{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Eliza Sharples | image = File:Eliza Sharples Carlile.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 1803 | birth_place = [[Bolton]], Lancashire, England | death_date = 11 January 1852 | death_place = [[Hackney, London]], England | occupation = Lecturer, writer, newspaper editor }}
'''Eliza Sharples''' (1803–1852)<ref name=Royal>{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38370 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Carlile, Elizabeth Sharples|author=Royal, Edward|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38370 }}</ref> was one of the first women in England to lecture on [[freethought]], radical politics and [[women's rights]]. Using the names the Lady of the Rotunda and Isis, she delivered her lectures at the [[Blackfriars Rotunda]] in 1832, while it was under the management of her partner, [[Richard Carlile]]. Her speeches, together with writings by Carlile, herself and others, appeared in her weekly journal, ''The Isis''.<ref name=Royal/>
==Early life== Sharples was born in 1803 in [[Bolton]], Lancashire to Ann and Richard Sharples, a prosperous manufacturer of [[Quilt|counterpanes]]. Her family were [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodists]] and her upbringing, both at home and at boarding school, instilled her with strong religious commitment.<ref name=Royal/><ref>Rogers. Helen, "The prayer, the passion and the reason' of Eliza Sharples: freethought, women's rights and republicanism, 1832-52" in Yeo, Eileen (editor), ''Radical Femininity: Women's Self-representation in the Public Sphere'' (Manchester University Press, 1998; {{ISBN|0 7190 5244 0}}) p. 53</ref>
She attended boarding school until she was twenty years old, after which she remained at home, sewing and reading. The sudden deaths of her father, brother and sister, and the failure of prayer to save their lives, caused Sharples to question her faith, resulting in a radical change in her life.<ref name=Royal/><ref>Rogers 1998, p. 55</ref>
In 1829, while visiting a friend in Liverpool, Sharples had eavesdropped on a discussion between her friend's father and Richard Carlile.<ref name=Royal/> In spite of Carlile's reputation as a dangerous atheist and political radical Sharples thought he was mild-mannered and handsome.<ref name=Campbell>{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Theophila Carlile|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38370/38370-h/38370-h.htm|title=The Battle of the Press As Told in the Story of the Life of Richard Carlile By His Daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell|publisher=A. and H. B. Bonner|year=1899|location=London}}</ref> About a year later she discovered a copy of Carlile's newspaper ''The Republican'' in a cousin's library and became interested enough to track down more of his works in a local radical bookshop.<ref name=Royal/> Carlile's writings transformed Sharples' beliefs and led to what she later described as a "new birth…unto righteousness".<ref>{{cite book|last=Parolin|first=Christina|url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p17011/html/ch03.xhtml?referer=&page=7#toc-anchor|title=Venues of popular politics in London, 1790–c. 1845|publisher=ANU E Press|year=2010|isbn=9781921862014|location=Canberra}} p. 248</ref> In December 1831 she began to correspond with Carlile, who by now had been imprisoned for [[seditious libel]], and in January 1832 she travelled to London to visit him in [[Giltspur Street Compter]].<ref name=Royal/>
==The Lady of the Rotunda and Isis==
Sharples' arrival gave Carlile an opportunity to revive the fortunes of his radical theatre, the [[Rotunda radicals|Rotunda]], which had fallen on hard times since the imprisonment of its chief attraction, [[Robert Taylor (Radical)|Robert Taylor]] and the departure of his successor, [[Zion Ward]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Houston|first=Gail Turley|title=What Would the Goddess Do? Isis, Radical Grandmothers, and Eliza Sharples 'All Reform Will Be Found to Be Inefficient that Does Not Embrace the Rights of Woman' |journal=Religions|year=2018|volume=9|issue=4|page=109|doi=10.3390/rel9040109|doi-access=free}}</ref> She agreed to take the places of Taylor and Ward, and deliver a series of philosophical and religious free thought lectures at the Rotunda.<ref>Parolin 2010, p. 246</ref>
In order to protect her family, Sharples did not want her name to be made public, so Carlile promoted her as the mysterious "Lady of the Rotunda" or "Isis" (named after the Egyptian Goddess of Reason), the first Englishwoman to speak in public about religion and politics.<ref>Parolin 2010, p. 244.</ref><ref name=Royal/>
Her lectures, which commenced on 29 January 1832, were staged theatrically. Wearing a "showy" dress, she was led ceremoniously on to the stage, which was strewn with radical symbols, such as whitethorn and laurel leaves. After her lecture she left the stage without taking questions from the audience, who then debated its content amongst themselves.<ref>Parolin 2010, pp. 246-250</ref><ref name=Campbell/> Her speeches were printed in a weekly journal, ''The Isis'', which she edited.<ref name=Royal/>
In the tradition of Carlile and Taylor, Sharples attacked the monarchy, the political establishment and organised religion, arguing that Christianity promoted superstition, prevented the dissemination of knowledge and denied man's liberty.<ref>Parolin 2010, pp. 246, 249</ref> In addition, she spoke in favour of women's rights to speak in public and challenged the Christian doctrine of original sin, proclaiming Eve to be "the personification of wisdom, of liberty, of resistance to tyranny; the mother of human knowledge; the proper help meet for man".<ref>Rogers 1998, p. 59</ref>
Initially, Sharples achieved cult status,<ref>Weiner, Joel H., Radicalism and Freethought in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Life of Richard Carlile (Greenwood Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0 313 23532 5}}) p. 195</ref> but her lack of training in public speaking soon led to a decline in income from audiences, and by the end of March Carlile had closed the Rotunda and given up its lease.<ref>Parolin 2010, pp. 265-266</ref> Sharples continued her lectures for a further three months, firstly at [[Robert Owen|Robert Owen's]] theatre in Burton Street, then at Carlile's house in [[Bouverie Street]].<ref>{{List journal |work=The Isis, February 11 to December 15, 1832| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101059455541&view=1up&seq=5|accessdate=18 January 2021|publisher=D. France|location=London}} pp. 101, 161, 337</ref> She then worked closely with the Friends of the Oppressed, who were the female arm of the [[Rotunda radicals|National Union of the Working Classes]], giving speeches in celebration of the 1830 French Revolution and to raise funds for the families of those imprisoned for selling [[Taxes on knowledge|unstamped newspapers]].<ref>Rogers 1998, p. 62</ref> Although she was not a follower of Robert Owen, she also gave a speech on the importance of co-operation, where she described herself as "a radical reformer, a republican, an advocate for free discussion on all subjects, and a co-operator, in the best sense in which I have known that word to be used".<ref>{{List journal |work=The Isis, February 11 to December 15, 1832| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101059455541&view=1up&seq=5|accessdate=18 January 2021|publisher=D. France|location=London}} pp. 563-570</ref>
''The Isis'' ceased publication in December 1832, after which Sharples lowered her public profile.<ref>{{List journal |work=The Isis, February 11 to December 15, 1832| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101059455541&view=1up&seq=5|accessdate=18 January 2021|publisher=D. France|location=London}} p. 610</ref><ref name=Royal/>
==A moral marriage==
The relationship between Sharples and Carlile was physical as well as intellectual, and the first of their four children, Richard, was born in April 1833, while Carlile was still in prison.<ref name=Royal/> Carlile and his wife, Jane, had separated in 1830, but could not afford divorce proceedings. After meeting Sharples, Carlile gave Jane an annuity, she and her children moved out of Carlile's house and Sharples moved in, to be joined by Carlile when he was released in August 1833.<ref>Weiner 1983, pp. 194-199</ref>
During her pregnancy Sharples asked Carlile to publicly acknowledge their relationship. Initially he prevaricated for fear of damaging his reputation, but in September 1833 he published a statement that his "moral marriage" was "one of the best, if not the very best in the country".<ref>Weiner 1983, pp. 197-198</ref> In her Preface to the folio edition of ''The Isis'', published in 1834, Sharples gave her full name as Eliza Sharples Carlile and defended the morality of their relationship.<ref>Rogers 1998. p. 54</ref> However, fellow radicals, such as [[Henry Hetherington]], publicly condemned Carlile for leaving his wife, while Sharples' family disowned both her and her children.<ref>Weiner 1983, p. 196</ref><ref name=Campbell/>
After his release from prison, Carlile resumed giving public lectures, both in London and elsewhere. Sharples accompanied him on his first provincial tour but returned to London in October 1833, following their son's death from smallpox. A second son, Julian Hibbert, was born in 1834, after which they moved to a cottage in [[Enfield Highway]], where two daughters were born, Hypatia (1836) and Theophila (1837).<ref name=Royal/> Carlile continued to tour the country and Sharples would occasionally lecture in his place if he was ill. For much of the time she remained at home with the children.<ref name=Campbell/>
==Final years==
When Carlile died on 10 February 1843 leaving no will, his property went to his wife, and Sharples was left destitute. [[Sophia Chichester]], a former patron of Carlile, arranged for her to live in a utopian community at [[Alcott House]], [[Ham, London|Ham]]. She left after a few months and, with the aid of a small legacy from an aunt, took a house in London, where she supported herself and the children by needlework and letting rooms.<ref name=Royal/>
During her last years, Sharples lived in poverty and the struggle to look after her family affected her health and motivation. Her public appearances were limited to a lecture in 1846 "on the Nature and Character of Woman and her Position in Society" and a brief speech on the birthday anniversary of [[Thomas Paine]] in 1849, both given at the [[Owenism|Owenite]] Literary and Social Institution.<ref>Rogers 1998. p. 72</ref> In 1849, some supporters of Carlile invited her to manage their Temperance Hall in Warner Place, near [[Hackney Road]]. There she met the teenage [[Charles Bradlaugh]], future founder of the [[National Secular Society]] and took him in when his family ejected him from their home.<ref name=Royal/> She wanted to give a series of lectures on women's rights, but this was vetoed by the men who ran the Temperance Hall. She wrote that they regarded her job as serving the coffee and scorned her belief that "all Reform will be found to be inefficient that does not embrace the Rights of Women".<ref>Rogers 1998, p. 73</ref>
Sharples died at her home in 12 George Street, [[Hackney, London]], on 11 January 1852.<ref name=Royal/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== *{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Theophila Carlile|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38370/38370-h/38370-h.htm|title=The Battle of the Press As Told in the Story of the Life of Richard Carlile By His Daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell|publisher=A. and H. B. Bonner|year=1899|location=London}} *{{cite journal|last=Houston|first=Gail Turley|title=What Would the Goddess Do? Isis, Radical Grandmothers, and Eliza Sharples 'All Reform Will Be Found to Be Inefficient that Does Not Embrace the Rights of Woman' |journal=Religions|year=2018|volume=9|issue=4|page=109|doi=10.3390/rel9040109|doi-access=free}} *{{List journal |work=The Isis, February 11 to December 15, 1832| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101059455541&view=1up&seq=5|accessdate=18 January 2021|publisher=D. France|location=London}} *{{cite book|last=Parolin|first=Christina|url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p17011/html/ch03.xhtml?referer=&page=7#toc-anchor|title=Venues of popular politics in London, 1790–c. 1845|publisher=ANU E Press|year=2010|isbn=9781921862014|location=Canberra}} *Rogers. Helen, "The prayer, the passion and the reason' of Eliza Sharples: freethought, women's rights and republicanism, 1832-52" in Yeo, Eileen (editor), ''Radical Femininity: Women's Self-representation in the Public Sphere'' (Manchester University Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0 7190 5244 0}}) *{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38370 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Carlile, Elizabeth Sharples|author=Royal, Edward|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38370 }} *Weiner, Joel H., Radicalism and Freethought in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Life of Richard Carlile (Greenwood Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0 313 23532 5}})
==Selected publications== * ''A glossary for the Bible: chiefly designed for children'' by Eliza Sharples Carlile, 1832
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharples, Eliza}} [[Category:1803 births]] [[Category:1852 deaths]] [[Category:Freethought writers]] [[Category:People from Bolton]] [[Category:English feminists]] [[Category:19th-century English non-fiction writers]]