Early life Fawcett was born on 11 June 1847 in
Aldeburgh, She was the eighth of their ten children. As a child, Fawcett's elder sister
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who became Britain's first female doctor, introduced her to
Emily Davies, an English suffragist. In her mother's biography,
Louisa Garrett Anderson quotes Davies as saying to her mother, to Elizabeth and to Fawcett, "It is quite clear what has to be done. I must devote myself to securing higher education, while you open the medical profession to women. After these things are done, we must see about getting the vote." She then turned to Millicent: "You are younger than we are, Millie, so you must attend to that." Aged twelve in 1858, Millicent Garrett was sent to London with her sister Elizabeth to attend a private boarding school in Blackheath. Millicent found
Louisa Browning who led the school to be a "born teacher" whereas her sister remembered the "stupidity" of the teachers. Her sister Louise took her to the sermons of
Frederick Denison Maurice, a socially aware and less traditional Anglican priest, whose opinions influenced her view of religion. In 1865, she attended a lecture by
John Stuart Mill. The following year, she and a friend, Emily Davies, supported the
Kensington Society by collecting signatures for a petition asking Parliament to enfranchise women householders. Their marriage was said to be based on "perfect intellectual sympathy"; Millicent pursued a writing career while caring for Henry, and ran two households, one in Cambridge, one in London. The family held strong beliefs in favour of
proportional representation, individualistic and
free trade principles, and advancement for women. In 1868 Fawcett joined the London Suffrage Committee, and in 1869 spoke at the first public pro-suffrage meeting held in London. In 1871 she contributed an article to
Macmillan's Magazine entitled "A short explanation of Mr. Hare's scheme of representation," concerning
single transferable voting. In 1872 Fawcett and her husband published
Essays and Lectures on Social and Political Subjects, containing eight of her essays. Fawcett and
Anne Clough's interest in
higher education for women saw the co-founding of
Newnham Hall in 1871 where Millicent served on the Council of the Newnham Hall (later Newnham College) Company from 1881 to 1909. During this time, she and fellow suffragists, including
Ethel Snowden, Miss Alison and
Mrs Arnold Lupton, delivered speeches to crowds but were, on occasion, objected to by some of their audience. Despite many interests and duties, Fawcett and her sister
Agnes raised four of their cousins, who had been orphaned early in life:
Amy Garrett Badley,
Fydell Edmund Garrett,
Elsie Garrett (who became a prominent botanical artist in South Africa), and Elsie's twin, John. In 1874 Fawcett had a bad fall from a horse that prevented her from attending a meeting of the
National Society for Women's Suffrage in
Leeds. After Fawcett's husband died on 6 November 1884, she temporarily withdrew from public life, sold both family homes and moved with Philippa to the house of her sister, Agnes . When Fawcett resumed work in 1885, she concentrated on politics and was a key member of what became the
Women's Local Government Society. Originally a Liberal, she joined the
Liberal Unionist Party in 1886 to oppose
Irish Home Rule. She, like many English Protestants, felt that allowing home rule for Catholic Ireland would hurt England's prosperity and be disastrous for the Irish. In 1891 Fawcett wrote the introduction to a new edition of
Mary Wollstonecraft's book
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Lyndall Gordon calls this an "influential essay"; she reasserted the reputation of the early
feminist philosopher and claimed her as an early figure in the struggle for the vote. Fawcett was granted an honorary
doctorate of law by
the University of St Andrews in 1899. ==Political activities==