Taylor, Harriet (1807–1858)

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Taylor, Harriet (1807–1858)

English philosopher whose feminism influenced that of John Stuart Mill, her second husband. Name variations: Harriet Taylor Mill. Born Harriet Hardy in London, England, on October 8, 1807; died of lung congestion on November 3, 1858; daughter of Harriet (Hurst) Hardy and Thomas Hardy (a surgeon); educated at home by her father; married John Taylor (died of cancer, 1849); married John Stuart Mill (the philosopher) in London, in April 1851; children: (first marriage) two sons and a daughter, Helen Taylor (1831–1907).

Selected works:

Letters to John Stuart Mill (1851); "Enfranchisement of Women" in Westminster Review (July 1851); (collaborator with John Stuart Mill) Principles of Political Economy (1848) and On Liberty (1859); also wrote poetry.

The philosophical work of Harriet Taylor was fostered by a group of Unitarian intellectuals which included the utilitarian philosopher

John Stuart Mill. Mill was relentless in his praise of her and became her second husband. The ethical doctrine of utilitarianism, based on the idea that virtue is derived from utility, is used to support a liberal theory of politics in which the welfare of a community supersedes the freedom of individuals. The utilitarian journal, The Westminster Review, in which Taylor published her "Enfranchisement of Women" in July 1851, and the Unitarian journal, Monthly Repository, were forums for the political ideas of an intellectual group which included Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle , William Johnson Fox, Harriet Martineau , Eliza Flower , Sarah Flower Adams , Southwood Smith, John Bowring, and John Roebuck. Taylor is recognized not only for her philosophical treatments of marriage and of women's political equality, but also for her contributions to Mill's political writings, some of which she co-authored. Mill's praise of his wife in his autobiography is more than extraordinary. He presents her as a living goddess with near-perfect wisdom.

Born in London in 1807 into the lower aristocracy, Harriet was educated at home with her siblings by her father Thomas Hardy, a surgeon. It is likely that Harriet's strong personality and radical views made her an unconventional woman whom many people could not accept. Considered attractive and brilliant by some, she was more often derided as coarse and dull. She claimed that the only people who mattered to her were her two husbands, John Taylor and John Stuart Mill. She was close to Mill while still married to her first husband Taylor. Taylor recognized the love between Harriet and Mill, but asked that the formality of his marriage to her be preserved. For the 20 years while Harriet was married to Taylor, Mill lived with his mother and siblings. The frequent meetings between he and Harriet were not deterred by the gossip they inspired. Mill frequently dined at the Taylors' home when John Taylor was away, and Harriet traveled with him and her daughter Helen Taylor along the English coast.

Although she had been working on them for some time, Harriet Taylor's philosophical writings began to appear in publication at the beginning of her friendship with Mill. She met him as part of a circle of Unitarian and utilitarian intellectuals, at a dinner party given by William Fox in 1830. John Stuart Mill, who took after his father James Mill (a colleague of Jeremy Bentham, founder of utilitarianism), became the most esteemed proponent of utilitarianism. At first, Harriet lauded him as a mentor, but as her own intellectual growth progressed she developed independent views, sometimes contrary to his in significant ways.

From 1840, she collaborated on almost everything that Mill wrote and, through "intelligently controverting" his ideas, further stimulated his intellectual work. Mill recognized her as the co-author of The Principles of Political Economy and On Liberty (although this assertion is disputed to some extent). Both Harriet and John claimed that he was the sole author cited because his established reputation would aid the success of the book; but it is apparent that Harriet's contribution was not made official because of the risk of scandal. She was then still married to John Taylor. Her husband had objected to the dedication of Principles of Political Economy to Harriet, and he wrote from his deathbed requesting that her authorship not be acknowledged. In Principles, published in 1848, Mill and Taylor argue that the individual liberty which is required by a just political system must come second to the solution of social problems. In On Liberty (1859), they expand on the concept of individual liberty, asserting that it should only be compromised to prevent injury to others; only the welfare of others within a community must take precedence over individual freedom.

Both Mill and Taylor were committed feminists. Her views, however, were more radical than his, and for this reason the strong assertions made in the 1851 article "Enfranchisement of Women" are attributed to Taylor. Mill is credited solely as editor. Particularly concerned that women were educated only to "gain their living by marrying," Taylor argued in "Enfranchisement" that women have a right to both education and the self-development that comes with it, and she maintains that a woman's role as a wife or mother should not limit her pursuit of other careers. Equal education and equal access to employment, she argues, are integral to women's full political equality with men. While Mill too believed that a woman should be able to choose any career, he maintained that if her choice is to be a wife and mother then this contribution to the family is her career and thus she should not contribute economically or have the option of another career.

Taylor nursed her first husband for two months before he died of cancer in 1849. In April 1851, she married Mill, and they lived together on the outskirts of London. At this time, in recognition that his liberal ideals should extend to marriage, Mill issued a formal protest against the power conferred on the husband in the institution of marriage over "the freedom of action of the other party." He worked as a clerk and chief examiner at India House, where he would serve 35 years before his retirement in 1858.

Both Taylor and Mill suffered from poor health and on medical advice traveled frequently to warmer climates in France and Italy. After Mill's retirement, they left for the south of France and then Italy. During the journey, Harriet died of lung congestion on November 3, 1858. She was buried in Avignon cemetery in France, and Mill purchased a cottage close by so he could visit her grave almost every day. During the first few years in Avignon, with some help from Harriet's daughter Helen, he drafted On the Subjection of Women, a treatise which analyzes the political position of women and argues for securing their equality. On the Subjection of Women was the only feminist treatise written by a man for many centuries. Although the ideas expressed in this work were shared by many of Mill's intellectual friends, his relationship with Harriet Taylor likely inspired the writing. While Mill had always believed that women should be equal (and had in fact been taken into custody by the London police at the age of 17 for distributing birth-control information), Taylor made palpable for him the need for gender equality.

Mill argued that women were a subject class, different only from other slaves because the masters wish them to be willing slaves, and that their willingness is fostered by social conditioning. He lived in Avignon with his stepdaughter Helen for the rest of his life, except for a few years in the late 1860s when he served as a member of the English Parliament. While he was in the legislature, Mill was a speaker for the burgeoning women's suffrage movement. When he returned to Avignon, he revised the manuscript for The Subjection of Women, which was published in 1869.

sources:

Kersey, Ethel M. Women Philosophers: a Bio-critical Source Book. NY: Greenwood Press, 1989.

Rossi, Alice S., ed. "Sentiment and Intellect," in Essays on Sex Equality: John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Scheir, Miriam, ed. Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings. NY: Random House, 1972.

Waithe, Mary Ellen, ed. A History of Women Philosophers. Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987–95.