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Wedgwood's Letters

Like many better-off Victorian women, Wedgwood wrote a prodigious amount of letters. Some of her letters with particular correspondents are published; see below.

  • Many others are in the Wedgwood Mosley collection at the V&A Wedgwood Collection at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.

  • Wedgwood's correspondence with philosopher Victoria Welby is available from the Victoria Welby fonds.

  • Some of Wedgwood's letters with her uncle Charles Darwin are available at the Darwin Correspondence Project.

  • Wedgwood's letters with Robert Browning are available online within The Brownings' Correspondence, part of the online Brownings Research Guide.

  • Some of Wedgwood's public letters to the Spectator are available below.

Published letter collections

Letters with Robert Browning: Robert Browning and Julia Wedgwood: A Broken Friendship as Revealed by their Letters, ed. Robert Curle. New York: Stokes, 1937. [But watch out - this is not a hugely reliable edition! The online edition mentioned above is much better and more up-to-date.]

 

Letters with Emelia Russell Gurney: in Letters of Emelia Russell Gurney, ed. Ellen Mary Gurney. London: Nisbet, 1902.

A few letters with Victoria Welby: included in Echoes of Larger Life: A Selection from the Early Correspondence of Victoria Lady Welby, ed. Nina (Mrs Henry) Cust. London: Jonathan Cape, 1929.

Some published letters to the press
(very short letters omitted)

May 1870. Miss Wedgwood on Female SuffrageThe Spectator. (signed with full name)

Octt 1871. Mr Erskine's View of LifeThe Spectator. (signed 'J. W. F.')

Aug 1872. Untitled letter (opposing Galton's view that belief in God is merely a fabrication by theologians) The Spectator. (signed 'J. W. F.')

Feb 1877. The Public Worship ActThe Spectator. (signed 'J. W. F.')

June 1878. The Dread and Dislike of ScienceThe Spectator. (signed with full name)

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June 1879. Mr Browning's Dramatic IdylsThe Spectator. (signed 'J. W.')

July 1879. Untitled letter on vivisectionThe Spectator. (signed with full name)

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December 1879. Doubting DoubtThe Spectator. (signed with full name)​

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May 1881. The Duties of a BiographerThe Spectator. (signed with full name)

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Sept 1881. In MemoriamThe Spectator. (signed 'J. W.')

December 1881. Capital Punishment and Vivisection. The Spectator. (signed 'An Opponent of Vivisection')

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Oct 1883. Justice to IrelandThe Spectator. (signed 'J.W.')

Mar 1887. The Supernatural and the MiraculousThe Spectator (signed with full name - so are all letters from now on)

May 1895. Glorifying the Slipshod Life. The Spectator. 

July 1897. Pre-Crimean Anticipations. The Spectator.

October 1897. Mr Lleavelyn Davies on the Broad Church. The Spectator.

June 1899. National and Individual Morality. The Spectator.

July 1899. National MoralityThe Spectator.

June 1906. Can Animals 'Suffer'? The Spectator. (a remarkable anticipation of Peter Singer here, including a fascinating discussion of Annie Besant!)

April 1907. The Rayner Case. The Spectator.

March 1908. The Trial of DinuzuluThe Spectator.

October 1908. Untitled letter (on the right of abortion and perhaps even infanticide). The Spectator.

January 1910. The Manifesto of the Research Defence SocietyThe Spectator.

September 1911. Untitled letter on trade unionsThe Spectator.

April 1912. What is Liberty? The Spectator.

This website is created by Alison Stone (Lancaster University). It is a work in progress. Any feedback is welcome. Please make any use of the contents you like in teaching or research.

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