Women, Marriage and Politics, 1860-1914

This illuminating study taps a rich source of women's correspondence and diaries to build a convincing picture of their influence in Victorian and Edwardian politics, as the wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters of men in power.

Although women are often seen as "hidden from history," this book finally unveils the personal experiences of wives, mothers, and sisters in more than fifty British political families in Victorian and Edwardian England. Drawing on rich new evidence from women's correspondence and diaries between 1860 and 1914, Pat Jalland examines the experience of courtship, marriage, and childbirth and analyzes the vital domestic and political functions they performed. With its intimate approach to women's lives, this book is a welcome complement to the better-known public history of women and the women's movement.