The accomplished Mrs Boscawen at Hatchlands Park

In 2018, we're celebrating the life and achievements of Frances Boscawen, Fanny to her friends, and the first ‘Lady of the House’. Fanny was a founding member of the Bluestocking Society, notable for giving women a public voice and cultural standing in a time where to be an educated woman was frowned upon. Throughout the year we’re embarking on a series of events, from cinema screenings to salon discussions, at the home of this remarkable pioneer.

Fanny Boscawen and her legacy

Fanny Boscawen was the first ‘Lady of the House’ at Hatchlands and oversaw the construction of the mansion that you see today. An often overlooked founding member of the bluestockings, Fanny was well respected by her intellectual peers in fashionable society, male and female alike.

The Bluestockings depicted as the Characters of the Muses

The Bluestocking Society

Fanny, along with Elizabeth Montagu and Elizabeth Vesey, was a founder member of the Bluestocking Society. A group of artists, writers and thinkers in the second half of the 18th century, they challenged society’s attitudes to women’s education and paved the way for the suffrage movement.

Suffragettes dressed in whitte marching.

Women and Power

In 2018 we’re marking the 100 years since the passing of the Representation of the People Act. The long struggle for women’s suffrage and the debates it inspired across homes, workplaces and communities will be explored, both at Hatchlands and at hundreds of other special places across the country.

Tea House

Take a stroll along the walk which Fanny designed herself and discover a recreation of her Tea House. This shady spot for rest, contemplation and discussion was featured in a letter by Admiral Boscawen and provides beautiful views of the house and park.

Georgian costumes created by The Arts Society at Hatchlands Park, Surrey — Monochrome Georgian costumes created by the Arts Society for our recreation of a bluestocking salon

What you can see whenever the house is open

From Tuesday 5 June you’ll be able to read Fanny's story set against the backdrop of our tenant’s collections.

Discover works of art by Fanny’s friends and contemporaries. Learn about her upbringing, uncover her influence on the popularity of Robert Adam and her role within the Bluestocking Society. Listen to a recording of Hannah More’s celebration of the bluestockings, ‘The Bas Bleu’. Share in Fanny's grief over the death of her husband with a video installation created in collaboration with the University of Brighton or be transported into a representation of a bluestocking salon, created by our fantastic heritage volunteers from The Arts Society.

Outdoors, why not take a stroll along the walk that Fanny designed and wrote about. Enjoy quotes from her letters and take a moment to relax in our recreation of her tea house.

" I look upon it as a fortunate omen to begin my New Year in Mrs. Boscawen’s company. She is in her conversation everything that can make the hours pass agreeably. I must be happier, and I should be better for her friendship."

Family, friends and legacy

A letter from Fanny Boscawen to Hannah More

The unpublished bluestocking

Kathleen Keown, researcher at the University of Oxford, discusses why Fanny has stayed in the shadows. Unlike her more celebrated peers, she remained without literary achievements or publishing credits.

Mrs Boscawen and the Admiral

Edward and Frances Boscawen fell in love with Hatchlands Park, built the house you see today and made it a family home. They were instrumental in creating the family home and safe haven from urban life that you can see here today.

Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell, exhibited 1840

From Wollstonecraft to Lovelace

The efforts of Fanny and the bluestockings to progress the cause of women in the arts, opened the door to allow more women to publish work under their own names. These generations of pioneers continued to inspire their successors creating a far-reaching legacy.