Talk - Susannah Gibson Thursday 6 March 2025
6pm - 8.00pm
£15 (booking fee)
Susannah Gibson will explore how Thrale and the other Bluestockings overcame great difficulties to pursue fulfilling careers, and lay the foundations for modern feminism.
In eighteenth-century Britain, women had no power and no rights. Susannah Gibson charts the struggles and achievements of a group of trailblazing women who risked their reputations to become public intellectuals. In this talk, Gibson will focus on Hester Thrale’s salon at which Samuel Johnson was a regular attendee. She will explore how Thrale and the other Bluestockings overcame great difficulties to pursue fulfilling careers, and lay the foundations for modern feminism.
Ticket includes wine, a chance to view the House and a book signing.
Susannah Gibson
Susannah Gibson is a writer and historian based in Cambridge. She has a doctorate from the University of Cambridge in eighteenth-century history. She has particular interests in women’s history, history of science, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bluestockings: The First Women’s Movement is her third book and was published in February 2024.
Accessibility
There is regrettably no step-free access to Dr Johnson's House.
There are seven steps to access the entrance (with a handrail).
The building is a four-storey townhouse with a staircase between each floor.
There are handrails on each side of the staircase and visitor seating in every room.
Toilets are located down a steep set of stairs.