Sarah Grand was a pseudonym used by Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clark. Clark was born in County Down, Ireland to her father and mother. Her dad was stationed there as a naval lieutenant and passed away when Clark was seven in 1861. After his death, she moved with her mother and four siblings to Yorkshire. Growing up, Clark’s mother focused on her brothers more than her and she often would go without in order that they succeed. She wrote about her bad childhood experiences in The Beth Book. Clark desperately wanted an education growing up, but struggled to find teachers that would put up with her strong-willed nature and her controversial ideas. Clark got married at a young age to a 39 year old man that already had two sons from a previous marriage. His name was Surgeon-Major David Chambers McFall. She found herself to be just as unhappy as a married woman and disliked her husband’s participation in activities that were a result of the Contagious Diseases Act, which she was in strong opposition to. Clark decided to delve in the world of writing in 1888 and published her first novel, anonymously, called Ideala. Clark then used the profits she received from the novel to leave her husband and son and move to London to continue her career as a writer. Once she reached London, she renamed herself as “Madame Sarah Grand.” Her first successful book as Sarah Grand was The Heavenly Twins published in 1893. She continued to write for over 20 years after this, but was less successful. In the early 1900’s Grand lectured on women’s rights, specifically women’s suffrage and other aspects surrounding the New Woman. She became vice-president of the Women’s Suffrage Society and eventually moved to Bath and worked as the mayoress for the city from 1922-1929. Grand’s final move occurred in 1942 after her home was bombed. She moved to Calne in Wiltshire and died in 1943.

Ouida was the pen name used by Marie Louise de la Ramée. Remée was born on January 1 1839. She was born in Bury St. Edmunds, England, but moved to London in 1867. She lived an extravagant lifestyle in the Langham Hotel, where she wrote each night, surrounded by purple flowers. She wrote in bed using only candlelight because she insisted on having the curtains drawn. She spent a large sum of money on florist and hotel bills. In 1871, Ouida moved to Italy and settled down with her mother in Florence four years later. She continued to live a lavish life, partying with all of the popular people in Florence, wearing expensive clothes, and keeping lots of dogs as pets. After writing many novels during her years which were often considered to be inappropriate and controversial, Ouida switched towards writing essays for magazines on social issues in 1890. She was a strong advocate for animal rights and often wrote about in her essays as well as other topics such as not shaming women for their sexual partners and child abuse. Due to her reduced income from the essays and her inability to manage money properly, Ouida had very little money towards the end of her life. However, she still managed to feed many of her pets and other stray dogs, which she was even said to have let eat at the dinner table. Ouida died in 1908 in Italy.

Mona Caird was born on May 24, 1854 in Isle of Wight, England. Her interest in writing started from early childhood and continued into adulthood. She married James Alexander Henryson-Caird in 1877 and they had one son together whom they named Alison James. Caird maintained her independence in marriage with her husband staying in Hampshire while she traveled and spent a lot of time in London. She published two novels under the pseudonym, G. Noel Hatton, neither of which were very successful. Caird rose to popularity after she started writing essays on marriage in 1888 for the Westminster Review. This sparked a series in the Daily Telegraph called “Is Marriage a Failure?”, which aimed at responding to her essay. The series received over 27,000 letters from people all around the world. Caird continued with her writing and advocated for women’s rights, touching on subjects such as marital rape, the work-life balance, and women’s suffrage. She became a part of many societies including the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, the Women’s Franchise League, and the Women’s Emancipation Union. Caird wrote until the end of her life, publishing The Great Wave just a year before she died in 1932 in Hampstead.

Ella Hepworth Dixon was born on March 27, 1855 in Marylebone, London. Her parents were William Hepworth Dixon and Marian Macmahon Dixon. She was the seventh out of eight children and her father was an editor. Her parents valued education for both boys and girls and she was often surrounded by other intellectual people due to her father’s position. She received a thorough education, studying at prestigious schools, such as Heidelberg and the Academie Julianne. After her father died in 1879, Hepworth Dixon began her career in writing to make money. She wrote and published various essays and wrote reviews for newspapers and journals. In 1888 she accepted the position of editor for Oscar Wilde’s journal, Woman’s World and, in 1890, she published her first fiction in the same journal. Hepworth Dixon eventually wrote her only novel, The Story of a Modern Woman in 1894. It is still considered one of her most popular works and gave her the nickname of the “New Woman”. She also accepted an editorship in 1895 for The Englishwoman which she ended up resigning from the following year because she found it to be too tame for her liking. Although she spent a lot of her time literary socializing, Hepworth Dixon also took interest in theater and her play, Toyshop of the Heart, was performed as a charity production in 1908. Towards the end of her life, she published an autobiography titled, As I Knew Them: Sketches of People I Have Met on the Way. Eliza Hepworth Dixon died on January 12, 1932 in London at the age of seventy-six.

Eliza Lynn Linton was born on February 10, 1822. She was the youngest of ten and, after her mother died when she was just five, Linton spent a majority of her time in her father’s library. She did not have a good relationship with her father and was determined to be successful on her own merit. She wanted to be a professional writer and moved to London when she was 23 years old. After failing to become successful with her first two novels, she began working with periodicals as a free-lance journalist. She worked with newspapers such as The Morning Chronicle, The Monthly Review, The Saturday Review, All Year Round, and Queens. She became very successful and contributed over 225 pieces to these newspapers. She is often known for her very anti-feminist views which led her to write many essays, including “The Wild Women as Politicians” and “The Partisans of the Wild Women” which can be found in the Nineteenth Century. Although, she often bashed the feminist movement in the late Victorian era and promoted marriage and traditional women’s roles, she lived alone for most of her life and spent a majority of it emersed in her career. She married William James Linton in 1858 and they published one book together: Lake Country. They never had any children and separated in 1867. In 1895, Linton moved to Malvern. She lived there for the rest of her life, but died during a trip to London after suffering from pneumonia.

Not much is known about the life of Ella W. Winston and a portrait of her could not be found for this site. She was born near the year 1851 in Wisconsin. Her parents were immigrants from Canada. She got married before Novmeber of 1894 and was recorded to be living with her family in New Mexico in 1910. Her most popular work is "Foibles of the New Woman" which was published in The Forum. Although, she also published an article in the American Journal of Politics in which she opposed the Women's Christian Temperance Union as well as an article in the American Magazine of Civics in which she opposed women's suffrage.