The Radical at Red House

In the pictures - Red House and 'Mary Taylor' at the piano.

David and Imelda Marsden write:

A interesting exhibition - Mary Taylor - An Independent Yorkshire Woman - is on now at the Red House Museum in Gomersal and not to be missed. It finishes on 18 April.

Mary Taylor was Charlotte Brontë's schoolfriend, and an inspiration. Charlotte visited and stayed at Red House, the family home of the Taylors and depicted the family in her novel Shirley.There are various items in the exhibition relating to Charlotte.

Mary Taylor was a woman who lived a unusually independent and adventurous life for a woman of her time, and was a pioneering feminist in the nineteenth century. She taught boys English in Germany, emigrated to New Zealand and started a business, then, after making a good living, returned to Gomersal.

She was the leader on mountaineering expeditions for women in Europe, and wrote magazine articles and a novel Miss Miles : A Tale of Yorkshire Life Sixty Years Ago. The exhibition gives the visitor a real insight into Yorkshire history, and gave us some new facts we did not know about. Well done to the Curator and staff at Red House for an informative and interesting exhibition.

And well done to the Parsonage Museum for sucessfully acquiring items at the two recent auctions. We are looking forward to viewing them.

To read about Mary Taylor in Wellington, New Zealand, click THE CUBA STREET MEMORIES PROJECT.