She was dubbed a “hyena in a petticoat” by contemporary politician and writer Horace Walpole, accused of being “unsexed”, unladylike, and of having no shame. Though considered the mother of first-wave feminism, the 18th-century philosopher long endured her share of trolls refusing to take her seriously. This has been corrected.Mary Wollstonecraft has had something of a revival in recent years. An earlier version gave the title of one of her works as Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). Further information: This article was amended on 6 October 2015. In Search of Mary by Bee Rowlatt (Alma Books) is out on 15 October. The historian Mary Beard wrote in support that “every woman who wants to make a difference to how this country is run, from the House of Commons to the pub quiz, has Mary Wollstonecraft to thank”. Mary on the Green is the campaign for a statue of Wollstonecraft in the north London area of Stoke Newington, where she lived, worked, and founded a school. Wollstonecraft’s legacy was trashed for well over a century and even today, despite a number of outstanding modern biographies, there’s still no significant memorial to her anywhere. Take note, ladies!Įven Wollstonecraft’s friends and allies stepped back silenced, shaking their heads.

She was a trouble-maker, and she died a woman’s death. This was poetry functioning as an 18th-century Twitter: mocking Wollstonecraft as a “poor maniac” a “voluptuous” victim of “licentious love.” The author also crowed that “she died a death that strongly marked the distinction of the sexes, by pointing out the destiny of women, and the diseases to which they are liable.” In that oldest of misogynistic chestnuts: she was asking for it. Scurrilous poems did the rounds, including an exceptionally unpleasant piece of work called The Un-sex’d Females. Wollstonecraft’s enemies couldn’t contain their glee: here was proof irrefutable that she was a whore, a “hyena in petticoats” as Horace Walpole described her.

The shockwaves were massive, and lasting. And in doing so, he unwittingly brought about Wollstonecraft’s second death: her reputation was killed in the scandal following the revelation of her unconventional life and loves. Godwin, still grieving, wrote her first biography.

She left behind two daughters and a devastated husband, the anarchist philosopher William Godwin. First in childbirth, bringing the author Mary Shelley into the world – the agonising post-partum infection took 10 days to finish her off. But Wollstonecraft died not one, but two deaths.