Mary Morris Knowles
Mary Morris Knowles, was an English Quaker poet and abolitionist. She spoke out in favour of choosing her own spouse, argued on behalf of scientific education for women, helped develop a new form of needle painting, confronted Samuel Johnson, defied James Boswell, and supported abolition of the slave trade and slavery. She published several works under her maiden name, Morris.
Life
Early life
She was born into a prosperous family of third generation Quakers in Rugeley, Staffordshire, in 1733. Mary was brought up with practical education in her parents' house, but her education also spanned many secular subjects. She learned to write poetry, cite the classics, employ Latin phrases and analyze current scientific theories. Accomplished in the arts, she wrote a ‘fine hand’, learned to paint and draw, held a good understanding of botany and was apparently fluent in French.She did not confine her friendships to Quakers. It was during her teens that she formed a lasting friendship with the younger Anna Seward, the daughter of an Anglican cleric in nearby Lichfield. Anna's father, the Reverend Thomas Seward was a supporter of education for girls, and Anna had also had a full education and studied science, English translations of the classics, and poetry. Mary also found a friend in a contemporary of her parents, Sampson Lloyd II of Birmingham. Lloyd's family business became the banking dynasty, founders of Lloyds Bank. Mary referred to members of this prominent family as her 'cousins' and may have been related to them on her mother's side. It was at the Lloyds' home, known simply as the Farm, in the 1750s where Mary designed some of the gardens.
The young woman
Mary resisted family and religious authority. She exercised her right to choose her own spouse: amongst Quakers during that time it was a high priority for women to be married suitably. This led to a fiery dispute between Mary and John Kendal, a Quaker disciplinarian, and to Mary writing "Memoirs of M.M., Spinster of the Parish", a letter to Kendall but also a social text showing how opinions differed concerning the education and conduct of women, the preparations for domestic life and particularly a woman's freedom to choose her spouse. Within the "Memoirs" Mary also wrote a short essay entitled "the Pudding Making Mortal". In this essay she argued that since "accidents may happen to the best puddings in the world," every housewife should be taught science. It compares how she and other well-educated sisters would react to a bursting bag of pudding compared to others not so well-educated. She believed, similarly to her contemporary Elizabeth Carter, that intellectual rigour could be applied to cooking as in other areas of study.Marriage
In 1767, at the age 34, Mary Morris married Thomas Knowles, a Quaker apothecary from Yorkshire, but she resolved not to become ‘a poor passive machine... a mere smiling Wife.’ Despite her earlier resistance to marriage, she wed happily. By April 1768 she was six months pregnant. She experienced a difficult childbirth, and recorded her fears and sufferings through letters and heroic poems. In July 1768 Mary almost died delivering her son, Morris, who lived for one day. After her recovery from the childbirth, Mary and Thomas moved to Birmingham, which was closer to her mother as well as offering an expanding array of economic, social, and cultural opportunities. It is here that she changed their lives through her artistic accomplishment, despite the deaths of her younger sister and mother.Needlework
It was during the 1770s that British arts in many forms flourished under the patronage of King George III and Queen Charlotte. While the king favored the high minded historical paintings of Benjamin West, an American born artist, the queen took a special interest in art made by women. In 1768 she had helped to establish a needlework school for women at Ampthill in Buckinghamshire.It was also during this time that highly skilled needlework artists, like Mary Knowles, and Mary Delaney, practiced specialized forms of needlework, for example one known as 'printwork'. Printwork consisted of pictures drawn onto a silk or fine linen background, worked in lines of fine black silk to suggest engravings. In the late 1760s and early 1770s needlework artists started to develop a new form of their art known as 'needle painting'. Needle painting replicated the appearance of a painted subject through crewel embroidery, using worsted wool stitches to represent brush strokes. This required a very high level of skill for the needle painter, who aspired to outstanding achievement through the execution of their stitches, instead of the originality of the design.
Via connections either through West or simply by hearing of her "perfection in needlework", the queen in 1771 asked Mary to render a needle painting of a recent portrait of the King. The portrait that she was to replicate was one by the German-born court painter, Johann Zoffany. The painting was completed in 1771 and pictured the King at age 33, with a steady gaze, a ruddy healthy face, and a calm assured demeanor. To accomplish her needlework Mary would have first transferred the design of the painting onto the material. Then she would have to use a frame, which was only used by the most expert needle women because of the difficulty of preparing it. Working on the same scale as Zoffany, Mary used worsted wool, making large stitches for the background and smaller ones of flesh tones for the face and hands. Finally she stitched her initials and the date at the bottom corner.
When she was done, the King and Queen pronounced the work to be to their "entire satisfaction". The royal family then placed the needle painting on display at Kew Palace where it remained for more than 200 years. For her work Mary received a 'gift' of 800 pounds from Queen Charlotte. Financed by this payment, Thomas studied medicine at Edinburgh and took a medical degree at Leyden. Mary also gained the friendship of the King and Queen. With this she could use her social access to seek political favor and exercise real political power.
It was also at this time that her fame multiplied. The Birmingham Gazette published news of the needle painting. A London printer also published her poetic exchange as "Lavina" with "Clericus" under the title A Compendium of a Controversy on Water-Baptism. Although neither of these referred to Mary by name, they still brought her manuscript defense of Quaker beliefs into the public sphere.
Life after befriending Royalty
Along with the friendship of the Queen came the duty of waiting upon her. For the winter of 1771-1772 Mary stayed in London to await her audience with the Queen. While waiting, she socialized with Edward Dilly, a publisher, bookseller, dissenter, and radical whig. Edward shared his business and home with his brother Charles Dilly. The Dilly brothers also frequently provided lodging for their literary visitors. One visitor, James Boswell, who authored Account of Corsica, met Mary and wrote about her in his journal. He reveals that Mary, "did a head of the King for which the Queen made her a present of 800 pounds but said her work was invaluable." The indication that this money was given as a gift rather than as a payment stresses the Queen's personal, instead of financial, ties with Mary. The amount given by Boswell is consistent with other amounts given to female artists by the Queen, however there is no official record of payment to Mary for her needle painting.After Thomas Knowles finished his study in Edinburgh, both he and Mary continued on to the Leyden University so he could take his degree. After submitting his thesis in Latin he obtained his degree and the couple toured Europe before settling in London, where he became a successful physician, and she became a sought-after participant in the dynamic cultural life of the capital. On 5 March 1773, at the age of 40, Mary gave birth to a baby boy, named George in honor of the King. In the same year Thomas became a member of the newly established Medical Society. In the following year he became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, thus entering into the highest ranks of the English medical profession. With the Knowles' move to the capital, Mary expanded her connections to include influential men, such as the Dilly brothers and a religious scholar, Dr. John Calder. Through influential friendships and social interactions, Mary entered into the cultural transformations that were changing public life in late Eighteenth Century London.
Life in the Capital
While Thomas worked to raise his position in the medical profession, Mary continued to establish connections with important literary and political men and women. Her previous writings, such as Compendium on Water Baptism, were republished multiple times, this time under her name instead of a pen-name. With her previous writings, as well as her connections with the Dilly brothers, she was able to come into contact with many influential literary minds. Most of these meetings were at the Dilly's frequent parties where guests discussed recent publications, political events, and social news. It was through these that Mary met Samuel Johnson. Johnson did display angry behavior towards Quakers, as well as comparing Quaker women preachers to dancing dogs. However it seems that their first meeting left Johnson with a positive view of Mary.Mary also participated in religious discussions as a mentor for two young Anglicans from Rugeley in 1776. Jasper Capper, and his sister Mary Capper both became Quakers after becoming friends with Mary and seeking her religious advice. Mary Capper would go on to become a leading minister.
Around the time that Mary was discussing religion with the Capper's, she was also reading the recently published, Life of William Penn. This particular selection in reading material indicated her support for the Americans during a time when their revolution was testing the loyalties of English radicals and the pacifist principles of Quakers.
It was also during this time that Mary became a friend and advisor to Jane Harry, A young girl born of Thomas Hibbert, an English plantation owner, and Charity Harry, a Jamaican woman. Thomas had done quite well for himself as a plantation owner in Jamaica, He acquired three estates, became a Judge of the Grand Court and a member of the local governing assembly. His fine house is now the headquarters for the in Kingston. With English men far outnumbering English women, Thomas, like many of his peers, developed a long-term relationship with a Jamaican woman. As a free woman of mixed race, Charity Harry could read, write, and own property. Their daughters, Jane, and her younger sister Margaret, were both baptized in an Anglican church in Kingston, and were sent to England to be educated.