Reading kinship, friendship and intellectual influence in the social networks of Julia 'Snow' Wedgwood and Hensleigh Wedgwood

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Renowned for its Staffordshire pottery wares, by the late 1800s the Wedgwood family hadsuccessfully secured its 'rags-to-riches' social and cultural position against the backdrop ofVictorian England. Hensleigh Wedgwood (1803-1891), grandson of master potter JosiahWedgwood I (1730-1795), deviated from the family business and became an instrumentalfigure in nineteenth-century British linguistics. His eldest daughter, Frances Julia 'Snow'Wedgwood (1833-1913), achieved contemporary success as a feminist novelist, biographer,historian, and literary critic. The proposed research project is unique in focus as it intersects atthe disciplinary boundaries of Victorian literature, literary biography, and the history oflinguistics. My research uncovers evidence which shows that these figures and their lives canshed new light on the Victorian period. The planned outcome is a detailed biographical accountof the lives and work of both father and daughter.