Talk - Susannah Gibson Thursday 6 March 2025
6pm - 8.00pm
£15 (booking fee)
Susannah Gibson will explore how Hester Thrale and the Bluestockings overcame great difficulties to pursue fulfilling lives as professional writers, 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 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.