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Isa Knox (writer)

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Isa Knox
Born(1831-10-17)October 17, 1831
DiedDecember 23, 1903(1903-12-23) (aged 72)
OccupationNovelist
NationalityScottish
GenrePoetry

Isa Knox (née Craig; 17 October 1831 – 23 December 1903) was a Scottish poet, novelist, editor, and writer. She was secretary to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, and one of the first staff members of the English Woman's Journal.

Biography

Early life

Notice appearing in the Alexandria Magazine mentioning "Miss Isa Craig," May 1st, 1864.

Isa Craig Knox was the only child of John Craig, hosier and glover, and Ann Braick Craig, born on 17 October 1831 in Saint Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. In childhood she lost both parents, and was reared by her grandmother. Due to financial hardship, she was forced to leave school in her tenth year; consequently, from a young age, her literary abilities were largely self-taught. A close study of standard English authors such as Gibbon, Addison and his contemporaries, Shakespeare, Milton, Cowper and Burns were major influences and developed her literary tastes, which influenced her subsequent attempts at writing. After contributing verses to The Scotsman with the signature Isa, she was regularly employed on the paper starting in 1853.

Marriage and family

Several years after relocating to London to pursue a writing and activism career, on 17 May 1866, Craig married her cousin, John Knox, a London iron merchant, at St. John's Church, Deptford in Lewisham. It has been described as an "easy marriage." The couple had a daughter named Margaret, who was born in the same parish in which they were married. On 25 July 1869, Isabella and her husband had their daughter baptized at St Peter's Brockley, Lewisham. In the 1881 United Kingdom census, the family, along with John's older brother William, a book-keeper also working in the iron trade, and a servant is listed as living at 13 South Hill Park, in Hempstead, Kent. Ten years later, in the 1881 United Kingdom census, the same household is listed as having moved to 86 Breakspears Rd in Deptford, London. By the time of the 1901 United Kingdom census, the family had moved to No. 88 on the same street and had taken on an additional servant.

Early career and activism

After coming to London in 1857, Craig was appointed to be the first female secretary to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, and held the position, despite enduring public scorn for several years due to her sex. Craig was one of the first staff members of the English Woman's Journal which routinely questioned customs such as opportunities for employment and the division of labour between men and women; actions for the women of the time were often restrained by notions of what was proper conduct for a "lady." A friend and comrade was another major feminist figure, Elizabeth "Bessie" Rayner Parkes, whom Craig had met through her work with The Waverley Journal, an Edinburgh women's magazine.

During her early career, Craig also faced discrimination due to her obscure origins and Scottish identity. In her 1910 memoir Recollections of What I Saw, What I Lived Through, and What I Learned, during More than Fifty Years of Social and Literary Experience, the Scottish poet Isabella Fyvie Mayo describes hearing a well-connected, literary Englishwoman, Miss Y- , who detested "gutter blood," cast aspersions on the lowly work Isa had taken in Edinburgh to "secure independence before she had made her mark in literature," even bringing it up to her face at a public gathering. To Mayo's admiration, Isa Craig "gently refrained" from offering a retort.

Isa contributed to the advancement of women during the Victorian period, publishing many works specifically to promote the education of women and joining many organizations striving towards that same goal, such as the newly formed Langham Place circle, a group of privileged women who hoped to open up more professions to women, besides those of nurses and teachers. Besides working as a trailblazer for the advancement of women's suffrage in England, Knox also was an anti-slavery advocate. She published many poems on the subject of slavery and treated the subject in other prose works, including The Essence of Slavery, Extracted from "A Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation," by Frances Ann Kemble (1863) and Easy History for Upper Standards (1884).

Prize-winning Ode

In 1858 Isa wrote and submitted a resonant ode entitled "On the Centenary of Burns: An Ode" as her entry for a prize of £50 offered at the Crystal Palace for a centenary poem on Scottish poet Robert Burns. Out of 621 candidates, among them such literary figures as Frederic William Henry Myers, Gerald Massey, and Arthur Joseph Munby, Isa won the prize. As Burns was regarded as the national poet of Scotland, to win this contest in England as a woman, was quite an achievement for Isa. Unaware that she had won the contest, Isa was absent, so her poem was read aloud in her stead before a cheering crowd of thousands in the Crystal Palace who responded to the poem with a standing ovation and cries for the author to appear; her name was mistakenly pronounced "Esau," since the awarders assumed the winner must be male.

This poem remains her most cited and praised work, one stanza of which appears below:

The land he trod

Hath now become a place of pilgrimage;

  Where dearer are the daisies of the sod

That could his song engage.

    The hoary hawthorn, wreathed

Above the bank on which his limbs he flung

  While some sweet plaint he breathed;

  The streams he wandered near;

The maidens whom he loved; the songs he sung;—

    All, all are dear!

Later career

In 1863, cotton exports in Lancashire were significantly decreased due to the American Civil War, causing great financial hardship to mill workers, so Knox edited a volume by poets to dedicate to the town for their hardships and raise money. Among the contributors was the poet Christina Rossetti; the published volume was named Poems: An Offering to Lancashire. In 1863, she contributed along with the likes of Charles Kingsley, W. Holman Hunt, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Thomas Hughes to The Reader, a weekly review of literature, art, and science, newly published in London.

After her marriage, Knox published pieces occasionally in Fraser's Magazine, Good Words, and the Quiver, edited the Argosy, a travel and tales magazine, for a short time, and published some volumes of poems and juvenile histories. She completed many poems, newspaper articles and reviews in the later half of her career, most of whom are little known. Many of Knox's works were never attributed to her. Partial lists of her work can be found in various scholarly works on British literature, but some of her novels, such as her first, Mark Warren, are more obscure.

Death and legacy

Isa Knox died at 88 Breakspears Road, Brockley, on 23 December 1903. Her burial took place 30 December 1903 in Lewisham, London, England. At the time of her death, she was beloved by many, as her numerous writings and activities had contributed to awareness of the need for social and political reform. Her questioning of the gender roles and class standards of the Victorian Era made her controversial, yet memorable for her time. The 1911 United Kingdom census reveals that her unmarried daughter Margaret, widowed husband, and his brother continued to live at the same address, with two domestic servants.

It appears that on 27 May 1922, Margaret, aged 52 and giving her race as "Scotch," arrived in Quebec on the ocean liner RMS Victorian. She had travelled to Canada to visit a friend, the Rev. Arthur Garlick, incumbent of the Diocese of Caledonia. There is no record of Isa's daughter ever marrying or having children.

Literary analysis

Not only did Isa Knox face contemporary criticism of her writings, but also faced public scorn for her views, especially as expressed in the English Women's Journal. One critic wrote to the editor of the Daily News of their concern regarding Knox's expressions, stating, "women's cause is man's" and "women never can, or ought to compete with man." While Knox's poems and writings have been regarded as "successful" in her own era, she has been praised for possessing and exerting great "intellectual powers."

According to the Dictionary of National Biography, in verse Knox produced nothing that was considered to have surpassed the excellency of the Burns ode. Her first volume, Poems by Isa (1866), showed some promise, and some lyric quality appeared in Poems: an Offering to Lancashire (1863), an anthology edited by Knox, as well as in Duchess Agnes, a Drama and other Poems (1864) and Songs of Consolation (1874). Dr. A. H. Japp edited a Selection from Mrs. Knox's Poems in 1892. Of Mrs. Knox's prose work, The Essence of Slavery (1863) summarized Fanny Kemble's influential Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, and Esther West (1870; 6th edit. 1884) was a well-constructed story. Mrs. Knox's Little Folk's History of England (1872) reached its 30th thousand in 1899, and the author adapted from it a successful Easy History for Upper Standards (1884). Tales on the Parables, two series, appeared in 1872–7.

Isa Knox's poems focused on themes such as nature and its changes, the Earth as the Lord's gift, and passing time. In her sonnet "Spring" appears the following memorable lines:

I love the spring-time for the lengthening light,

And coming beauty. 'Tis like childhood's hours,

When life is all before is stretching bright,

And full with promise of its summer flowers,-

When tears are soonest shed and soonest dried,

And love hath no disguise, and beauty hath no pride.

Other notable poems include "The Incarnation," "Never to Know," and "Wind and Stars."

Works

Library resources about
Isa Knox (writer)
By Isa Knox (writer)
  • Poems: an Offering to Lancashire (as editor) (1863)
  • Poems by Isa (1866)
  • The Essence of Slavery (1863)
  • Duchess Agnes, a Drama and other Poems (1864)
  • Songs of Consolation (1874)
  • Esther West (1870; 6th edit. 1884)
  • Little Folk's History of England (1872)
  • The Good Samaritan (1872)
  • The Cumberer of the Ground (1872)
  • Tales on the Parables (two series, 1872-7)
  • Peggy Ogilvie's Inheritance (1880)
  • The Half-Sisters (1881)
  • In Duty Bound (1881)
  • Deepdale Vicarage (1884)
  • Easy History for Upper Standards (1884)
  • Our Summer Home (1888)
  • Hold Fast by Your Sundays (1889)
  • Selection from Mrs. Knox's Poems (edited by Alexander Hay Japp) (1892)

References

  1. Ancestry.com. Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
  2. ^ "Craig, Isa m. Knox." Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edited by Elizabeth L. Ewan, Sue Innes, Sian Reynolds, Rose Pipes. Edinburgh University Press, 2007, pg. 82.
  3. Wilson, James Grant, 1832-1914.  The Poets and Poetry of Scotland: from the earliest to the present time, comprising characteristic selections from the works of the more noteworthy Scottish poets. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1876, pg. 477.
  4. ^ Bayne 1912.
  5. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p75/jn/008. Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London.
  6. ^ Bayne, T. W. (2004). "Knox [née Craig], Isabella [pseud. Isa] (1831–1903), poet and campaigner for women's rights". In Chubbuck, Katharine (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34357. ISBN 9780198614128. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. Linen Hall Library; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Periodicals & Newspapers, Irish & Reference. Ancestry.com. Belfast, Northern Ireland, The Belfast Newsletter (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1738-1925 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.The Belfast Newsletter. Belfast, Northern Ireland. Periodicals & Newspapers, Irish & Reference. Linen Hall Library, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
  8. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p75/jn/001. Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Board of Guardian Records and Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London.
  9. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p75/pet/001. Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Board of Guardian Records and Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London.
  10. Class: RG11; Piece: 168; Folio: 5; Page: 3; GSU roll: 1341036. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. 1881 British Isles Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1881.
  11. The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Class: RG12; Piece: 502; Folio: 79; Page: 9. Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1891. Data imaged from The National Archives, London, England. 2,131 rolls.
  12. Class: RG13; Piece: 535; Folio: 95; Page: 8. Ancestry.com. 1901 England Census . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901. Data imaged from the National Archives, London, England.
  13. "Isa Craig." Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Edited by Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy. Cambridge University Press Online, 2006.
  14. Mayo, Isabella Fyvie. Recollections of What I Saw, What I Lived Through, and What I Learned, during More than Fifty Years of Social and Literary Experience. J. Murray, 1910. Nineteenth Century Collections Online, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/AUXJCK952302616/DSLAB?u=dslaball&sid=DSLAB&xid=62c8acdd . Accessed 8 Mar. 2019. Pg. 81-2.
  15. "The Langham Place group".
  16. Knox, Isa Craig. Easy History for Upper Standards. Cassell & Co, 1884, pgs. 130-133.
  17. Parkes, Bessie Raynor. “Isa Craig and the Prize Poem on Burns.” The English Woman’s Journal. Volume 2, 1859, pgs. 417-419.
  18. Knox, Isa Craig. "On the Centenary of Burns: An Ode." Bartleby.com.https://www.bartleby.com/293/222.html
  19. Rode, Charles R. American literary gazette and publishers' circular. Vol. 10, Book publishers' association , 1855-63 ;. Sabin Americana, 1500-1926, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CY0105147880/DSLAB?u=dslaball&sid=DSLAB&xid=822c0793 . Accessed 8 Mar. 2019.15 August 1863. pg. 303.
  20. "Isabella Craig Knox".
  21. Class: RG14; Piece: 2657. Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911.
  22. Library and Archives Canada; Form 30A Ocean Arrivals (Individual Manifests), 1919-1924; Rolls: T-14939 - T-15248. Ancestry.com. Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Library and Archives Canada. Form 30A, 1919-1924 (Ocean Arrivals). Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, n.d.. RG 76. Department of Employment and Immigration Fonts. Microfilm Reels: T-14939 to T-15248.
  23. The Canadian Almanac and Miscellaneous Directory. Copp Clark Company, 1920, 421.

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