The Bluestocking Society
What is the Bluestocking Society?
- In the 1750’s, they were informal gatherings of
both upper class and professional middle class
women and men in the London homes of wellto-do society women.
- It was an interlinked network of literary salons notable
for encouraging intelligent conversation between women
and men
- They replaced the normal ‘cards and alcoholic drinks’
with tea and intellectual conversations
What is the Bluestocking Society?
- They engaged in a wide range of
philanthropic, social and cultural activities,
such as:
- rescuing fallen women
- establishing houses of industry for the
poor and disabled
- organizing subscriptions for published
works by deserving authors
What’s in a Name?
- The term ‘bluestocking’ is thought to allude to Bishop
Benjamin Stillingfleet, a gentleman intellect and
scientist, who wore informal blue worsted stockings to
a meeting instead of formal white or black silk
stockings
- Originally, the term referred to the male participants,
but by the 1770s it included the female members, and
eventually was used primarily or exclusively to refer to
the women of the society.
- Original name was the Bluestocking Circle.
- Several variants of the name used as half-mocking commentary
Bluestocking Club -- Alluded to gentlemen’s clubs from which
women were excluded
-- In recognition of the circle’s parallel
contribution to civil society
Bluestocking Lodge -- like lodges of exclusively male secret
societies, such as the Freemasons
-- in recognition of the circle’s parallel
function in providing opportunities of
mutual interests and common causes
Colledge -- referred to institutes of higher education, from
which women were denied access
-- in recognition of the circle’s interest in intellectual
life and the promotion of scholarship, literature, and
culture
Bluestocking Philosophy
Meant a commitment to the intellectual
companionship of men and women against
the common relations exemplified by
courtly gallantry and sexual intrigue
supposed to be characteristic of the upper
class codes, conventions and practices
The Function of the Bluestocking Society
- The Bluestocking Circles were well connected within
the established order, and had such a vested interest in
it that they resisted any radical change to it
(i.e. Jacobite Revolution of 1745-6, War of Austrian Succession)
- Since the women of the Bluestockings were excluded
from politics, church, state, etc… they directed their
reforming energies into moderation/modification of the
established order, or those aspects they could reach.
Bluestocking Feminism
- The Bluestocking movement was feminist inasmuch as it
promoted the interests of women within the established social,
economic, and cultural order, as that order was being
transformed in various ways in the middle and latter part of the
eighteenth century in England
- It drew on the Renaissance tradition of the ‘learned lady’ in
upper and upper middle-class society
- Bluestocking women had to negotiate carefully between sexist
social conventions, legal restrictions on women’s property and
rights, the gendered nature of the wandering order, and
theorised gender inequality in the conduct book tradition
Evolution of the Name
- The term ‘bluestocking’ became generalized
- It tended to be used by those who either feared or
felt excluded from Bluestocking society, or who
suspected that the Bluestockings circle was a cover
for sexual flirtation or even intrigue of kinds
associated with courtly society
- It became an increasingly derogatory term, used
within a broad reaction against women’s pursuit of
intellectual life and social usefulness beyond mere
domesticity, at least in the upper and middle classes
The Women of the Bluestocking Society
Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Vessey
Frances Boscawen
Hannah More
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Sarah Fielding
Catherine Talbot
Elizabeth Carter
Hester Chapone
Frances Burney
Sarah Scott
Anna Seward
Hester Thrale
Catherine Graham
Amongst others…..
Birthplace Location Map
The map below depicts the birthplaces of some of the Bluestocking members. All of these women
became involved in Bluestocking work and membership after moving to the London area at some point.
A large number of these women moved to the London area in pursuit of the London literary society.
Bluestocking
Year
Birthplace
Frances Boscawen
1719
St. Clere, Kent, England
Elizabeth Carter
1717
Deal, Kent, England
Hester Chapone
1727
Twywell, Northamptonshire, England
Sarah Fielding
1710
East Stour, Dorset, England
Catherine Graham
1731
Wye, Kent, England
Elizabeth Montagu
1721
York, Yorkshire, England
Hannah More
1745
Stapleton, Gloucestershire, England
Sarah Scott
1721
York, Yorkshire, England
Anna Seward
1741
Eyam, Derbyshire, England
Catherine Talbot
1721
Berkshire County, England
Hester Thrale
1741
Bodvel, Caernarvonshire, Wales
Elizabeth Vesey
1715
Ossory County, Ireland
Queen of the Blues
Elizabeth Montagu – 1720-1800
Author and Literary Hostess
 Elizabeth Montagu was born in 1720 in York, Yorkshire to Elizabeth and Matthew Robinson
 Elizabeth was the oldest child, and received the nickname “Fidget” from her family
 Elizabeth and her siblings spent long periods of time with their Grandparents, Dr. and Mrs.
Middleton in Cambridge and it is thought that she received her introduction to classical and
English literature and history during her stays with them
 John Sawbridge and Sarah Scott, Elizabeth’s siblings, both ended up involved in writing
 In 1742, Elizabeth married Edward Montagu, and had a son John, who died in 1744- his
death devastated Elizabeth
 In 1775, her husband died, leaving his entire estate to Elizabeth; except for £3000, which he
left to Matthew Robinson, the second son of Elizabeth’s brother Morris; Elizabeth’s
inheritance was reported to be worth £7000 a year
 In 1776, Elizabeth adopted Matthew and he took the surname Montagu
 Elizabeth died in 1800 at Montagu house, Portman square, leaving her entire estate to
Matthew
Queen of the Blues
- Her parties began as simply literary breakfasts
- By 1760, these literary breakfasts had become large evening assemblies
that did not allow heavy drinking or card playing
- It was encouraged that guests exchange witty conversation on literary
and philosophical subjects
- Elizabeth’s writing and publication was minimal compared to other
members of The Bluestockings, but she was credited as the “Queen of the
Blues” because her role as hostess, facilitator, and sponsor made her an
integral part of the development of the Bluestocking culture
- Elizabeth was viewed by her contemporaries as the perfect example of
how a woman could be intellectual, moral, and a useful member of society
- Elizabeth did have some writings; most of which were letters
Montagu’s Writing
In 1769 she published An Essay on the Writings
and Genius of Shakespeare
The essay defended Shakespeare against the
attacks of critics such as Voltaire and Samuel
Johnson (whose Preface to Shakespeare had
appeared in 1765). Montagu had some not so
nice words against Johnson and his work, and
the publishing of her Essay injured her
relationship with Johnson on a personal level.
Other Ladies
Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806)
-most prolific member of the first generation Bluestockings
- wrote letters, poems, translations and essays
-Poems on Particular Occasions
-An Examination of Mr. Pope’s Essay on Man
-Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy Explain’d for the use of Ladies
-All the Works of Epictetus that are now Extinct
Hester Chapone (1727-1801)
-wrote the most noteworthy and widely read work of the first
generation Bluestockings
- Letters on the Improvement of the Mind: Addressed to a Young Lady
Hannah More (1745-1833)
- Wrote one of the most important Bluestocking works; Bas Bleu: Or, Conversation
- It was the first account of the Bluestockings to be published from within the Bluestocking circle itself
-The poem condemns the women who set the taste for the seventeenth-century salon, and outlines a
different standard for the eighteenth century British salon, as More expressed in her poem that
communication was in danger of being overrun by the addiction of card playing, drinking, and
dancing that society was facing:
Long was Society o’er-run
By Whist, that desolating hun;
Long did Quadrille despotic sit,
That Vandal of colloquial wit;
And Conversation’s setting light
Lay half-obscur’d in Gothic night.
-The poem was addressed to Elizabeth Vesey and More presented her, Elizabeth Montagu, and Frances
Boscawen as the three Bluestocking saviours, all of whom could restore the integrity to polite society:
At length the mental shades decline,
Colloquial wit begins to shine;
Genius prevails, and Conversation
Emerges into Reformation.
-More’s poem has remained the most significant defense of the Bluestocking ideals
Men of the Bluestockings
The Bluestocking Society meetings were primarily for women, but men
were also invited.
Notable men of the Bluestockings:
Benjamin Stillingfleet may have been the source behind the name.
Most notably, Samuel Johnson had attended Bluestocking Society
meetings. This would have been until his and Elizabeth Montagu’s
friendship was affected by her publication defending Shakespeare.
Others - Horace Walpole, Edmund Burke, James Beattie, David Garrick,
William Pulteney, and Joshua Reynolds
The Bluestockings in Art
Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo by
Richard Samuel include Elizabeth Carter, Angelica Kauffman, Anna
Letitia Barbauld, Catharine Macaulay, Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth
Griffith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Ann Sheridan and Charlotte Lennox.
But not all of the art depicting the Bluestocking Society was flattering...
This frenzied scene is a hand-coloured etching done by Thomas Rowlandson in 1815.
Rowlandson depicts in this etching, a stereotypical view of what happens when female
gossips are left alone; a scene very different from the civilized tea and conversation
promoted by the Bluestockings.
The Critics
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Montagu was satirised by Lord Byron as the ridiculous Lady Bluebottle in his Literary
Eclogue of 1821
he had a dig at woman poet Felicia Dorothea Hemans too, suggesting she should ‘knit
bluestockings instead of wearing them’ (possibly motivated by the fact that Hemans was a
more popular and better-selling poet than he was at the time).
French satirical cartoonist Honoré Daumier created a series of etchings of grotesque women
scholars, Les Bas Bleus, aimed squarely at liberated femmes like novelist George Sand, and
Hannah More’s poem of the similar title.
Fanny Burney, a bluestocking member herself, wrote her first play The Witlings about
pretentious patrons of the arts Mrs Voluble, Mrs Sapient and the regal Lady Smatter. The
satire came close to being staged by Sheridan at Drury Lane, until her father persuaded her
to pull it before it got her into trouble with Montagu.
As the tide turned against the dangerously unfeminine bluestockings, depictions became
more sinister, such as the character of mannish feminist Harriet Freke, said to be based on
radical writer Mary Wollstonecraft, in Maria Edgeworth’s 1811 novel Belinda, who meets her
come-uppance in a man-trap.
The Bluestocking Legacy
The Bluestocking Society has had far reaching
effects not just in Europe, but all around the
world. All forms of feminism can find some sort
of tie back to the Bluestockings, whether they
are radical opposites or not.
There is even a Bluestocking Society today,
located in London…..
The Bluestocking Cabaret A London Burlesque Show
“For thinking women and the men who love them”
Questions to ask yourself…or talk
about in class….
- What do YOU think about the Bluestocking
Society?
- Would you brand the society as Feminist?
- If so, with the positive or negative connotation the
title can carry?
- Are you surprised that men were included in the
Bluestocking Society gatherings?
- What is your opinion of the Bluestockings
Cabaret? Is it an inspired homage or is it
disrespectful to the legacy of the Bluestocking
Society?
Works Cited
Kelly, Gary, Elizabeth Eger, Judith Hawley, and Rhoda Zuk. Bluestocking Feminism: Writings of the Bluestocking
Circle, 1738-1785. Charlottesville, Va: InteLex Corp, 2004. Internet resource.
http://bluestockingssociety.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Stockings_Society