Parkes, Bessie Rayner (1829–1925)

views updated

Parkes, Bessie Rayner (1829–1925)

English feminist, poet, and essayist. Name variations: Bessie Belloc. Born 1829; died 1925; dau. of Joseph Parkes (Birmingham solicitor) and Elizabeth (Priestley) Parkes (dau. of Unitarian scientist Joseph Priestley); m. Louis Belloc (Irish-French writer), 1867 (died 1872); children: Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953); Marie Belloc-Lowndes (1868–1947).

With Barbara Bodichon, established and edited the English Woman's Journal (1858), which served as a magnet to a circle of women known as the Langham Place Group; writings include Remarks Upon the Education of Girls (1854), Essays on Women's Work (1865) and In a Walled Garden (1895).

See also Women in World History.