10 Intriguing Insights About Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft revolutionized the fight for women's equality with her groundbreaking work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Recognized as a trailblazer in early feminist thought, her contributions extend far beyond this iconic text. Discover the remarkable details of her life and enduring impact.

1. Mary Wollstonecraft's early years were marked by hardship.

Born in London in 1759 to Edward John and Elizabeth Wollstonecraft, the future author faced a challenging upbringing. The family grappled with financial instability, and her father's volatile and sometimes violent behavior added to their struggles. (Mary frequently intervened to protect her mother from his outbursts.) In her twenties, she assumed the role of caretaker for her mother and later for some siblings. Writing became her means of earning a livelihood and achieving autonomy. “Endure any hardship rather than fall into dependence,” she advised a friend. “I have borne its burden and urge you to steer clear of it.”

2. She co-founded a school with her sisters and a close female companion.

Despite her limited formal education, Wollstonecraft—only 25 years old at the time—established a school in London in 1784 alongside her sister Eliza and her dear friend Fanny Blood. They were later supported by another sister, Everina.

A few years later, Mary shared her perspectives on women’s education in her debut book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. According to Vivien Jones, an expert in 18th-century gender and culture at Leeds University, the work was a “conduct” book that “merged education with behavior and responsibility.” It aimed to provide Wollstonecraft with an escape from the limited career options available to women, such as teaching or governess roles. Her educational philosophy would later be expanded in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

3. Wollstonecraft played a key role in rescuing passengers from a sinking ship.

In 1785, Wollstonecraft sailed to Portugal to care for Fanny Blood, who had relocated there and was facing complications during her pregnancy. Tragically, Fanny and her baby passed away after childbirth. On her return voyage, Wollstonecraft’s ship encountered another vessel in distress. She urged the captain to rescue the stranded passengers, who would have perished otherwise. Despite the captain’s hesitation, Wollstonecraft insisted until he complied.

4. She gained recognition as a political writer with A Vindication of the Rights of Men. 

Alongside Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, Wollstonecraft’s early works included a novel (Mary: A Fiction) and a children’s book (Original Stories from Real Life). However, it was A Vindication of the Rights of Men that established her as a prominent political writer among her peers. This work was among the earliest rebuttals to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, a conservative critique of the ongoing revolution. Wollstonecraft championed the revolutionary ideals, opposing hereditary power and privilege, including inherited titles and the resulting wealth and dominance they conferred.

A Vindication of the Rights of Men was first published anonymously in November 1790, but a second edition, bearing Wollstonecraft’s name, was released shortly after.

5. Wollstonecraft penned her most renowned work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in just six weeks.

Wollstonecraft’s next work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, solidified her enduring legacy. It was partially inspired by a 1791 speech by French politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who claimed that educating women and girls was unnecessary and could hinder their primary role as mothers.

Wollstonecraft was outraged. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she championed gender equality and the importance of providing women with the same quality of education as men. She asserted that educated women were better equipped to raise children and that society as a whole thrived when women were well-educated. Remarkably, she finished the 13-chapter book in just six weeks.

6. Wollstonecraft served as a war correspondent during the French Revolution.

After publishing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft traveled to Paris to cover the French Revolution. Her observations were later published by her editor, Joseph Johnson. While she is often regarded as the first female war correspondent, it is more precise to say she was among the first, as contemporaries like Helen Maria Williams were also reporting from Paris during that period.

7. She faced the risk of arrest during the Reign of Terror in Paris.

As the French Revolution descended into the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), Wollstonecraft’s safety in France became precarious. By 1793, Britain and France were at war, and British nationals in France were met with intense suspicion. Wollstonecraft was refused permission to leave Paris, and foreigners were at high risk of imprisonment. Helen Maria Williams was jailed for several weeks that year, and philosopher Thomas Paine, despite his American citizenship, was imprisoned for nearly a year solely because he was “a native of England.”

While in Paris, Wollstonecraft began a relationship with American businessman Gilbert Imlay, who fathered her first child, Fanny. Their romance became one of her greatest heartbreaks, as Imlay’s affections were unreliable, and his infidelities and eventual abandonment drove her to attempt suicide. However, one of his few acts of loyalty was to register her as his wife at the American embassy in Paris, though they never married. This granted her American citizenship, providing her with legal protection she lacked as a British national.

8. She journeyed to Scandinavia to investigate a missing shipment of silver. 

In June 1794, Imlay purchased a ship and hired a Norwegian captain to smuggle silver bars through a British blockade under a neutral flag. However, the cargo disappeared during the voyage. In 1795, Imlay sent Wollstonecraft—who had overseen the silver’s loading—to Scandinavia to assist in locating the missing shipment, granting her power of attorney to act on his behalf.

Wollstonecraft embarked on the journey with her daughter and a maid. The silver was never found, and its disappearance remains unsolved—but the trip wasn’t entirely fruitless for Wollstonecraft. She later published the letters she wrote to Imlay during that period in Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, which earned her praise in London’s literary community. Among her admirers was William Godwin, who had previously been unmoved by Wollstonecraft. As he wrote in her biography, “If ever there was a book designed to make a man fall in love with its author, this is surely it.”

9. Wollstonecraft was the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. 

Wollstonecraft and Godwin reconnected in 1796 and began a romance. When Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry in March 1797 to avoid scandal, despite their shared criticism of the institution of marriage.

Wollstonecraft delivered their daughter on August 30, 1797. The birth was complicated, resulting in a severe infection that claimed her life 10 days later. Grief-stricken, Godwin named their daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in her honor. Their daughter would later become a renowned author, known as Mary Shelley, and achieve fame for her novel Frankenstein.

10. Wollstonecraft’s legacy was tarnished after her death but was later revived by suffragettes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After Wollstonecraft’s death, Godwin, overwhelmed by grief, aimed to preserve her memory in his 1798 book Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. He wrote with striking honesty, revealing her romantic relationships, her child with Imlay born out of wedlock, and her suicide attempts.

Though Godwin’s intentions were noble, he underestimated the public’s reaction. The revelations shocked society, damaging Wollstonecraft’s reputation.

Throughout the 19th century, Wollstonecraft was often criticized for her personal life, and her works were largely ignored. No new edition of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was published until 1844. However, suffragette movements in England and America rediscovered her in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, celebrating her life and contributions. Millicent Fawcett, an English activist, even wrote an introduction for a reissued edition of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1891.