This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Morgan, Susan Elizabeth Title: A passion for purity : Ellice Hopkins and the politics of gender in the late-Victorian church. General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. A PASSION FOR PURITY: ELLICE HOPKINS AND THE POLITICS OF GENDER IN THE LATE-VICTORIAN CHURCH SUSAN ELIZABETH MORGAN A thesis submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements of the degree of PhD in the Faculty of Arts, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, April, 1997. ABSTRACT Gender analysis is at the forefront of scholarly interest in religious studies and history. As yet, however, little attempt has been made to synthesize the insights of each field. This thesis contends that the late-Victorian movement for social purity provides an illustrative example of how religion, in both its institutional and popular forms, has operated historically as a major site of the production of gender knowledge. The thesis has a double axis. First, a recovery of the life and work of the Anglo-Catholic spinster Jane Ellice Hopkins (1836-1904), whose significance as a religious and moral theorist has been entirely overlooked. Second, the promotion of British religion and gender history as an academic area of research. Churchwomen were prominent contributors to the articulation of prescriptive moral norms of femininity and masculinity in the 1880s and 1890s. I examine Hopkins' activism within the context of a vibrant female purity culture, in order to depict the way in which considerations of gender can enhance our understanding of late nineteenth- century church history, and equally, how sustained attention to religion as a major historical variable can significantly revise our existing picture of feminist campaigns surrounding sexual morality. The thesis is divided into four parts. In Part 1, I outline the theoretical complexities in the construction of religion and gender history, and suggest future directions for research by critically analysing a range of existing methodological paradigms. Part 2 outlines Hopkins' background and career details and establishes the historical origins and context of the social purity movement. Detailed textual analyses of Hopkins' purity pamphlets through which she formulated her constructions of female and male sexuality comprise Part 3 of the study. Finally, in Part 4, I conclude with an exploration of the late-Victorian debates surrounding marriage and the family, and demonstrate Hopkins' remarkable creativity as a radical woman theologian. DECLARATION This thesis represents my own work on "Ellice Hopkins and the Politics of Gender in the Late-Victorian Church", under the supervision of Professor Ursula King in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. The views contained in this thesis are the views of the author and not those of either the Department or the University. Ss- cct Susan Elizabeth Morgan. ACKNOWLED GMENTS I would like first and foremost to thank Professor Ursula King who has managed, as ever, to combine warm support and encouragement with rigorous critical supervision in the preparation of this thesis. Her sound judgment and unfailing instinct for detecting the inaccurate or ambiguous have been invaluable. I am grateful for funding from the British Academy and the Ecclesiastical History Society without which this project could not have been completed. I also thank the staffs of the following libraries where I conducted my research: the University of Bristol Library, the British Library, the Fawcett Library, Lambeth Palace Library, Brighton City Library and the Church of England Record Centre. The emotional support and intellectual stimulation of friends and colleagues has assisted the progress of this thesis considerably. In particular I would like to thank Christine Alexander, Dr. Andrew Bradstock, David Carpenter, Judith Cefalas, Professor Anthony Fletcher, Dr. Sean Gill, Laura Lauer, Dr. Stuart Mews, Dr. Melissa Raphael, my mother Angela Stewart-Sliwinski and Micky Warmingham. It was with great solemnity and no small amount of relief that my children watched me type the final sentence of this thesis. I owe the greatest thanks and deepest gratitude to Rebecca, David and Tom who have steadfastly supported "mum's work" throughout, despite the corresponding lack of time and attention given to their own individual concerns. This thesis is dedicated to the memory 0/Kathy Keay, student, poet and a irue woman of the spirit. CONTENTS UST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5 INTRODUCI'ION 6 PART ONE. HISTORICJ7JNG RELIGION AND GENDER: METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES CHAPTER 1 REDRESSING THE BALANCE,TRANSFORMING THE ART: NEW THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN RELIGION AND GENDER HISTORY. 14 1.1. RELIGION, GENDER AND THE SIGNIHCANCE OF HISTORY. 14 1.2 REVISIONING VICTORIAN RELIGION: THE RELEVANCE OF GENDER 18 1.3 CURRENT PERSPECfIVES IN BRITISH WOMEN'S RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 24 1.3.i Women in the Church of England. 25 1.3.ii Women in Catholicism. 26 1.3.iii Women in the Methodist tradition. 27 1.3.iv Women in the Salvation Anny. 28 1.3. v Women and spiritual heterodoxy. 29 1.3.vi Female religious communities. 29 1.3.vii Women and the priesthood. 31 1.3.viii Sources in British women's religious history. 32 1.4 NEW MEJHODOLOGIES FOR A VICOR1AN SEXUAL POLITICS OF REUGION. 33 1.4.i Women's history. 33 1.4.ii Feminist history. 35 1.4.iii Gender history I. 37 1.4.iv Gender history II - poststructuralist readings. 39 CHAPTER 2 WOMEN'S HISTORY AND THE ROLE OF RELIGION. 43 2.1 THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF REUGION IN WOMEN'S HISTORY. 43 2.1 .i The separation of the spheres. 44 2.1 .ii Religion, women's culture and female associations. 47 2.1.iii Religion and the origins of modem feminism: intellectual trends. 51 2.1 .iii.a Religion and the origins of modem feminism: prosopographic studies. 53 2.1.iii.b Religion and the origins of modem feminism: spiritual biographies. 55 2.2 LATE-VICTORIAN FEMINIST SEXUAL POLITICS. 57 2.3 RELIGION AND SEXUAL DISCOURSE. 59 2.4 HISTORIANS' APPROACHES TO FEMiNISM AND SOCIAL PURITY. 61 2.5 REDEFINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND SOCIAL PURITY. 64 1 PART TWO: ELLJCE HOPKINS AND THE ORIGINS OF SOCIAL PURiTY CHAPTER 3 ELLICE HOPKINS: BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCES. 69 3.1 EARLY -VICFORIAN CAMBRIDGE: FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FIRST INFLUENCES. 69 3.2 SOCIAL AND MORAL REFORM: CAMBRIDGE, c.1856-66. 73 3.2.i Brighton, 1866-78. 75 3.2.i.a Female friendships. 76 3.2.i.b James Hinton. 78 3.2.ii Campaigning for purity, 1878-88. 80 3.3 HIGH ANGLICANISM AND SPINSTERHOOD. 82 3.3.i Divine immanence and transcendence. 84 3.3.ii Revelation, doubt and truth. 86 3.3.iii Tradition and doctrine. 88 3.3.iv Bishop George Wilkinson. 90 3.3.v Catholic Evangelicalism and religious eclecticism. 91 3.4 PREACHING PURITY: HOPKINS AS ORATOR. 93 3.4.i The advantages and disadvantages of gender. 95 3.5 HEALTH AND PURITY. 98 CHAPTER 4 SOCIAL PURITY AND THE RESPONSE OF THE CHURCHES. 104 4.1 THE CHURCHES' RENEWED CONCERN OVER THE POOR. 104 4.2 THE ORIGINS OF SOCIAL PURITY. 105 4.2.i Purity and the state. 107 4.3 THE CHURCHES AND SOCIAL PURITY. 109 4.3.i Denominational responses to social purity. 111 4.4 CONVERTING THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO PURITY: THE ROLE OF ELLICE HOPKINS. 115 4.4.i Speaking out on sex. 117 4.4.ii Defining purity. 119 4.4.iii Re-reading the body. 120 4.5 THE FEMALE CULTURE OF PURITY. 123 4.5.i The contribution of Ellice Hopkins to female purity culture. 126 4.5.ii Recruiting for purity. 130 4.5.iii Feminism and female purity culture. 133 PART THREE: DEFINING GENDER: CONSTRUCTIONS OF FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY IN THE WRiTiNGS OF ELL10E HOPKiNS. CHAPTER 5 "THE POWER OF WOMANHOOD": RELIGION, RESCUE WORK AND FEMALE SEXUALITY. 137 5.1 DEFINING FEMALE SEXUAUTY. 137 2 5.2 RESCUE WORK AND ITS PRAC1'ICAL ADMINISTRATION. 140 5.2.i Rescue work as resocialization. 143 5.3 LATE-VICrORIAN DISCOURSES OF PROSTITUTION. 147 5.3.i The prostitute as victim - a theological agenda. 149 5.3.ii The prostitute as victim - a feminist agenda. 151 5.4 HOPKINS AND THE LAW. 153 5.4.i Purity interpretations of liberty and law. 155 5.4.ii Law and the protection of women. 157 5.5 MORAL WELFARE TRMNING. 159 5.6 SEX EDUCATION AND THE DEMISE OF FEMALE INNOCENCE. 162 5.7 SISTERHOOD, ANTI-DUALISM AND FEMALE SEXUALITY. 165 CHAPTER 6 "TRUE KNIGHTS OF GOD": SOCIAL PURITY AND THE LATE- VICTORIAN IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN MANLINESS.