Coralie Glyn (1866 – 1928) was an English humanitarian dedicated to improving conditions for working women. She was also an author of speculative fiction novels.

Coralie Glyn in 1892.

Early life and family edit

She was born Alice Coralie Glyn in 1866, the daughter of Vice-Admiral the Hon. Henry Carr Glyn and his wife Rose, née Mahony.[1] Her sister was Rose Riversdale Glyn, later Lady Norreys, and she had two brothers, the third and fourth barons Wolverton.[2]

Writing and humanitarian work edit

Considered 'one of the newest of new women' with 'most advanced views,'[3] she wrote on women’s rights in many contributions to periodicals, notably 'Nature’s Nuns: A Reply to Grant Allen' on the subject of marriage and motherhood.[4] Her 1896 novel A Woman of To-Morrow imagines a world of 1996 where women have the vote and are able to become barristers.[5][6][7]

A member of the Pioneer Club,[8] in 1898 she founded the Camelot Club, a club with no entry fee which provided a meeting place and excursions for working women.[9]

Her will provided the resources for fourteen bungalows to be built in Welwyn Garden City for the free use of working-class widows.[10][11] This legacy was still functioning over a century later as the charity Alice Coralie Glyn Homes.[12]

Personal life edit

Coralie was a keen cyclist.[13][14]

Although her engagement to the inventor St George Lane Fox was announced in 1892,[15] she never married.[16]

References edit

  1. ^ "Hon. Henry Carr Glyn obituary". www.pdavis.nl. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  2. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority. Jack. p. 413.
  3. ^ Masque, Lady (1892). "The Great World". Lady's Realm. II: 466.
  4. ^ Heilmann, Ann (2021-12-16). The Late-Victorian Marriage Question: A Collection of Key New Woman Texts V2. Routledge. pp. xiv. ISBN 978-1-000-56026-8.
  5. ^ Futures Past: The Official Journal of the Science Fiction Resources Network. Futures past. 1992. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Author: Alice Coralie Glyn". www.victorianresearch.org. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  7. ^ "SFE: Glyn, Coralie". sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  8. ^ The Author. Alexander P. Watt. 1897. p. 44.
  9. ^ Doughan, David; Gordon, Professor Peter; Gordon, Peter (2014-06-03). Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825-1960. Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-136-89770-2.
  10. ^ The Times Law Reports and Commercial Cases. 1950. p. 510.
  11. ^ "Alice Coralie Glyn Homes – Housing for those in need". Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  12. ^ "Welwyn Garden City. Alice Coralie Glyn". Herts Memories. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  13. ^ "Some Famous Lady Cyclists". Lady's Realm. II: 542. 1897.
  14. ^ Country Life Illustrated. 1897. p. 629.
  15. ^ "'Lightning' Offices". Lightning. Vol. II, no. 63. 29 Dec 1892. p. 408.
  16. ^ Medlam, Sarah; Museum, Victoria and Albert (1996). The Bettine, Lady Abingdon Collection: The Bequest of Mrs T.R.P. Hole : a Handbook. Victoria and Albert Museum. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-85177-179-0.