Frances Power Cobbe Correspondence: Finding Aid

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Overview of the Collection

Title: Frances Power Cobbe Correspondence
Dates (inclusive): 1855-1904
Collection Number: mssCB 1-854
Creator: Cobbe, Frances Power, 1822-1904, addressee.
Extent: 854 pieces in 12 boxes
Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Letters addressed to Irish philanthropist and activist Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904) covering women's suffrage and rights; antivivisection, her work in Bristol and her moral and religious writings; comments on her books and articles. Correspondents include Mary Carpenter, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Charles Darwin, Earl of Shaftesbury, James Anthony Froude, Keshub Chunder Sen, James Martineau, Theodore Parker, Felix Pecaut, and others.
Language: English.

Access

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Administrative Information

Publication Rights

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Frances Power Cobbe Correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Source of Acquisition

Biographical Note

Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904), Irish philanthropist and religious writer, commenced her social work at Bristol with Mary Carpenter at Red Lodge reformatory and the ragged schools. Her social work and work house philanthropy led to the writing of numerous books and articles on subjects in those fields. Through travel abroad and a widening circle of friends, she became acquainted with many of the prominent persons of her time. She lectured on the duties of women, promoted the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1878, and worked hard on the anti-vivisection movement. A number of her books were devoted to expressions of her religious feelings.
In 1884 Miss Cobbe retired from the busy life of London to live at Hengwrt, Wales. In 1894 she wrote here Life, published in two volumes, in which some of the letters in the present collection were printed.

Scope and Content

Letters addressed to Frances Power Cobbe cover women's suffrage and rights; antivivisection, her social work in Bristol, and her moral and religious writings; comments on her books and articles. Correspondents include Mary Carpenter, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Charles Darwin, Earl of Shaftesbury, James Anthony Froude, Keshub Chunder Sen, James Martineau, Theodore Parker, Felix Pecaut, and others.

Some important or interesting items

  • Bray, Caroline (Hennell). 1895, May 21. Re: George Eliot.
  • Cobbe, Charles, Abp. of Dublin. To his son, Charles Cobbe. 1750, Mar. 17. Letter of advice on going abroad.
  • Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge. 1875, May 7. Re: vivisection.
  • Froude, James Anthony. Interesting series of letters.
  • Galton, Sir Francis. 1877, Aug. 27. Re: motives for murder.
  • Kesavachandra Sena. 1878, Apr. 26. Re: the marriage of his young daughter.
  • Montefiore, Claude G. 1882, Dec. 4. On inter-racial marriage with Jews.
  • Parker, Theodore. 1848, May 5. On religion.
  • Russell, John, styled Viscount Amberly. 1874, Nov. 10 & 25. Letter about Frances Power Cobbe's essay on Mill.
  • Sidgwick, Eleanor Mildred (Balfour). 1890, Jan. 10. On premonitions, telepathy, and hallucinations.
  • Spencer, Herbert. 1872. Criticism of Miss Cobbe's Darwinism in Morals.
  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1884, Mar. 9. Re: his friendliness toward dogs and his views on vivisection.

Persons represented by 3 or more pieces

  • Amos, Sheldon (3 pieces, 1879-83)
  • Bonheur, Rosa (4 pieces, 1869-98)
  • Boyle, Eleanor Vere (Gordon) ((3 pieces, c.1890?)
  • Brown, Edward Harold, Bp. of Winchester (8 pieces, 1878-89)
  • Butler, Frances Anne (Kemble) (5 pieces, c. 1865-90)
  • Carpenter, Mary (23 pieces, 1858-77)
  • Carpenter, William Benjamin (4 pieces, 1867-73)
  • Channing, William Henry (5 pieces, 1860-83)
  • Colenso, John William, Bp. of Natal (11 pieces, 1863-74)
  • Collins, William Wilkie (3 pieces, 1882-83)
  • Cooper, Anthony Ashley (7th Earl of Shaftesbury, 238 pieces, 1877-85)
  • Darwin, Charles Robert (5 pieces, c.1870-75)
  • Darwin, Emma (Wedgewood) (4 pieces, c.1870-90)
  • Eastlake, Elizabeth (Rigby) , Lady (3 pieces, 1885-89)
  • Edwards, Amelia Ann Blandford (3 pieces, 1888-89)
  • Fawcett, Millicent (Garrett) (3 pieces, c.1885-90)
  • Froude, James Anthony (34 pieces, 1861-92)
  • Greg, William Rathbone (3 pieces, c.1870-80)
  • Herbert, George Robert Charles (13th Earl of Pembroke, 4 pieces, 1888)
  • Hoare, John N (4 pieces, 1894)
  • How, William Walsham, Bp. of Wakefield (5 pieces, 1889-94)
  • Hutton, Richard Holt (8 pieces, 1875-92)
  • James, Henry (3 pieces, 1893)
  • Jowett, Benjamin (4 pieces, 1860-65)
  • Kesavachandra Sena (14 pieces, 1863-78)
  • Lecky, William Edward Hartpole (5 pieces, 1865-90)
  • Lilly, William Samuel (3 pieces, 1885-86)
  • Manning, Henry Edward, Cardinal (5 pieces, 1882-89)
  • Martineau, James (26 pieces, 1865-97)
  • Morley, John (1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, 5 pieces, 1880)
  • Morris, Sir Lewis (3 pieces, 1881-c.1887)
  • Newman, Francis William (3 pieces, 1859-76)
  • Paget Walpurga Ehrengarde... (4 pieces, 1891)
  • Parker, Theodore (17 pieces, 1848-60)
  • Pécaut, Félix (12 pieces, 1863-71)
  • Pécaut, J Elie (5 pieces, 1898)
  • Ponsonby, Sir Henry Frederick (4 pieces, 1884-87)
  • Rhys, Sir John (3 pieces, 1891-93)
  • Ritchie, Anne Isabella ... (3 pieces, c.1875-82)
  • Roberts, William Page (3 pieces, 1886-87)
  • Spencer, Herbert (5 pieces, 1866-c.1875)
  • Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn (10 pieces, 1871-79)
  • Taylor, Helen (3 pieces, 1868-74)
  • Taylor, Sir Henry (3 pieces, 1879-82)
  • Tennyson, Hallam (2d Baron Tennyson, 4 pieces, 1882-94)
  • Tyndall, John (4 pieces, 1865-c.1875)
  • Upton, Charles Barnes (3 pieces, 1883-86)
  • Ward, Mary Augusta (Arnold) (10 pieces, 1888-94)
  • Watson, Sir William (3 pieces, c.1890-1900)
  • Webster, Augusta (3 pieces, 1878-81)
  • Welldon, James Edward Cowell (4 pieces, 1886-92)
  • Wilberforce, Albert Basil Orme (7 pieces, c.1890-92)

Related Materials in the Huntington Library

Arrangement

Letters arranged chronologically in twelve boxes, with a watercolor drawing and 9 miscellaneous ephemeral pieces, documents, and fragments at the end of Box 12.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

Subjects

Cobbe, Frances Power, 1822-1904 -- Correspondence.
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 -- Correspondence.
Animal welfare -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
Feminists -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Social work with children -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
Women authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Women social workers -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Great Britain -- Intellectual life -- 19th century.

Forms/Genres

Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th century.

Alternate Authors

Carpenter, Mary, 1807-1877.
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1801-1885.
Froude, James Anthony, 1818-1894.
Martineau, James, 1805-1900.
Sen, Keshub Chunder, 1838-1884.
Parker, Theodore, 1810-1860.
Pécaut, Félix, 1828-1898.


Box  1

Correspondence, 1750-1864

Box  2

Correspondence, 1865-1869

Box  3

Correspondence, 1870-1873 June

Box  4

Correspondence, 1873 July-1877 February

Box  5

Correspondence, 1877 March-1879 August

Box  6

Correspondence, 1879 September-1881 June

Box  7

Correspondence, 1881 July-1882 May

Box  8

Correspondence, 1882 June-1883 July

Box  9

Correspondence, 1883 August-1885

Box  10

Correspondence, 1886-1890 January

Box  11

Correspondence, 1890 February-1893 March

Box  12

Correspondence, 1893 April-1922; watercolor drawing; and ephemera

Includes watercolor-pencil drawing of coast [possibly Devon] and 9 miscellaneous items, chiefly notes, fragments, and typescript transcriptions, manuscripts.