Power and Protest: Frances Power Cobbe and Victorian Society

This is the first full-length biography of Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904), Anglo-Irish reformer, feminist and anti-vivisectionist. Building on original research, Cobbe's autobiography and the work of later historians, Lori Williamson analyzes Cobbe's ideological outlook as well as her life. A workhouse visitor, Cobbe campaigned strenuously for the rights of women, of the poor and of animals and was the first to draw up a petition to control cruelty to animals.

Through Cobbe's life and work, Power and Protest explores the issues of protest, reform, hierarchy, power and gender, the relationship between men and women, and between humans and animals and includes important work on pressure-group dynamics. Given its wide-ranging scope, its depiction of nineteenth-century British society and culture, and its exploration of the symbiotic relationships between ideology and the dynamics of protest, Power and Protest will interest students of history, social policy, and gender.

Its emphasis on anti-vivisection activity provides a powerful basis for understanding power relations and the historical concept of rights.