Mary Wollstonecraft Timeline

Mary traveled to Lisbon to care for her dear friend Fanny Blood, who died shortly after giving birth in November 1785. Fanny's death devastated Mary and inspired her first novel, 'Mary: A Fiction' (1788), while the school collapsed in her absence.

Image source: Fanny Blood

In Paris, Wollstonecraft met American entrepreneur and adventurer Gilbert Imlay. They began a relationship; because Britain and revolutionary France were at war, Imlay registered her as his wife at the American embassy to protect her, though they never actually married.

Wollstonecraft gave birth to her first daughter, Frances (Fanny) Imlay, in Le Havre. She delighted in motherhood, writing affectionately about her daughter, even amid growing strain in her relationship with Imlay.

Imlay grew distant and eventually left Wollstonecraft for other women, leaving her emotionally shattered. In May 1795 she attempted suicide by taking laudanum, but Imlay saved her life. A business trip to Scandinavia undertaken on his behalf further strained the relationship.

Despairing over Imlay's abandonment, Wollstonecraft attempted suicide by jumping from Putney Bridge into the Thames, but was rescued by passing watermen. She wrote to Imlay about her despair, articulating feelings of being denied a place in a world built for men.

Image source: Putney Bridge

After reading 'Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark', Godwin fell in love with its author. Their courtship began slowly in 1796, evolving from intellectual friendship into a passionate romance conducted partly through letters while they maintained separate residences to preserve independence.

Image source: William Godwin

Discovering she was pregnant, Wollstonecraft married Godwin at St Pancras Old Church on March 29, 1797. The marriage revealed she had never been married to Imlay, scandalizing some friends. The couple continued to live in adjoining houses to maintain their independence.

Wollstonecraft gave birth to her second daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who would grow up to write 'Frankenstein'. Though the birth initially seemed normal, complications from the delivery set in, and part of the placenta had to be removed by hand.

Image source: Mary Shelley

Godwin edited and published his wife's unfinished works in four volumes in 1798, including 'Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman', her fictional continuation of the arguments of 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman', and her letters to Imlay.

Intending to honor her candid character, Godwin's frank memoir revealed Wollstonecraft's affairs, illegitimate child, and suicide attempts. Instead, it provoked outrage, damaging her reputation for nearly a century and overshadowing her achievements.

Image source: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

For most of the 19th century, Wollstonecraft was remembered more for her unconventional lifestyle than her writings. Critics and moralists used the details in Godwin's Memoirs to attack her character, discouraging many women readers and writers from acknowledging her influence openly.

Wollstonecraft's daughter, raised among Godwin's radical circle and influenced by her mother's writings and memory, published 'Frankenstein' in 1818. The novel carries themes of education, responsibility, and sympathy central to Wollstonecraft's philosophy, extending her legacy into Gothic literature.

Image source: Frankenstein

When St Pancras churchyard was threatened by railway construction, Godwin's remains were moved to Bournemouth, and Wollstonecraft's were reinterred beside him. A memorial stone to both stands in St Pancras Old Church gardens today.

Image source: St Pancras Old Church

With the rise of second-wave feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, scholars rediscovered Wollstonecraft's writings, reclaiming her as a founding figure of feminist thought. 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' became widely taught, and her reputation was restored.