Teatime Talk: Mary Wollstonecraft and Henrietta Street
StoriesTeatime TalksPublished 27 June 2024
In 1787 a twenty-seven year old Mary Wollstonecraft arrived in Ireland to take on the role of governess to 14 year old Margaret King, daughter of Viscount Kingsborough. The Kings held extensive landed estates with their main seat at Mitchelstown castle. The family town house was 15 Henrietta Street. The relatively short time Wollstonecraft spent teaching Margaret had a profound impact on the rest of the two women’s lives.
Historian Fergus Whelan will discuss the life of writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights Mary Wollstonecraft, her impact on the life of Margaret King, and the links that bound the two women, even after Wollstonecraft's untimely death.
Fergus Whelan is a historian and the author of Dissent into Treason: Unitarians King-killers and the Society of United Irishmen (2010) and God-Provoking Democrat: The Remarkable Life of Archibald Hamilton Rowan (2015). He has contributed to History Ireland magazine, An Irishman's Diary in The Irish Times, the Irish Humanist, and Look Left magazine. He also works as a tour guide with Dublin City Council Culture Company.
Listen to our previous Teatime Talk where David Caron explores the life and art of Michael Healy, one of Dublin's most foremost stained glass artists. Michael Healy was raised in a Dublin tenement and through a combination of innate talent, hard work and lucky breaks he pulled himself out of grinding poverty.