Isabella (Isa) Craig-Knox 

Social reformer, women’s rights activist, journalist and poet.

17 October 1831 – 23 December 1903

“. . . . To be told that you are not wanted, that in the great busy world there is no need for you, that you and yours might perish unregarded, and never be missed out of the multitude, must be a bitter experience, and yet it is a common one; alas! so very common. ” Peggy Ogilvie’s Inheritance, serialised in The Quiver 1880

“Girls must marry,” she said, “especially girls who have nothing.  What else can they do?  They are a burden on their friends, that’s all, and discontented with their lot; and they can’t pick and choose like a man.  They must wait for an offer, and it’s not every girl who has more chances than one.  They can’t afford to throw away a good one.”  A Heroine of Home serialised in The Quiver 1880

Education

Orphaned as a child and brought up by her grandmother.

Left school at age 10 to help in the house and take on odd jobs but read avidly.

Some Key Achievements and Interests

1853-1857 On the editorial staff of The Scotsman, one of the early female writers on a newspaper.

1850s Worked for the International and Electric Telegraphy Company supervising women telegraph operators. Doing this she broke expectations of a single woman to pursue the path of governess or enter domestic service.

1857-1865 Took up the position of Assistant Secretary to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (NAPSS) in London, her appointment initially condemned by those who thought it unsuitable for a woman.  The NAPSS, however, gave a platform for women to advance their promotion of the employment and education of women and she became a strong voice in the Association.

1858 Won the Robert Burns Centenary Competition at The Crystal Palace arousing curiosity and criticism both because of her sex but also her lack of a previous public profile which upset established male poets.

1858 Co-founded with Elizabeth Garrett and Lady Stanley of Alderley the Ladies’ Sanitary Association (LSA), affiliated to NAPSS, to advocate for better sanitary conditions of the working class. The LSA circulated tracts and lectured on public health to the working classes.

1860 Co-founded, with Bessie Rayner Parkes, the Telegraph School at 6 Great Coram Street to teach women new technology and promote the employment of women. Served as Secretary.

On the staff and contributor to the English Women’s Journal which promoted the education of women of all social classes. Craig contributed poems and articles raising awareness of the hardships suffered by the working classes and promoting training and employment opportunities for women.

1865-1867 reported to have edited The Argosy a monthly magazine to which she contributed.

Issues

Education cut short due to financial reasons.

As a young woman, she wrote for other people, but not using her own name.

Worked in a male-dominated industry.

1866 Resigned as Secretary from NAPSS on her marriage, stopping paid work, but remaining an active member and volunteer.

Connection to Bloomsbury

The Telegraph School for Women.

Female networks include:

Adelaide Anne Procter, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Garrett, Emily Faithfull, Lady Henrietta Stanley, Margaret Oliphant, Maria Susan Rye, Matilda Mary Hays.

Writing/publications include:

Wrote for Chambers Journal, The Scotsman, Waverly Journal, Good Words, the English Woman’s Journal, The Quiver. (contributions included: poems, articles on education and employment for women, slavery, the hardships of many working class and those driven to crime, emigration (eg 1858 Emigration as a Preventive Agency).

1856 Poems by Isa

1858 Emigration as a Preventive Agency (paper read at the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, October 1858 and reprinted in The English Woman’s Journal, Jan 1859).

1865 Contributed to Poems: An Offering to Lancashire, the proceeds of which went to support cotton workers suffering hardship during the American Civil War when cotton export was disrupted and factories closed.

1864 Duchess Agnes, a dramatic poem.

1870 Esther West

1874 Songs of Consolation

1880 Peggy Ogilvie’s Inheritance serialised in The Quiver

See for texts: https://minorvictorianwriters.org.uk/craig

Further reading:

Mrs. Isa Craig-Knox; Minor Victorian Writers: https://minorvictorianwriters.org.uk/craig/index.htm

Scottish Women Poets: Isa Craig: Isa Craig (1831-1903) | Scottish Women Poets (wordpress.com)

Isa Craig Knox; Women’s Suffrage: History and Citizenship Resources for Schools;