Helen Taylor

July 27, 2012

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On this date in 1831, Helen Taylor was born in England. Her mother married John Stuart Mill in 1851. When her mother died seven years later, Helen took care of her esteemed stepfather. Helen assisted Mill in writing his landmark Subjection of Women (1869). After his death in 1873, Helen edited his Autobiography and Essays on Religion (1874). She was elected to the London School Board three times between 1876 and 1882, and championed disadvantaged children. She not only agitated for abolition of school fees and for subsidy of school meals, but worked to stop abuses at industrial schools. Taylor, a strong feminist and suffragist, attempted to run for Parliament in 1885, but her nomination papers were refused. D. 1907.
Compiled by Annie Laurie Gaylor (FFRF)