The Times/1895/Obituary/Emily Faithfull

OBITUARY.

Miss Emily Faithfull.

We regret to announce the death of Miss Emily Faithfull, which took place on Friday, at Plymouth-grove, Manchester. Miss Faithfull, who had entered upon her 61st year, was the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Ferdinand Faithfull, of Headley Rectory, Surrey, where she was born in 1835. Early in life she began to take a keen interest in the condition of women, and her sympathy took a practical shape. Her object was to extend the sphere of labour, then very limited, for women who were compelled to work for their living, and in 1860 she set up a printing establishment in Great Coram-street, W.C., in which the compositors were all females. The Victoria press, as it was designated, soon obtained quite a reputation for the excellence of its work, among the earlier specimen of which was the "Victoria Regia," dedicated to the Queen, who shortly afterwards appointed Miss Faithfull Printer and Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. In order the better to propagate her views, Miss Faithfull, early in 1863, commented the publication of a monthly organ called The Victoria Magazine, in which she earnestly and eloquently pleaded the claims of women to remunerative employment. For 18 years this journal was issued, its columns during that period being mainly filled by the pen of the lady who had founded it. In the spring of 1868 Miss Faithfull gave evidence of her versatility and literary talent by writing a novel, "Change upon Change," which at once secured the favour of the public, a second edition being called for within a month. Especially successful was she in the rôle she next essayed of a lecturer. In this literary and philosophical institutions in England, and in 1872-3 she visited America. It was after her third tour in the United States in 1882-83 that she published her book "Three visits to America," in which she described with considerable power the conditions of various feminine industries and life on the other side of the Atlantic. She was also a prolific contributor to various newspapers ad magazines. In 1888, in commemoration of 30 years dedicated to the interests of her sex, she was the recipient of an engraving of her Majesty sent her by the Queen, and subsequently a Civil Service pension was conferred upon her. Mrs. John George Fleet, of Chiswick, is a sister of Miss Faithfull's.