The Bluestockings

In Our Time: History

BBC

History

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2014

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Bluestockings. Around the middle of the eighteenth century a small group of intellectual women began to meet regularly to discuss literature and other matters, inviting some of the leading thinkers of the day to take part in informal salons. In an age when women were not expected to be highly educated, the Bluestockings were sometimes regarded with suspicion or even hostility. But prominent members such as Elizabeth Montagu - known as 'the Queen of the Bluestockings', and author of an influential essay about Shakespeare - and the classicist Elizabeth Carter were highly regarded for their scholarship. Their accomplishments led to far greater acceptance of women as the intellectual equal of men, and furthered the cause of female education. With: Karen O'Brien Vice-Principal and Professor of English at King's College London Elizabeth Eger Reader in English Literature at King's College London Nicole Pohl Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time
0:04.1	and for our terms of use please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio for.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.5	Hello, in the middle of the 18th century a group of aristocratic women formed an informal
0:15.8	club which meant regularly at their homes in London.
0:19.2	This group became known as the Blue Stockings.
0:21.5	Not their gatherings, they discussed intellectual matters with the leading thinkers of the day.
0:26.6	At a time when women had little access to formal education the achievements of the Blue
0:30.9	Stockings were considered remarkable.
0:33.4	Leading members such as Elizabeth Montague and Elizabeth Carter were celebrated for their
0:38.1	air edition and their success and their success led to greater acceptance of women as the
0:42.8	intellectual equals of men.
0:45.0	But as the 18th century drew to a close the Blue Stockings started to attract suspicion,
0:49.1	eventually their name, even became a pejorative term.
0:52.6	The admitted as gust of the Blue Stockings are, Karen Abrine, Vice Principal and Professor
0:57.0	of English at King's College London, Elizabeth Eger, Rita in English Literature, also at
1:01.9	King's College London, and Nicole Poll, Rita in English Literature at the Oxford Brookes
1:06.5	University.
1:07.5	So, Karen Abrine, can you give us some idea of where the word Blue Stockings came from
1:12.6	in the first place and what they were?
1:14.5	Yes, certainly.
1:15.5	The Blue Stockings were, as you said, a circle of brilliant clever women, scholars, literary
	...

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