The Enigmatic Eliza Lynn Linton: Loves, Lies and Literature

A trailblazing female journalist.

A campaigner against the women’s right to vote.

A radical novelist.

An agnostic vicar’s daughter.

An advocate for married women’s legal rights.

A woman who wrote her autobiography as a man.

Born in Keswick in 1822, Eliza Lynn Linton was all these things. This fascinating lady is the focus of a new exhibition at Keswick Museum, opening on the 28th of May.

On her 200^th anniversary, the museum explores her life and works, and as she takes centre stage, we look at some of the interesting facts about this complicated and often contradictory person.

• Eliza was born in Keswick in February 1822 at the Crosthwaite Vicarage.

• She wrote poetry and novels. Keswick Museum has some of her poems and books in its collection.

• In 1848 she joined the Morning Chronicle, becoming the first salaried female journalist in England.

• In 1858 Eliza married William James Linton, and they moved to Brantwood. This would later become the home of another famous writer, John Ruskin.

• She worked for Charles Dickens, writing 84 articles for his journals Household Words and All the Year Round.

• In the 1860s Eliza signed a petition that supported women who owned property being able to vote. But she also signed an open letter that wanted to stop women getting the vote in the 1880s.

• In 1885 she wrote an autobiography with a lead male character!

The exhibition will explore these many different sides of Eliza, and help visitors experience what it would be like for her as a ground-breaking Victorian female journalist.

For more information and exhibition opening times, visit www.keswickmuseum.org.uk