Newgate jail that opened her eyes to the appallingly squalid conditions women prisoners suffered, crowded together with their children. Thereafter she became a familiar figure, in her Quaker dress and bonnet, prison visiting and reading the Bible. Her campaigning and religious convictions succeeded in reforming prisoners and their conditions, by introducing education, paid employment, female warders, and recognition that all inmates must be treated humanely.
Victoria is the second queen who came to the throne by
default, when her royal uncles, King George IV and King William IV, failed to produce a surviving legitimate heir. Crowned in 1838, her initial limited grasp of constitutional matters was soon supplemented by her husband, Prince Albert (whose death in 1861 left her in mourning for the rest of her life); and her favourite prime ministers, Lord Melbourne and Disraeli. With their help, and the colonising power of British forces and trading companies, she became
SISTER ACT: SEVEN MORE NOTABLE NAMES
Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-1797)
Early feminist, advocate of women’s education.
George Eliot
(1819-1880)
Pen name of Mary Ann Evans, “blue-stocking” novelist, author of Middlemarch and
The Mill on the Floss.
Mrs Beeton
(1836-1865)
Author of the definitive Mrs
Beeton's Book of Household Management.
Beatrix Potter
(1866-1943)
Co-founder of the National Trust and author/artist of The
Tale of Peter Rabbit
and numerous other children’s classics.
Marie Stopes
(1880-1958)
Pioneer of the family planning movement.
Agatha Christie
(1890-1976)
Doyenne of crime writers, creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.
Diana, Princess of Wales
(1961-1997)
The “People’s Princess”, campaigner for Aids victims and against landmines.
BRITAIN 27
PHOTOS: BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY/ALAMY, CLASSIC IMAGE/REX FEATURES
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