Uncontrollable & Infidel Women; their legacy - Nan Sloane author/historian

The fact that so few people have heard of Emma Martin (top pic) is testament to the way in which important women have been treated by history. She was a fearless campaigner, speechmaker and writer on freedom of speech, atheism, women’s rights and later on childbirth. Born Emma Bullock, she was brought up as a strict Baptist, later becoming a staunch advocate for ‘freethinking’, writing numerous pamphlets as part of the Owenite movement of the mid-C19th, and often delivering speeches to 3000 people. Born here in 1812, she lived at Bridewell Bridge from 1835 -1839. Later living in London she became a 'social missionary'. She gave up her campaigning work and retrained as a midwife, but as an atheist she was barred from working in 'public' hospitals. As a single parent supporting 3 children she set up her own private practice from her home. She then campaigned on reproductive and obstetric rights for women. She published many pamphlets, including 'Baptism - a pagan rite'. She died in 1851 from TB, at the young age of 39.

This is the first of a series of planned annual talks, named for Emma Martin, which will examine historic, social and ethical contributions to the humanist movement.

To celebrate Emma Martin’s life Nan Sloane (pic above) will talk about her, and about many other radical women, their role, impact and especially their legacy through to the C21st. Nan recently wrote about ‘Uncontrollable Women’ in her new book of that title. Nan will look at the history and legacy of numerous under-reported radical women. She will explore Emma Martin’s free-thinker predecessors, like Jane Carlile and Susannah Wright, and their influence on both her and the wider free-thinker movement. She will look at:

• what impact these women had on free speech more generally and on the developing atheistic and secularist movements

• the debates around marriage (specifically related to religious teaching), both inside and outside the Owenite movement, and how these fed into the development of 'working-class respectability’ and the perceived triumph of Victorian family values.

• the influence of her rejection of biblical ideas of ‘original sin’ on the view of women and their social roles

• Emma Martin’s later, brief, midwifery career and its impact on health provision and women’s role in it.

• last – but most important – Emma Martin's legacy in how contemporary Britain has been shaped by her ideas, those of her contemporaries and her successors.

PLEASE NOTE

Your ticket price will go towards the cost of installing a Blue Plaque to commemorate Emma Martin's life. Donations will also be very welcome!

is a writer, political scientist and historian specialising in women’s history. She is an experienced trainer and facilitator, working both in the UK and abroad. She has delivered workshops and training courses on a variety of subjects, including political development and leadership skills. She leads on the delivery of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership course, which was established to commemorate the late MP.

Her new book, Uncontrollable Women: Radicals, Reformers and Revolutionaries, was published by Bloomsbury on 27 January 2022. It is a history of radical, reformist and revolutionary women between the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832. Very few of them are well-known today; some were unknown even in their own times. All of them contributed something positive to the world we now inhabit.

The Guardian made Uncontrollable Women their book of the week and said it was ‘A compelling study celebrating the working class pioneers of female emancipation who have been overlooked’. The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) said ‘…..as Nan Sloane points out in this brisk and illuminating study…..no vote did not mean no voice. Taking the French Revolution as her starting-point…. she has cupped her ear to the available source material and picked up some absorbing…. conversations.’

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Unitarian Meeting Hall, Brunswick Square, Bristol, United Kingdom