Elizabeth Pease Nichol
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Pease Nichol was an abolitionist, anti-segregationist, woman suffragist, chartist
and anti-vivisectionist in 19th century Great Britain. In 1853 she married Dr. John Pringle Nichol
(1804-1859), Regius Professor of Astronomy
at the University of Glasgow
. She was one of about six women who were in the painting of the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840.
and his wife Elizabeth Beaumont, who were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Her father started the Peace Society
the year of her birth, the same year that Great Britain abolished the slave trade in its empire
, while allowing slavery
to continue.
, an Anti-Slavery abolitionist and lecturer, encouraged her to send a female delegate or attend a national society being formed by Joseph Sturge
. Pease resisted more public involvement, as she did not seek the limelight but wanted to work locally for the causes she held to be important.
In 1840, Pease traveled to London
to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention beginning on 12 June. Before the conference started, she met American
activists Lucretia Mott
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
. These women were amongst the otherwise all-male American delegates at the conference.
Before the convention opened, the British organiser Joseph Sturge
told the six women delegates they would not be allowed to participate. Leading English Anti-Slavery members had rebuked him for thinking this "insane innovation, this woman-intruding delusion," should be allowed. At the time, women did not generally participate in such public political and civic activities, and many people found it socially unacceptable. In addition, women attendees were required to sit in segregated areas out of sight of the male delegates.
Supporting the women's participation were some of the male delegates from the United States, including George Bradburn
, Wendell Phillips
, James Mott
, William Adam
, Isaac Winslow, J. P. Miller and Henry B. Stanton
. William Lloyd Garrison
, who did not arrive until the 17th, refused to take his seat until women had equality in seating. Unlike his fellow countrymen, Baptist
Henry Grew
spoke in favour of the men's right to exclude women, despite his daughter's being one of the excluded. The American women had to join British women observers, such as Lady Byron
, Anne Knight
and Pease, in a segregated area.
The picture above shows Pease in a painting commemorating the international event. It attracted delegates from the United States, France
, Haiti
, Australia
, Ireland
, Jamaica
and Barbados
, as well as Great Britain. With the exception of Mary Clarkson, the women are portrayed to the far right, with none in the foreground.
Pease attended with Anne Knight
and several other friends, but it was only Knight and Pease of their circle who were among the women notables chosen for the painting. Other women included were Amelia Opie
, Baroness Byron, Mary Anne Rawson
, Mrs John Beaumont, Elizabeth Tredgold
, Mary Clarkson
and, at the back, Lucretia Mott
.
(1804-1859), Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow
. Her family opposed the marriage, as Nicholl was a Presbyterian. According to the endogamous rules of the Quakers, Pease had to leave the Society of Friends.
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
and anti-vivisectionist in 19th century Great Britain. In 1853 she married Dr. John Pringle Nichol
John Pringle Nichol
John Pringle Nichol FRSE was a Scottish educator, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes.-Early life:...
(1804-1859), Regius Professor of Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
. She was one of about six women who were in the painting of the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840.
Early life
Elizabeth Pease was born in Darlington, England to Joseph PeasePease family (Darlington)
The Pease family was a prominent English and mostly Quaker family associated with Darlington and County Durham and descended from Joseph Pease of Darlington, son of Edward Pease . They were 'one of the great Quaker industrialist families of the nineteenth century, who played a leading role in...
and his wife Elizabeth Beaumont, who were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Her father started the Peace Society
Peace Society
The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a society founded on 14 June 1816 for the promotion of permanent and universal peace; it advocated a gradual, proportionate, and...
the year of her birth, the same year that Great Britain abolished the slave trade in its empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, while allowing slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
to continue.
Public life
By 1837, Pease was leading the Darlington Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. Charles StuartCharles Stuart (abolitionist)
Captain Charles Stuart was an Anglo-Canadian abolitionist in the early-to-mid-19th century. After leaving the army, he was a writer, but was notable for his opposition to slavery.-Biography:...
, an Anti-Slavery abolitionist and lecturer, encouraged her to send a female delegate or attend a national society being formed by Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...
. Pease resisted more public involvement, as she did not seek the limelight but wanted to work locally for the causes she held to be important.
In 1840, Pease traveled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention beginning on 12 June. Before the conference started, she met American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
activists Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights.- Early life and education:...
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
. These women were amongst the otherwise all-male American delegates at the conference.
Before the convention opened, the British organiser Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...
told the six women delegates they would not be allowed to participate. Leading English Anti-Slavery members had rebuked him for thinking this "insane innovation, this woman-intruding delusion," should be allowed. At the time, women did not generally participate in such public political and civic activities, and many people found it socially unacceptable. In addition, women attendees were required to sit in segregated areas out of sight of the male delegates.
Supporting the women's participation were some of the male delegates from the United States, including George Bradburn
George Bradburn
George Bradburn was an American politician and Unitarian minister in Massachusetts known for his support for abolitionism and women's rights. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with Frederick...
, Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips
Wendell Phillips was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator. He was an exceptional orator and agitator, advocate and lawyer, writer and debater.-Education:...
, James Mott
James Mott
James Mott was a Quaker leader, teacher, and merchant as well as an activist for anti-slavery and women's rights. He was born in Cowneck in North Hempstead on Long Island, to a Quaker family...
, William Adam
William Adam
William Adam was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. He was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland, designing and building numerous country houses and public buildings, and often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near...
, Isaac Winslow, J. P. Miller and Henry B. Stanton
Henry Stanton
Henry Brewster Stanton was a 19th century abolitionist and social reformer.-Biography:Stanton was born in Preston, Connecticut, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster...
. William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
, who did not arrive until the 17th, refused to take his seat until women had equality in seating. Unlike his fellow countrymen, Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Henry Grew
Henry Grew
Henry Grew was a Christian teacher and writer whose studies of the Bible led him to conclusions which were at odds with doctrines accepted by many of the mainstream churches of his time...
spoke in favour of the men's right to exclude women, despite his daughter's being one of the excluded. The American women had to join British women observers, such as Lady Byron
Anne Isabella Byron, Baroness Byron
Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron was the wife of the poet Lord Byron, and mother of Ada Lovelace, the patron and co-worker of mathematician Charles Babbage.-Name:Her names were unusually complex...
, Anne Knight
Anne Knight
Anne Knight was a social reformer noted as a pioneer of feminism.-Family background:Anne Knight was the daughter of William Knight , a Chelmsford grocer and his wife Priscilla Allen...
and Pease, in a segregated area.
The picture above shows Pease in a painting commemorating the international event. It attracted delegates from the United States, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, as well as Great Britain. With the exception of Mary Clarkson, the women are portrayed to the far right, with none in the foreground.
Pease attended with Anne Knight
Anne Knight
Anne Knight was a social reformer noted as a pioneer of feminism.-Family background:Anne Knight was the daughter of William Knight , a Chelmsford grocer and his wife Priscilla Allen...
and several other friends, but it was only Knight and Pease of their circle who were among the women notables chosen for the painting. Other women included were Amelia Opie
Amelia Opie
Amelia Opie, née Alderson , was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic Period of the early 19th century, through 1828.-Life and work:...
, Baroness Byron, Mary Anne Rawson
Mary Anne Rawson
Mary Anne Rawson was an abolitionist. She was a campaingner with the Tract Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, Italian nationalism, Child labour, but above all anti-slavery. She was first involved with a Sheffield group who successfully campaigned for people to boycott sugar from the...
, Mrs John Beaumont, Elizabeth Tredgold
John Harfield Tredgold
John Harfield Tredgold was an English chemist in the Cape Colony in Africa. He held a number of voluntary roles including Secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The suburb of Cape Town called Harfield drew its name from Tredgold's middle name.-Biography:Tredgold was baptised in...
, Mary Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson , was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and helped achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which ended British trade in slaves...
and, at the back, Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Coffin Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights.- Early life and education:...
.
Marriage and family
In 1853 Pease married Dr. John Pringle NicholJohn Pringle Nichol
John Pringle Nichol FRSE was a Scottish educator, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes.-Early life:...
(1804-1859), Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
. Her family opposed the marriage, as Nicholl was a Presbyterian. According to the endogamous rules of the Quakers, Pease had to leave the Society of Friends.