The objection of mounting ladders

ART. I.—FEMALE ASSISTANTS IN LIBRARIES.

In spite of the increasing numbers of young women who at the present time are called upon to earn their livelihood by their own exertions, there is often to be seen a regrettable want of enterprise in seeking out new employments, the competition in which would be less, the work not harder and the remuneration as good. A young woman who has to support herself too generally turns her attention to some particular line of work, not because it is best adapted to her capacities, but because hundreds, or it may be thousands of young women have undertaken it already, although, if she knew it, this is really a reason why she is less likely to succeed where there is so much competition. Thus, whenever there are vacancies in the Postal or Telegraph Service, the candidates are five or sis times as numerous as the places to be filled; there are also innumerable applications for any situation as amanuensis or private secretary of any kind, and because a few ladies have succeeded as type-writers, we now see countless women advertising for employment as type writers; and it is the same with every employment entered into by women, each being considered "correct " in proportion as it is common.
    One of the neglected employments is one which, it seems to us, women are admirably qualified by natural capacity and strength to fill, that namely of cleric or assistant librarian. The sudden impetus that has been given to the establishment of free libraries must necessarily have caused a large number of such situations to be thrown open. and yet it is strange how very rarely we hear of women being thus engaged. The work is suited to their strength, the hours are ordinarily not longer than those in public offices, the pay, it is true, is not large, but it is as much as in the minor government clerkships, but yet a very small per centage of public libraries employ girls or women even in a subordinate capacity. In this matter England is far behind the United States, as not only are women chief State librarians in six of the States, but we are repeatedly reminded that in Boston more than two-thirds of the officials in the public libraries are women. We think in many cases this is the result not of intentional unfairness, but because it has not been sufficiently the custom for young women to apply for these situations.
    An application was recently made to seventy or eighty of the principal free libraries inquiring whether women were employed, and the answers, although showing an advance from the statistics of female employment furnished by the Statistical Report. on Free Libraries prepared by Mr. C. W. Sutton, of Manchester, in 1882, were yet very far from satisfying. In many cases where there are no women employed, the chief librarian expresses himself favourable to their engagement.
    The library which stands the highest on our list is that of Manchester. In this, and in its numerous branches, 42 women are engaged — one of these being librarian at a branch library (Ancoats) at a salary of £75 per annum. The others are clerks and assistants who are paid from 10s. to 21s. a week.
    Bristol is equal in importance. Out of 40 assistants in the library and its branches, twenty-five are women and of the fifteen male assistants six are porters, leaving but nine for the proper work of the library, and of these several are boys. 'Three of the five branches are managed entirely by females, there being of course, at porter and a charwoman in addition. The salaries vary from 8s. to 21s. a week (the intermediate salaries being 10s., 11s., 12s., 13s., 14s., and 15s. it week), the higher  amount being to the branch librarians. In one instance the latter receives 38s. a week.
    At Bradford seven female assistants have been employed for nearly eight years, and the chief librarian testifies from his experience that they are eminently adapted for attending on the borrowers and doing the clerical work of the department. Their ages are from thirteen to full age, and the salaries vary from 6s. to 23s. a week.
    In Blackpool, a lady, Miss Eteson, is chief librarian, and a young woman is engaged as assistant. In Derby, one woman has been there for 15 years. Her salary is £35.
    In Salford, the Peel Park Royal Museum Library, a lady has been general "cataloguer " for the past three years, and last summer a young woman was engaged as assistant in the lending library. The cataloguer is paid £91 per annum, and the young assistant £40.
    In Sheffield one woman is engaged at a branch library; salary £39 per annum.
    In Birmingham there is one woman librarian at a branch free library, winch is only open from 6 to 9 o'clock p.m. Her wages are 10s. a week and residence. There is one at the Birmingham Library in Union Street who is paid £5 it mouth.
    In Bridgewater a woman is librarian.
    In St. Helen's two women are employed as assistants, and their conduct gives every satisfaction.
    In Scotland very few women are engaged in this work. In Paisley there have been two ever since the library was opened in 1870; their wages are 6s. and 7s. a week, the hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m, and from 6 to 9 p.m., with half an hour's rest at mid-day.
    In Aberdeen Public Library we are informed that two women have been recently appointed as assistants at salaries of 10s. a week. Some additions are contemplated for the Dundee library, and when these are completed it may possibly employ women.
    Many private and subscription libraries employ women. There is a female librarian at the Fitzroy library in Lewes. There is another at the Friends' Institute, Bishopsgate Street, London ; and there is, or was, one in the library at Waterford; also at Mansfield in Nottinghamshire ; at Wolverhampton, a lady, Mrs. Cooper, is librarian at the subscription library, Waterloo Road, and has held the post for several years. In Preston there are no women in the free library, but the town reference library, under the control of the Corporation, has had a woman librarian for thirty years. In Reading no women are now engaged, but before the public library was established a lady was librarian of a proprietary free library for several years.
    In the South London Fine Art Library, 207, Camberwell Road, Miss Olver is librarian and secretary, and has been so since 1884. The work here we are told is "not the cut and dried work of a library, but requires energy, original thought, and devotion, all of which Miss Olver gives in a remarkable degree."
    Undoubtedly there are other instances in which women are employed, for the inquiry was not exhaustive, and we shall be very grateful to our friends and correspondents if they will ascertain if any female assistants are employed at the libraries in their neighbourhood, and let us know the result.
    The large majority of answers received have had a distressing uniformity. There are no women employed. From the princely establishments of Leeds, Liverpool, Leicester, Nottingham, Preston, Wigan, Bolton, and others too numerous too mention, the same response came, yet the opinion of the chief librarian was in most cases very favourable to their being engaged. To quote a few from a variety of replies:-
    "The appointments are so very satisfactory that I regret their not being effected years ago. I do not see, after spending 43 years of my life as a practical librarian, that there are any duties, or any kind of work in a Free Reference or Lending Library which a woman cannot perform quite as well, and in some things better than a man or a youth, always providing that the woman is fairly and widely educated and is animated with an active devotion in her work, and she should be equally paid for her work as are the men. Whenever an opening occurs in our libraries, I should advocate the engagement of women as assistants."
    "The quality we most appreciate is their uniform courtesy and attention, one which male assistants often lack."
    "I believe the service of women in a free library assists in raising the tone and improving the manners of the frequenters of the Institution. In most of the modern Free Libraries the shelving is so arranged that the books are all within the reach of the hand, so that the objection of mounting ladders may now be said to be removed."
    One real difficulty in employing women in this as is many other trades is to be found in the reply of one librarian, and we quote it, for it is one that only women themselves can remove by greater thoroughness in preparation and steadiness in work.
     "One of the great difficulties . . . . is the lack of permanency. As a rule when a young man takes to library work, and as time passes on, he thinks of a home of his own, he is stimulated to fresh endeavours to make his services more valuable. But with women the probability or even possibility that her position is only  temporary and that she will soon leave it for home life does more than anything else to keep her value down. I am bold to say that neither man nor woman can do the best work except when it is felt to be the life work; this lack of permanency in the plans of women is more serious than one likes to own."
    As we have already observed, there may be many other instances that have not come under our knowledge of women who are engaged in this work; but enough has been said to show that it very small proportion, as yet, of women have entered on this useful and suitable calling, which does not require any great degree of physical strength, but in which order, punctuality, tact and obligingness are pre-eminently needed and in which breadth of culture and literary tastes would make the work delightful and invigorating.

The Englishwoman's Review, 14 January 1888

A Woman's Complaint

An 1890s woman speaks out against poor provision of public toilets on the railway, and elsewhere:

A WOMAN'S COMPLAINT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—The writer of " A Woman's Complaint" deserves the thanks of hundreds of thousands of men and women for drawing attention to out of the greatest evils which disgrace our pseudo-civilization. Savage races which have no false delicacy would never allow such absurdities. It is not too much to say that in England men and women are daily tortured because the subject is tabooed, though vice may be openly discussed, and not only directors but shareholders and many others are to blame because when there is cause for complaint no one will speak out and focus public attention. Whether travelling on distant journeys or merely round London evidence is constantly forthcoming of the absence of the proper accessories of civilization. Several times have I seen women try in vain to open the door of a ladies' room when returning at night from theatres, &c., by train; and even at an exhibition under Royal patronage I have seen the same thing occur, though a cloak-room should obviously be open just before closing time as much as the drinking bars which were then open. Some day a husband or a brother will burst a door open, regardless of concentrating the attention of idlers, and a jury will justify him, it all English spirit has not been drilled out of us by then. I have heard that a passenger can require a train to be detained in case of necessity. Perhaps some lawyer will enlighten us on this point. It might be awkward for the railway companies, but they will have themselves to thank. More is required, however. Proper accommodation and attendance after arrival at a terminus, and also sometimes refreshments at a terminus. We want a few women as well as men invested with autocratic power as Government inspectors, not to attend to the higher politics of railways, but to supervise the minor details which make the real comfort of life to the thousands. The County Council in London has intended to set an example, but is most unfortunate in its methods. The accommodation it provides and labels "Ladies" is practically useless, because it is usually in such a situation, in the middle of a street and often opposite a cab-rank, that respectable women cannot go near the entrance. Who building a house would put the  accommodation for his female servants, to say nothing of visitors, in the middle of a stable yard? The result is that constables are still specially employed to watch the retired streets,and interfere, though with no right to do so, when they are preferred. The subject may not be a select one for public discussion, but there is a crying evil which must be cured sooner or later, and as the subject has been mooted I hope you will allow it to be ventilated - I enclose my card, but beg to subscribe myself
Your obedient servant,
ZETETES.

Closet Accommodation for Women

REPORT TO THE STREETS COMMITTEE OF THE HONOROURABLE THE COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS OF THE CITY OF LONDON

UPON THE PROVISION OF CLOSET ACCOMMODATION FOR WOMEN

by WILLIAM HAYWOOD

29th April 1887

Streets committee report to Commissioners of Sewers

'Recommending that thereference of tyhe 16th November last, relative to providing accommodation for women, adjacent to the chalet at Ludgate Circus, be discharged; that the propossed underground convenience for men be forthwith substituted for the said chalet; that it be referred back to the Committee to obtain premises in a more suitable locality as retiring rooms for women; and that the report of the Engineer on the subject be printed and circulated ...

GENTLEMEN,

PUBLIC CLOSET ACCOMMODATION FOR WOMEN

With refernece to the provision of closet accommodation for women,. I beg, in the first place, tto remark that the subject it, under sundry aspects, a difficult one to deal with plainly in a report of this sort; that it is also difficult to ascertain whether there is a great neccessitty for the provision of such public accommodation in the City of London; and that the question of free usage of the closet, if provided by the Commission, is a serious consideration from a financial point of view.

As to necessity, - In 1867, when I reported upon the traffic and improvements needed in the City of London, found upon investigation that there entered the City daily about one women to every five men. If the proportion is the same at the present time, there must be something like 160,000 women who enter and leave the City daily. It has been stated to me that a larger proportion of women now come to the City than formerly was ythe case, but the opinion was not based upon statistics, which alone can verify such opinion. My own impression is that the women bear much the same proportion to the men that they did in the year 1867.

The great bulk of the females are employed all day long in manufactories, show rooms, shops and other places of business in City, where ample accommodation is provided, and from which they are not far distant, when they once pass the City boundary. Others come during the day in considerable numbers to large warehouses, and great trading houses, to make purchases: at many of the largest of which special arrangements are made for women; even if there be not, there would, I imagine, be no difficulty in obtaining the use of clossets in case of necessity; and, therefore, for the classes named, I think it may be assumed that there is already sufficient accommodation.

There are, I believe, in some parts of the City, and particularly at certain season of the year, many poorr workwomen, who come mostly early in the morning, but also at other times, to fetch or take home work. I am informed that this class is very numerous, but have no means of judging this. The remainder of the women who come, comprise a certain number of strangers who enter by rail, omnibus, or cab, to see the City, and others who come to look at the shops where female wares are dealt in. Few, I should think, come for exercise or pleasure. It is for these classes, as it appears to me, that the accommodation is mainly needed.

The accommodation for women which already exists must now be enquired into.

There is at the present time a Chalet in Bridge Street by Ludgate Circus; and one in tthe centre of Bishopsgate Street Without, where accommodation for a limited number of women is provided.

There are seventeen railway stations - a list of which is given in the appendix - where it is provided. At twelve of them it can be had without a passenger's ticket having first to be taken; at the others a ticket must be taken, although it is probable that on the plea of urgency, accommodation would not be refused to anyone especially as a payment would have to be made; for at all of the stations a penny is either demanded or expected to be given for the usage of the closet.

The stationsare well known; and are all close to thoroughfares of considerable traffic; but with the exception of those at Ludgate Hill, the Holborn Viaduct, the Mansion House, Aldgate, thewy are not upon  the great east and west lines of thoroughfare, which begin at Temple Bar and Holborn, and terminate at Aldgate.

On those main lines of thoroughfare, or immediately adjacent to them, taverns, dining rooms and pastry cooks abound; at many of these places accommodation can be had; nearer to the City boundary there are shops where humble people can procure food, and where probbably accommodation would be given in case of extreme need; but I apprehend, it would nearly always invvolve in some shape or other, a payment.

With this existing accommodation it seems to me doubtful, therefore, whether there is any great necessity for further provision of public closets for women, but the only way to test this would be to make an experiment in one of the leading thoroughfares. If that were done, a year or two's experience would determine whether it was needful to extend the accommodation or not.

If the Commission should be of opinion that it is desirable to make further provision, the first difficulty to be met is that of finding suitable sites.

Few women, I think, would willingly go to such places if erected in the centres of the public ways. It would be inexpedient, also, according to English notions, to provide it in one and same building for both men and women, yet such arrangement exists at Paris and in many of the large towns in Europe; no objections have been raised against it; nor do I think that under proper regulations objections would be tenable; nevertheless it would here, I think, tend to prevent the usage by women of the well-to-do classes, who now find it and continue to find it at pastry cooks and elsewhere. I incline to the opinion that separate accommodation for women would be deemed necessary, and that it should not be placed in the centres of the public ways, where, indeed, it must be remarked that is may be difficult to find room, as such sites are fast being occupied by conveniences for men.

Room would, therefore, have to acquired by purchasing or hiring the ground floors, or perhapss the basements or first floors, of buildings abutting the great highways, for it would be useless to provide it in bye-streets or out of the way places wher strangers could not readily find it. It must in fact be upon the main lines of thoroughfare. The acquisition of sites in such streets would be very costly, rentals of from #200 to #300 per annum and perhaps still more would have to be given.

The question of payments for the usage of such closets then arises.

It was found at the Royal Exchange that the free usage of the closets was abused, that they were largely used by the same men daily - men who undoubtedly could go elsewhere, but preferred the most perfect accommodation provided gratis by the Commission. The free use of the closets was then discontinued and has since been paid for; the urinal accommodation remaining - as it always was - free.

Directly the free usage ceased, the payments for the closets increased, showing clearly that men quite able to pay would not do so when they could obtain accommodation for nothing. It is by the charges made for usage that the expense of maintaining the closets at the Royal Exchange, Farringdon Street, and King William Street is now largely met.

It seems to me that without charge being made to women, not only would a similar abuse take place, but as it must occur to everyone, it might do so to a very much larger extent, under the plea of a necessity, which no one could deny, whether true or not, and the Commission, to meet it, would have either to provide very needlessly large buildings, or be obliged to charge for the usage.

But if payment be demanded, it is doubtful to me whether sufficient money would be obtained to recoup, in any material degree, the cost of maintenace; however, as bevore observed, with regard to the necessity for closets, this is also a point which could alone be cleared up by experiment.

My conclusions generally are:-

That there already exists in the City of London large accessible accommodationfor women, but that the usage in all cases involves the expenditure of a penny or more.

That if further accommodation be provided for them by the Commission, it could only usefully be given on the main thoroughfares, and that the cost of acquiring sites for that purpose, as well as the cost of maintenace, subsequently, would be large.

That if free usage were granted, the privilege would be abused, and that if payments are demanded, the receipts would not go far towards recouping the annual expenses.

I append a plan of the City showing the situations of the various railway stations, also in the Appendix an account of accommodation given at each of them.

I have the honour to remain,

Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant,

WILLIAM HAYWOOD

Engineer and Surveyor.

Hints on your Health

HINTS 

ON 

YOUR HEALTH

As soon as you are up, shake blankets and sheet,
Better be without shoes, than sit with wet feet;
Children, if healthy, are active not still,
Damp beds, and damp clothes will both make you ill;
Eat slowly, and always chew your food well.
Fresh the air in the house where you dwell;
Garments must never be made to be tight;
Homes will be healthy if airy and light;
If you wish to be well, as you do I've doubt,
Just open the windows before you go out;
Keep your rooms always tidy and clean,
Let dust on the furniture never be seen;
Much illness is caused by the want of pure air,
Now to open your windows be ever your care.
Old rags and old rubbish should never be kept,
People should see that their floor are well swept;
Quick movements in children are healthy and right,
Remember the young cannot thrive without light.
See that the cistern is clean to the brim,
Take care that your dress is all tidy and trim;
Use your nose to find out if there be a bad drain,
Very sad are the fevers that came in its train.
Walk as much as you can without feeling fatigue,
Xerxes could walk for full many a league.
Your health is your wealth, which your wisdom must keep,
Zeal will help a good cause, and the good you will reap.

London: Jarrold and Sons, 3 Paternoster Buildings,

The Ladies' Sanitary Association, 22, Berners Street, Oxford Street, W.

PRICE ONE PENNY

FOURTH EDITION

[an undated publication from the Ladies Sanitary Association (1857-1900), courtesy of Liverpool Records Office]

The Ladies Sanitary Association

In which Ladies demanded water closet accommodation:

LATRINE ACCOMODATION FOR WOMEN

A letter having been addressed by the Secretary of the Ladies Sanitary Assocation to the Vestry respecting the present absence of water closet accommodation for women, the matter was referred jointly to the Works and Sanitary Committees, and was several times under discussion. Mr. Voss was requested to write to the Secretary, and enquire what had already been done in the matter by other Vestries. The following reply was received:-

LADIES SANITARY ASSOCATION
22, BERNERS STREET, OXFORD STREET, W.,
london, December 3rd, 1878

DEAR SIR, - In reply to yours of the 28th November, I write to mention that the Committee have appealed to all the Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards, and that there is reason to be satisfied that the matter referred to will be seriously considered by many Vestries and Boards, particularly by St. George's Hanover square, St. George's Southwark, St. Saviour's Southwark, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Paddington, St. Pancras, Kensington, Camberwell, St. James's, Westminster, St. Luke's, &c.

    I do not know of any public free provision having yet been made for women, and have reason to believe none such exists in London. The difficulty of obtaining sites is one that troubles some Vestries, and has led the Commitee to suggest the utilization of existing buildigns over which the Vestry may have some control, viz., at park lodges, cemeteries, recreation grounds, model lodgings, hospitals, laundries, baths, dispensaries, workhouses, School Board schools, tram and omnibus stations, churches and chapels, or the opening of small shops where articles are or could be sold in which women are interested.

    The best plan, of course, would be special erections placed in a well-frequented part of the parish, not in a mews or middle of the roadway, or close to a public house. If an attendant - and the Committee think one is justified at each station - were supplied and a lavatory added, it would be quite possible to make a charge for accommodation; but a free W.C. should always exist at a paying station. The Committee simply suggest a charge where a lavatory is supplied, because it is known that supervision, &c., would be appreciated by many. The increasing number of women (working) of all classes who travel about London daily renders such provision of serious moment.

    The Committee earnestly hope that the Vestry of Bethnal Green may find it possible to help a class who naturally find it difficult to ask for public consideration in this matter, while experiencing grievous suffering. Whichever Vestry shall first give proof of humane consideration will have earned the gratitude of all women, and set an example that cannot fail to be beneficial to health and social morality.

    I shall be glad to reply to any inquiry you may desire to make,
           And remain, dear sir, sincerely yours,
                     ROSE ADAMS, Secretary.

As to the necessity for such accommodation there can be no doubt, as at present confectioners shops and the waiting rooms of railway station are the only available places at which women from home, on business or pleasure, can answer the calls of nature; while, on the other hand, urinals for men are pretty freely distributed all over London. This selfish inequality calls for immediate readjustment for the misery and illness entailed upon women by it is enormous.

    From a special report upon the subject by Dr. Stevenson, the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, I make the following extract:-

Upon the medical aspect of the question it is not necessary to enlarge. Of this aggregate of moving feminine humanity referred to, of all ages, and belonging to every grade of society, it is sufficient to say that every unit of it has, in common with men, the same physical necessities. For the maintenance of life it is not more necessary to take food and drink than subsequently to get rid of what the system cannot appropriate. The one organic necessity involves the other: they are correlated. It is a mistake to suppose that there are such differences in the female organization, that these primal requirements of physical being can be disregarded by women with less suffering than by men. There are periods and conditions peculiar to the sex when latrine accommodation would be specially convenient; and as at such times the requirements of nature are apt to be more urgent and more frequent, women would be spared much unnecessary mental and physical distress, were the accommodation provided.

    It is true that by the exercise of the will we can control for a time the muscular openings which serve an inlets and outlets to the body, and that we thus have the power of resisting, to a considerable extent, the calls of nature when inconvenient. This power is not possessed by infants or young children, or by the aged or the infirm. But such resistance, which circumstances too frequently impose upon women, if habitually practised, is sure to be followed by injurious results. Apoplexy is an everyday consequences of constipation. Much of the cerebral and cardiac disturbance of the present day - and it is alleged to be on the increase - is probably due to the same cause. It is certain that almost every form of disease, whether local or constitutional, is likely to be aggravated by constipation; and that, whether it be the cause or effect of other diseaes, it is sure to occur if the evacuation of the bowels, from choice or from necessity, be persistently delayed. It should also be borne in mind that diseases of a grave character, induced by constipation, are apt to continue their course independent and unchecked, long after the cause may have ceased. The same remarks apply, in a great measure, to retention of urine, which is the other condition most likely to arise from the want of the provision in question. Again, persons of both sexes and of all ages suffer at times from diarrhoea and irritable bladder, and must be greatly inconvenienced by the want of the required accommodation.

    There is abundant testimony from medical men and others, available if necessary, to prove that this is no imaginary want - the creation of sentimentalism, but that it is really a great and growing one, which calls for the prompt and careful consideration of those who busines it is to make provision for it, and at the same time deserves their beneficent efforts, seeing that it is experienced by those whose natural reserve upon such a subject, and whose positions in life, for the most part, prevent them from making themselves heard. Modesty suggests that nurses should have the opportunity of privately performing their duties to their little charges. Ladies who are interested in the welfare of those below them in the social scale are ready to declare that poor women have often told them, with tears in their eyes, of the agony and shame they have endured in circumstances which it is not necessary to particularise. Sir James McGarel Hogg has recently expressed himself as quite alive to the want, which he considered to be a real and a serious one. "There is no doubt," the Lancet  has remarked, "that the establishment of retiring rooms for ladies will prove a great boon." To obtain this much-needed accommodation, some ladies go to restaurants and order refreshments which they do not require, and others to milliners and confectioners' shops. It may be safely assumed that the money thus spent, even when it is only a few pence, cannot always be conveniently spared.

The Vestry have undoubtedly power to make this provision, as will be seen from the following extract from 18th and 19th Victoria (1855) sec. 88: - "It shall be lawful for every Vestry and District Board to provide and maintain urinals, water closets, privies and like conveniences, in situations which they deem such accommodation to be required, and to supply the same with water, and to defray the expenses thereof; and any damage occasioned to any person by the erection thereof, and the expense of keeping the same in good order, as expenses of sewerage, are to be defrayed under this Act."

    In Paris, and in other cities on the continent, water closets are provided for both sexes, and a charge of three-halfpence is made to each person using them. Most of these are, I imagine, private speculations, and I have no doubt that they pay a reasonable profit. Whether the Vestry would be empowered to make a similar charge I am not prepared to say, but certainly each latrine should be placed under the charge of a responsible attendant, who should be required to exercise considerable vigilance in the matter of cleanliness, as otherwise contagious diseases would undoubtedly be communicated.

    I have on one or two occasions visited latrines on the continent where no charge was made and where there was no attendant. In each case the condition of the place was most disgusting.

    The matter deserves futher consideration, and I trust that we shall at an early date see in this Parish conveniences of the kind mentioned.

Report on the Sanitary Condition and Vital Statistics of the Parish of Saint Matthew, Bethnal Green, during the year 1878

The Famous Stoke Newington Ass-Woman, and other Lady Pugilists

Wandering a little out of our era (by about a century) I find this announcement in the Daily Post from July 7th 1728 (reprinted in the Fortnightly Review, 1899) pertaining to 'my manor' ... one for anyone interested in the history of lady pugilists ... if only all advertisements were this eloquent:

AT Mr. Stokes Amphitheatre, in Islington Road, this present Monday, being the 7 of October, will be a complete Boxing Match by the two following Championesses: Whereas I, Ann Field, of Stoke Newington, ass driver, well known for my abilities in boxing in my own defence wherever it happened in any way, having been affronted by Mrs. Stokes, styled the European Championess, do fairly invite her to a trial of her best skill in Boxing for 10 pounds, fair rise and fall; and question not but to give her such proofs of my judgement that shall oblige her to acknowledge me Championess of the Stage, to the entire satisfaction of my friends.
    I Elizabeth Stokes, of the City of London, have not fought in this way since I fought the famous boxing-woman of Billingsgate 29 minutes, and gained a complete victory (which is six years ago); but as the famous Stoke Newington ass-woman dares me to fight her for the 10 pounds, I do assure her I will not fail meeting her for said sum, and doubt not that the blows which I shall present her will be more difficult for her to digest than any she ever gave her asses.
     Note. A man, known by the name of Rugged and Tuff, challenges the best man of Stoke Newington to fight him for one guinea to what sum they please to venture.
    N.B. Attendance will be given at one, and the encounter is to begin at four precsiely. There will be the diversion of Cudgel-playing as usual.

I suspect such bouts were relatively rare and promoted for their novelty value. You do find occasional  reports of women fighting/boxing in early Victorian London, too. Here's a couple of examples:

DISGRACEFUL SCENE- On Wednesday night two amazons named Pyne and Russell (well known in St. Giles's and to the police), had a quarrel at a public-house, and it was agreed that they should settle their differences in a pugilistic conflict in the street. They accordingly stripped themselves to the waist, tied up their hair, and having appointed backers or seconds in the persons of two other of the "softer" sex, repaired to Tottenham-court-road, where, pursuant to the usages of the prize ring, they prepared for the "fray," amidst a crowd of profligate and idle spectators, who formed a ring, and the combatants commenced striking at one another right and left and dealing knock-down  blows, whilst the screams and bellowings of the crowd were like a gang of savages. At length police constables 5 and 41 E arrived on the spot, and interfered, when they were attacked; but they seized on the principals and seconds. The latter quietly surrendered themselves as did also Russell; but Pyne, after great resistance, fell on the ground, fought, bit, kicked, and tore like a mad woman, and it required eight officers to take her to the station-house; and, strange to say, on her arrival there the officers were more exhausted than herself. She and the other prisoners were locked up, and yesterday morning the whole of them were taken before the magistrate at Clerkenwell police-court. Pyne was committed to the House of Correction for a month, Russell for seven days, and the seconds were discharged with a salutary admonition. Pyne tripped lightly from the bar, saying she would have it out another day.

Times, 1844

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES

Sir, - "G.W." in to-day's Times, expresses his surprise that no man was found who would assist in the capture of the brute who knocked a woman down. Your correspondent will probably cease to wonder when he reads the following:- About a month ago I was at breakfast with my family at Kensal-green, when I perceived a number of persons passing through the field adjoining my house. I endeavoured to ascertain the cause. With much difficulty I did so. The stream of men and women had come from Paddington to a prize-fight between two - no, not men - women! One of my family, being incredulous, contrived to look across the fields, and there saw the combatants stripped to the waist and fighting. Men took them there, men backed them, men were the bottle-holders and time-keepers. They fought for about half-an-hour, some say for 5s., some say for a sovereign, and some say they will do it again. I saw the winner led back in triumph by men. After the above, I think your correspondent will cease to wonder at the indifference of a Paddington mob. You, Sir, have already drawn the moral from such things. Perhaps you will permit me to add my matured conviction that some vices and some crimes are too disgraceful for mere punishment of a clean, well-ordered, and well-fed prison. Let us have the whipping-post again, and at the flogging let the crime of "unmanly brutes" be written over their heads.
    Aug. 31                                                C.E.W.

letter to The Times, 1852

Women's Rights

A DISCUSSION ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
SIR HERCULUS FITZANAK ADMITS THAT WOMEN OCCASIONALLY RIVAL MEN IN INTELLECT AND CHARACTER, BUT CONTENDS THAT THEIR INFERIORITY IN STRENGTH AND STATURE WILL PROVE AN INSUPERABLE BAR TO THEIR EVER BEING PLACED ON A FOOTING OF EQUALITY WITH THE STERNER SEX. MISS MILLICENT MILLEFLEURS SAYS NOTHING, BUT THINKS A GREAT DEAL.

[PUNCH, 1886]

The Ideal Woman

In 1897, The Lady's Realm (a popular magazine of the day) asked some minor male celebrities to define 'an ideal woman'. Here's some edited highlights. We begin with little-remembered author and poet Frank Frankfort Moore, who waxes poetical:

She is easy to live with. She is worth dying for. She is the high light in the charcoal drawing of humanity, man being the charcoal. She is the skylight in the edifice of human life. She has no history. She has no story. She is the plectrum that makes music with the haert-strings of a man. She is the key by which he is kept constantly in tune. She is the rhythm which transforms the prose of life into poetry.

But then gets a little more prosaic:

She wears a reasonable hat at matinées ... She knows sixteen ways of arranging flowers on the dinner-table. She abhors coloured paper-shades on the candles. She knows how to choose a juicy joint of beef. She laughs when the fishmonger gives her hints about turbot. 

Then a bit moralising:

She knows there is no difference between the woman who calls herself smart and the woman whom respectable people called vulgar.

Then frankly mysterious:

She makes an honest attempt to understand cats, and cats understand her.

But then he pulls it back for all the women out there:

She knows that every real woman is the Ideal Woman, the fact being that every idea of the Ideal Woman is wholly dependent on the idealist, and every woman who is idolised is idealised.

Ah, Frank, I bet you were a devil with the ladeez, my friend.

For any female readers who only know fifteen ways of arranging flowers on the dinner table, or just can't get their head round cats, don't despair, there's more on 'Ideal Women' to follow ... watch this space ...

Calisthenics for Ladies

CALISTHENICS FOR LADIES

Yes, my sterling work in digitising Cassells results in, finally, another completed section of this marvellous part-work, where we learn that "helplessness and inactivity are no longer looked upon as feminine virtues" and that "As soon as women experience the benefits of physical education a general desire arises to share in its advantages, among which we may reckon a sense of power of action, an increased cheerfulness, and general vigour". Hurrah for general vigour! I could do with some myself. Interesting for its mention of women's gyms - I didn't know there were such places in the 1880s. Also, rather marvellous for its instructive pictures. Click here to read Calisthenics for Ladies in full.