Harriette wilson biography death

Louise blogs about her tours, lectures on historical women, and profiles interesting women here: www. Louise writes an occasional column on historical women for a local newspaper. A long career in museum education behind her, she is also a published creative writer.

Harriet wilson manchester

The material I uncovered, while pounding the streets and poring over documents at the local history centre, was nothing short of astonishing. Thinking it was about time that people knew this, I put a walking tour together, visiting the places where some of these intriguing women were born, lived, or just passed through. The title gave people problems.

I thought these women were supposed to be good.

The memoirs of harriette wilson written by herself

When Ellen Nye Chart, a hitherto working-class woman took on the management of the Theatre Royal in people were telling her it was no job for a woman even while she was making it into one of the most successful theatres in Britain. Well, why should only well-behaved and high-achieving women deserve to have their stories remembered?

I include some women on my tour simply because they tore up the rule book. Some, despite the promise of an easier life if they just conformed to what a woman should be, brooked no compromise and, against the odds, managed to remain true to themselves. Step forward, then, Harriette Wilson, — , the cleverest courtesan of Regency London, who captivated, charmed and dazzled her way to the heart of fashionable society, only to shock, anger and terrify her way straight back out again.

The most successful courtesans were clever, accomplished, witty, able to hold their own in conversation, a sort of alpha girlfriend who charged for her time. For a man in pre-Victorian, anything-goes London, there was nothing seedy or shameful about being seen at the opera with a woman like Harriette and, unlike women, men could slip easily between the above-board world of the respectable married family-man and the rowdy, gossipy, heavy drinking and gambling milieu of the dandies.

She offered not only the bed but the sofa, the dinner-table and the salon — all save the nursery and the kitchen. Like many of her sister courtesans, Harriette had made a decent start in life. She attended a good boarding school and experienced a convent education.