Anna Swanwick 1813-1899
Campaigner for working-class education, women’s suffrage and free libraries, translator and philanthropist.
22 June 1813 – 2 November 1899
‘Give [women] a sound, practical education, remove their social and political disabilities, and in their energy and sympathy, conscientiousness and tenderness we shall, I believe, have a reservoir of power which will lift this great nation to a higher level of social and political life.’
(Quoted by her niece Mary L Bruce in her memoir of Swanwick.)
Education
Mostly home schooled but disliked schooling available to girls when she did attend:
‘In my younger days, though I attended what was considered the best girl’s school in Liverpool, the education there was given so meagre that I felt like the Peri excluded from Paradise, and I often longed to assume the costume of a boy in order to learn Latin, Greek, and mathematics, which were then regarded as essential to a liberal education for boys, but were not thought of for girls.’
As an adult studied German, Greek and Hebrew in Berlin.
Some Key Achievements and Interests
Established a reputation translating German dramatists including Goethe and Schiller and dramas from Greek.
Started a school for poor children initially in her home then over a shop in the Colonnade, Bloomsbury.
Involved in the founding of Ladies’ College/Bedford College (Ladies’ College was renamed Bedford College in 1859).
From the outset, the government of the College was in the hands of committees: the Ladies’ Committee and the General Committee. Anna Swanwick sat on the Ladies Committee.
1849-1850 Enrolled on classes in ancient history, moral philosophy and elocution, one of the first students at Ladies’ College.
1851 One of the first Lady Visitors at Ladies’ College.
Supported Elizabeth Malleson with the opening of Working Women’s College.
1861 Signed John Stuart Mill’s petition to Parliament for women’s enfranchisement.
Helped found Girton College, Cambridge and Somerville Hall, Oxford.
1884 Elected Visitor to Bedford College, the first woman to hold this position.
Member of the Council of Queen’s College and Bedford College.
Awarded LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen
Issues
Felt disadvantaged by the education available to a girl of her time.
Acutely aware of the lack of education and training available to working class girls.
Connection to Bloomsbury
1840-44 Lived 7 Tavistock Place, Bloomsbury.
From 1845 lived 27 Woburn Square, Bloomsbury.
Supported, attended and worked for Ladies’ College/Bedford College.
Female Networks
Annie Leigh Browne, Elizabeth Jesser Reid, Elizabeth Malleson, Frances Power Cobbe, George Eliot, Mary Louisa Bruce.
Publications include:
1843 Selections from the Dramas of Goethe and Schiller followed by further translations from German in 1847 and 1850
1865 Published a translation of Aeschylus’ Trilogy followed, in 1873, by a complete edition of Aeschylus.
1878 Published a translation of Faust Parts I and II.
1886 Books, our best Friends or our deadliest Foes.
1888 An Utopian Dream and How it May be Realised.
1892 Poets, the Interpreters of their Age.
1894 Evolution and the Religion of the Future.
Further reading
1899 Bruce, Mary L: Anna Swanwick: A memoir and recollections 1813-1899: Anna Swanwick ; a memoir and recollections, 1813-1899 .. : Bruce, Mary Louisa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive