Ladies, Lives, and Letters: The Making of Gentleman Scientists through their Wives’ Words in Late Nineteenth-Century Britain

The late nineteenth century saw the deaths of many eminent gentlemen scientists, and the concurrent rise of women scientific biographers. Wives, sisters, and daughters turned their pens to memorialising their relatives, and many of the resultant biographies are now scattered throughout Cambridge’s collections.

But, so far, these books have received very little attention.

In this talk, Dr Grace Exley asks what these books can tell us about both gentlemen of science and the women who wrote about them. By exploring these overlooked sources, we can reconstruct how women’s hands have shaped our impression of some of the most famous scientists of the nineteenth century.

The talk will be accompanied by a small display and a drinks reception.

Dr Grace Exley is the Munby Fellow in Bibliography 2025-27 and a Collections-Connections-Communities Natural History Humanities Postdoctoral Research Associate.