‘I Googled her, and fell in love’ – Shining a light on a forgotten heroine
International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to shine a light on women throughout history who were radical and fascinating in their time and are now forgotten.
At the Bristol Radical History Group, we take a ‘from below’ approach to the history of this city, and at this year’s Bristol Women’s Voice International Women’s Day event I’ll be hosting a talk about the eighteenth-century poet Ann Yearsley, also known as the Bristol Poetess or Lactilla the Milkmaid of Bristol. I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on Bristolian literature in the eighteenth century, exploring the changing face of the city throughout the century through the works of Thomas Chatterton, Ann Yearsley, and Hannah More.
I wish I could say I discovered the work of Ann Yearsley in a more romantic way than I actually did. She was mentioned to me by my undergraduate dissertation supervisor as we sat in her office trying to hash out my essay topic. I went home, Googled her, and fell in love. I always feel like she deserves a better story than that – I should have discovered a collection of her poetry in a dusty second-hand bookshop or something.
Ann was a forerunner to the Romantics, a fierce advocate for the abolition of slavery in her poetry, and a critic of the death penalty in her theatrical work. But her greatest inspiration was the city of Bristol, and her poem Clifton Hill is still extraordinarily powerful.
Ann is best known for her contentious and controversial working relationship with Hannah More – she worked as a milkmaid for years before she was plucked from obscurity by More. Following a dispute over the profits from the sale of Yearsley’s first poetry collection, the two women went their separate ways. Yearsley published two more collections of poetry, a historical play and a novel, before she retired to Melksham where she died in 1806. She is buried in Clifton.
The issues that Ann dealt with in her lifetime are issues that women still deal with today. She was a working mother, juggling a large family with a vivid creative life. She battled poverty throughout her life, which is unfortunately a situation that Bristolian women in the twenty-first century face, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis. Her quest for financial independence brought her into conflict with Hannah More, who felt that she knew better than Ann what to do with her earnings. Their conflict was complex and thorny, and one that raises many questions about empowerment, classism, and respect between working women.
I find Ann an endlessly fascinating and inspirational figure, and I hope others will too. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in Bristol’s eighteenth century, and my hope is that by learning about Ann’s life, people will see aspects of the city we call home in a new light.
Come along and find out more at the event!
