Harriet Taylor: A New Mill(estone)

Margot and I haven’t presented on John Stuart Mill yet, but since we’re talking about “The Subjection of Women,” I thought it would be appropriate to post about Harriet Taylor Mill and her relationship and impact on Mill (and then I have another post just about Harriet Taylor too…because she’s pretty awesome).

Harriet and her second husband (John Stuart Mill) initially worked together on a lot of Mill’s most influential/important works.  A Unitarian minister introduced the pair in 1830.  In 1833, Harriet Taylor lived separately from her John Taylor; but John Taylor “agreed to Harriet's friendship with Mill in exchange for the "external formality" of her residing "as his wife in his house.””  Although John Taylor died in 1849, Harriet and John Mill didn’t marry until 1851 in order to avoid scandal.  Harriet Taylor wrote many essays on women’s position in society, criticizing (for example) domestic violence and women’s necessary dependence on men.  These essays eventually influenced John Stuart Mill’s piece “The Subjection of Women” eleven years later.  Harriet Taylor Mill did in 1858 from tuberculosis, and in 1859 her husband published “On Liberty,” a work the couple co-authored, and dedicated it to her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Taylor_Mill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/taylor_harriet.shtml