Frances Power Cobbe

Frances Power Cobbe was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She was born in 1822 in a wealthy and influential family, descended from Archbishop Charles Cobbe, Primate of Ireland. She received a private education at home and abroad, and developed a keen interest in theology, ethics, and social issues. She published her first book, Essay on Intuitive Morals, in 1855, which presented a duty-based moral theory based on intuition and conscience. She travelled extensively in Europe and the Near East, and became involved in various causes, such as the Italian unification, the abolition of slavery, and the education of women. She settled in London in 1864, where she became a prominent figure in the feminist movement, advocating for women's rights to education, employment, property, and suffrage. She also founded several animal advocacy groups, such as the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection (SPALV) in 1875 and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) in 1898, and campaigned against animal experimentation and cruelty. She was a prolific writer, producing over twenty books and hundreds of articles on various topics, such as religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, history, and literature. She was a critic of Darwinism, atheism, and materialism, and defended a humane and spiritual view of life. She died in 1904, at the age of 81, from influenza. She was buried with her partner, Mary Lloyd, a Welsh sculptor whom she met in Italy in 1861 and lived with for the rest of her life.