a contingent of Redcoats. Two days after landing they exchanged their muskets for some bread and cheese and sought surrender terms at the Royal Oak pub. Jemima died in 1832 and it was recorded in the burial register that " she marched against the French and could overcome most men in a fight" ..... and .....

born ..... Mary Shelley ..... author of Frankenstein who was ahead of her time, a free-thinker and an atheist. She was the second daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) and at the age of 17 eloped and lived openly with the poet Percy Byssche Shelley. He was married at the time but she bore him three children, three of whom died in infancy. When his wife committed suicide they married. Her famous novel Frankenstein was created almost by accident when she and Percy were visiting with Lord Byron in 1816 and a competition was arranged. Shelley urged her to develop the story and the novel was published anonymously in 1818. Five years after its publication it was adapted for the stage and as copyright did not exist at this time permission was not required from the author and the first Mary knew of it was the actual performance. Film versions began to appear from 1908 onwards. Mary wrote other novels - Valperga (1823) The Last Man (18260 Lodore (1835) and her last novel was Falkner in 1837. She also wrote poetry and a couple of books describing her travels to Switzerland, Germany and Italy.  She died in 1851

1798

England ..... the first lonely-hearts column appeared in the Ladies Monthly Museum

born ..... Claire Clairmont .....  daughter of Mary Clairmont, second wife of William Godwin, who married her mother when Claire was three and so became the step-sister of Mary Shelley (above) . When Mary Godwin eloped with Shelley she went with her and remained with them on the Continent. On their return to London Claire obtained an introduction to Lord Byron in 1816 and became so intimate with him that when he went to Switzerland she induced the Shelley's to follow him. Her child, Allegra, was born in 1817 and she lived with Byron for nearly three years. In 1821 Allegra was placed in a convent against the will of Claire and died a year later as the result of a fever. Claire subsequently spent the rest of her life in Russia, Italy and Paris. She died in Florence in 1879..... and .....

born ..... Margaret Bayne ..... Scottish missionary who was born in Greenock. She was a gifted linguist and able administrator and after marrying John Wilson established schools for girls in Indian from 1829 and trained teachers for them. After her deathin 1835 her two sisters carried on her work supported by the establishment in Edinburgh in 1837 of a society for the advancement of female education in India

1799

born ..... Elizabeth Acton ..... English cookery expert who was born near Hastings, the daughter of a brewer. She began by writing poetry and had some of it published during the 1820s and 1830s. She lived at Tonbridge where she kept house for her mother and in 1845 her Modern Cookery was published. It became an instant success. Her last book The English Bread Book was published in 1857 two years prior to her death …… " good cookery is the best and truest economy"