I began my PhD in 2009 having completed a Master of Studies in English Literature 1780-1900 at Oxford University in 2009 (AHRC funded), and a BA in English and American Literature at Warwick University in 2008 (First Class Honours).

'The Female Philanthropist and the Victorian Text 1838 - 1894'

My thesis pursues the presence of the female philanthropist in a range of nineteenth-century texts including Henry Thompson's The Life of Hannah More: with Notices of her Sisters, Charlotte Yonge's The Clever Woman of the Family and Beatrice Potter's 'Pages from a Work-Girl's Diary'. It begins with the legacy of Hannah More's writings for early Victorian conceptions of the female philanthropist and ends with Mrs Humphry Ward's Marcella, where the philanthropic heroine is implicated in questions of female suffrage and women's 'true' sphere of influence. By reading the female philanthropist's different textual appearances in fiction, tracts and biographies alongside each other, my project explores the ways in which the figure contributed to changing constructions of class and gender in Victorian literature.

Department: English and Comparative Literary Studies

Supervisor: Dr. Emma Francis

Mentor: Prof. Jackie Labbe

Funding: AHRC

Email: g.mearns@warwick.ac.uk

Gabrielle Mearns

g dot mearns at warwick dot ac dot uk

Sarah Martin (1791-1843)

prison visiting in Yarmouth