‘Rivalry, Camaraderie and the Prima Donnas: Elizabeth Billington and Gertrude Mara’ from Exploring the Lives of Women 1558–1837 – A lovely review

Almost a year ago to the day, a beautiful collection of essays entitled Exploring the Lives of Women 1558–1837 (edited by Louise Duckling, Sara Read, Felicity Roberts, Carolyn D. Williams) was published by Pen and Sword. This collection gathered together contributions from members of the Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837 (WSG) in celebration of their 30th anniversary and I was delighted to be part of just such a project. The book is a rich collection of peer-reviewed essays, providing original and thought-provoking accounts of British and Irish women, but it also reflects the vast array of interests of the WSG.

At the time the publication was being pulled together, the committee was keen for it to be available and accessible beyond an academic audience. However, we also wanted it to demonstrate scholarly rigour. After all, women’s studies is a hugely important area of scholarship that is intriguing to those out with and within academia. With this in mind, I wanted to focus on an account that had not received much scholarly attention but was one of several examples of London-based singers controlling their image by deliberately facilitating scandal. Without getting too much into the actual chapter (since I hope my blog readers might be inspired to purchase the book themselves – it’s on sale at the moment), ‘Rivalry, Camaraderie and the Prima Donnas: Elizabeth Billington and Gertrude Mara’ shows how scandal did not necessarily harm a celebrities image. Rather, it is the perfect example of the old saying “all news is good news”. Of course, in the eighteenth century, it is not quite as simple as that, and my current book project is really digging into how scandal affected musicians in a whole variety of ways.

Getting back to the essay, focusing on the issue of scandal and celebrity, allowed me to tie the work to the key themes we were exploring throughout the collection: female power and physical strength; infertility, motherhood, sexuality and exploitation; creativity and celebrity; marriage and female friendship. We have received a number of reviews which are extremely positive including one by Elaine Graham-Leigh, one by Katherine Kleffner, Chicks, Rogues and Scandals, and Tamise, but I was delighted to get a special mention in Naomi Clifford’s review. I am so pleased that this was one of her favourite chapters!

If you have an interest in women’s studies or want to read up on some rare, but exciting historical accounts or exception women in history, I fully recommend this book to you. I also hear it is available in certain high street stores, so if you see one, please Tweet the cover to me @BreeRob_Kirk.