Active in London society when the Bluestocking salons were at the height of their popularity, Mary was a regular guest of the radical thinker, Joseph Johnson. In 1792, she published her most famous work ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’. She attacked the prevailing view that women were a domestic adornment, arguing that women should receive a rational education enabling them to contribute to society. The book was well received in radical circles but caused great controversy elsewhere.
After a brief spell in revolutionary France, Mary married William Godwin, the founder of philosophical anarchism. Pregnant with their daughter, she tragically died within days of giving birth. After her death, her husband published ‘Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ as a tribute to her memory. However, they contained revelations of her affairs and illegitimate child which shocked society.
Mary Shelley
That daughter, Mary Shelley, would go on to become best known as the author of Frankenstein and wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary was brought up to cherish her mother’s memory and achievements. She received little formal education but was tutored by her father and had access to his books and intellectual friends.