Elizabeth Storie: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Scotish writer, milliner and seamstress}} |
{{Short description|Scotish writer, milliner and seamstress}} |
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{{Infobox person |
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==Publications== |
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| name = Elizabeth Storie |
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| image = {{#statements:P18}} |
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| birth_date = {{#statements:P569}} |
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| birth_place = {{#statements:P19}} |
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| death_date = {{#statements:P570}} |
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| death_place = {{#statements:P20}} |
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| resting_place = {{#statements:P119}} |
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| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} --> |
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| occupation = [[Seamstress]] |
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| spouse = |
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| parents = |
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'''Elizabeth Storie''' (c. 1818–1898) was Scottish writer, milliner and seamstress. She was a [[Working class|working-class]] woman from [[Glasgow]] who, through her 1859 autobiography, gave an account of the challenges she faced within medical, legal, and ecclesiastical systems as a disabled woman in early [[Victorian era|Victorian]] Scotland. |
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| ⚫ | Her work is noted for providing a rare disabled female working-class account of navigating these institutions and overcoming legal biase to get compensation for medical malpractice. Her hybrid autobiography is unusual in combining personal narrative with various documentation to showcases her efforts to get justice and while challenging societal norms of the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth Storie |url=https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/elizabeth-storie |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=Scottish Women Writers on the Web |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ashplant |first=T.G |date=2022 |title=Review: Steven King, Florence Boos, Racial Woodward, K. Neil Jenkins |url=https://ejlw.eu/article/download/38649/36211/50683 |journal=European Journal of Life Writing |volume=XI |pages=7–8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Abstracts 92.2 {{!}} English - The University of Iowa |url=https://english.uiowa.edu/abstracts-922 |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=english.uiowa.edu |language=en}}</ref> |
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== Biography == |
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=== Early life and mercury poisoning === |
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[[File:Carleton Burgan (CP 1659), National Museum of Health and Medicine (3383372640).jpg|thumb|There are no known photographs of Elizabeth Storie, but this 1862 photograph of Carleton Burgan shows the results of similar damage to the mouth and face caused by calomel.]]Elizabeth Storie was born in Glasgow in July 1818 to "poor but ''respectable'' parents", as she writes in her autobiography:<ref name="Storie1859">{{Cite book |last=Storie |first=Elizabeth |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyel00storgoog/ |title=he Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions |publisher=Richard Stobbs |year=1859 |location=Glasgow |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|2}} a cotton weaver and a cotton winder. When she was four she became sick with a disease known as "nettle-rush", which children usually recovered from in a few days. Unfortunately, a neighbour and friend of the family who was a surgeon, Dr Falconer, insisted on treating Storie with daily doses of [[calomel]],<ref name=Storie1859></ref>{{rp|4}} a common medicine at the time that contained mercury and was a frequent cause of [[mercury poisoning]]. Storie became increasingly ill and after three weeks her face and mouth were black and putrid. Dr Falconer then gave her [[aquafortis]], a form of nitric acid that he forced into her mouth using a syringe. Storie writes that "the agony I suffered from this cruel operation was so dreadful that I did not know what I was doing".<ref name=Storie1859></ref>{{rp|4}} When Dr Falconer repeated this a few minutes later, Storie describes her tongue falling off, her teeth falling out and part of her jaw bone giving way. |
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Storie recovered, but her face was permanently disfigured. Her jaw bones had grown soft, and surgery had to be performed to remove part of the bone. On healing the bone stiffened so she could not eat or drink until a small hole was made allowing her to suck food from a tin.<ref name=Storie1859></ref>{{rp|11}} |
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Storie's autobiography does not include a photograph or drawing of her face, but scholars Dana Graham Lai and Holly Faith Nelson argue that the disfigurement was probably similar to the well-documented case of Carleton Burgan, who suffered a similar case of mercury poisoning when he was given calomel to treat an infection in 1862.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Graham Lai |first=Dana |last2=Nelson |first2=Holly Faith |date=2024 |title=“There Was Death in the Powder and He Knew It”: Dis/ability and Tactics of Resistance in the Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie |url=http://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/4925 |journal=Études écossaises |issue=23 |doi=10.4000/etudesecossaises.4925|issn=1240-1439}}</ref> |
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Storie's father took legal action against Dr Falconer, and the court ordered him to pay £1000, but the doctor refused to pay. Her father died soon after. |
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=== Adult life === |
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Storie was frequently ill and in pain, and had more than twenty surgeries during her lifetime. She and her family fought extended legal battles but never succeeded in receiving compensation for the damages done to her by Dr Falconer. |
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Storie lived with her family, moving to her brother's home after her mother died in 1849.<ref name=":0" /> The 1871 census shows her living independently and having moved to Edinburgh, where she worked as a dressmaker.<ref name=":0" /> |
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=== Death === |
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Storie died in [[Peebles]] in 1897 from influenza and pneumonia.<ref name=":0" /> She left what money she had - £39 - to the Royal Association of Incurables in Edinburgh.<ref name=":0" /> |
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== Autobiography == |
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Storie published her autobiography in 1859, when she was forty-one. The title demonstrates the main purpose of the book: to explain the injustice done to her: ''The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions.'' |
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It was very unusual for working-class women to publish their autobiography in the mid-nineteenth century, and those that were punished were, like Storie's, mostly tales of ill treatment that had attracted the support of middle-class patrons.<ref>{{Citation |last=Boos |first=Florence S. |title=Under Physical Siege: The Early Victorian Autobiographies of Elizabeth Storie and Mary Prince |date=2017 |work=Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women: The Hard Way Up |pages=63–84 |editor-last=Boos |editor-first=Florence s. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64215-4_3 |access-date=2024-05-01 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-64215-4_3 |isbn=978-3-319-64215-4}}</ref> [[Mary Prince]]'s dictated autobiography about her life living as a slave is another example, but in general, most working-class writers were men.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Boos |first=Florence |date=2013 |title=Under physical siege: Early victorian autobiographies of working-class women |url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/under-physical-siege-early-victorian/docview/1548716257/se-2 |journal=Philological Quarterly |volume=92 |issue=2}}</ref> These fall into the category of "appeal memoirs", a genre also used by middle-class and upper-class women who had been ill-treated.<ref name=":1" /> The appeal is clear from the first paragraph of Storie's book:<blockquote>Having a strong impression that injustice is often done to the poor, and more especially to the women of that class, who are more defenceless, both from their sex, and from the difficulty which poverty combined with it exposes them to, in obtaining the help of those who are their natural protectors, I have been induced to publish a statement of the wrongs and trials I have been subjected to, in the hope of encouraging those who may be similarly afflicted to put their trust in God, as they too often will find that "vain is the help of man".<ref name="Storie1859"></ref>{{rp|1}}</blockquote> |
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==Published works== |
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* Elizabeth Storie, ''The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions'' (Glasgow: Richard Stobbs, 1859) |
* Elizabeth Storie, ''The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions'' (Glasgow: Richard Stobbs, 1859) |
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==See also== |
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List related Wikipedia articles in alphabetical order. Common nouns are listed first. Proper nouns follow. |
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*[[autobiography]] |
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*[[Working class literature]] |
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*[[Disability studies]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 11:24, 1 May 2024
Elizabeth Storie | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 1818 |
| Died | 1897 |
| Occupation | Seamstress |
Elizabeth Storie (c. 1818–1898) was Scottish writer, milliner and seamstress. She was a working-class woman from Glasgow who, through her 1859 autobiography, gave an account of the challenges she faced within medical, legal, and ecclesiastical systems as a disabled woman in early Victorian Scotland.
Her work is noted for providing a rare disabled female working-class account of navigating these institutions and overcoming legal biase to get compensation for medical malpractice. Her hybrid autobiography is unusual in combining personal narrative with various documentation to showcases her efforts to get justice and while challenging societal norms of the time.[1][2][3]
Biography
Early life and mercury poisoning
,_National_Museum_of_Health_and_Medicine_(3383372640).jpg)
Elizabeth Storie was born in Glasgow in July 1818 to "poor but respectable parents", as she writes in her autobiography:[4]: 2 a cotton weaver and a cotton winder. When she was four she became sick with a disease known as "nettle-rush", which children usually recovered from in a few days. Unfortunately, a neighbour and friend of the family who was a surgeon, Dr Falconer, insisted on treating Storie with daily doses of calomel,[4]: 4 a common medicine at the time that contained mercury and was a frequent cause of mercury poisoning. Storie became increasingly ill and after three weeks her face and mouth were black and putrid. Dr Falconer then gave her aquafortis, a form of nitric acid that he forced into her mouth using a syringe. Storie writes that "the agony I suffered from this cruel operation was so dreadful that I did not know what I was doing".[4]: 4 When Dr Falconer repeated this a few minutes later, Storie describes her tongue falling off, her teeth falling out and part of her jaw bone giving way.
Storie recovered, but her face was permanently disfigured. Her jaw bones had grown soft, and surgery had to be performed to remove part of the bone. On healing the bone stiffened so she could not eat or drink until a small hole was made allowing her to suck food from a tin.[4]: 11
Storie's autobiography does not include a photograph or drawing of her face, but scholars Dana Graham Lai and Holly Faith Nelson argue that the disfigurement was probably similar to the well-documented case of Carleton Burgan, who suffered a similar case of mercury poisoning when he was given calomel to treat an infection in 1862.[5]
Storie's father took legal action against Dr Falconer, and the court ordered him to pay £1000, but the doctor refused to pay. Her father died soon after.
Adult life
Storie was frequently ill and in pain, and had more than twenty surgeries during her lifetime. She and her family fought extended legal battles but never succeeded in receiving compensation for the damages done to her by Dr Falconer.
Storie lived with her family, moving to her brother's home after her mother died in 1849.[5] The 1871 census shows her living independently and having moved to Edinburgh, where she worked as a dressmaker.[5]
Death
Storie died in Peebles in 1897 from influenza and pneumonia.[5] She left what money she had - £39 - to the Royal Association of Incurables in Edinburgh.[5]
Autobiography
Storie published her autobiography in 1859, when she was forty-one. The title demonstrates the main purpose of the book: to explain the injustice done to her: The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions.
It was very unusual for working-class women to publish their autobiography in the mid-nineteenth century, and those that were punished were, like Storie's, mostly tales of ill treatment that had attracted the support of middle-class patrons.[6] Mary Prince's dictated autobiography about her life living as a slave is another example, but in general, most working-class writers were men.[7] These fall into the category of "appeal memoirs", a genre also used by middle-class and upper-class women who had been ill-treated.[7] The appeal is clear from the first paragraph of Storie's book:
Having a strong impression that injustice is often done to the poor, and more especially to the women of that class, who are more defenceless, both from their sex, and from the difficulty which poverty combined with it exposes them to, in obtaining the help of those who are their natural protectors, I have been induced to publish a statement of the wrongs and trials I have been subjected to, in the hope of encouraging those who may be similarly afflicted to put their trust in God, as they too often will find that "vain is the help of man".[4]: 1
Published works
- Elizabeth Storie, The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions (Glasgow: Richard Stobbs, 1859)
See also
List related Wikipedia articles in alphabetical order. Common nouns are listed first. Proper nouns follow.
References
- ^ "Elizabeth Storie". Scottish Women Writers on the Web. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
- ^ Ashplant, T.G (2022). "Review: Steven King, Florence Boos, Racial Woodward, K. Neil Jenkins". European Journal of Life Writing. XI: 7–8.
- ^ "Abstracts 92.2 | English - The University of Iowa". english.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
- ^ a b c d e Storie, Elizabeth (1859). he Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions. Glasgow: Richard Stobbs.
- ^ a b c d e Graham Lai, Dana; Nelson, Holly Faith (2024). ""There Was Death in the Powder and He Knew It": Dis/ability and Tactics of Resistance in the Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie". Études écossaises (23). doi:10.4000/etudesecossaises.4925. ISSN 1240-1439.
{{cite journal}}: no-break space character in|last=at position 7 (help) - ^ Boos, Florence S. (2017), Boos, Florence s. (ed.), "Under Physical Siege: The Early Victorian Autobiographies of Elizabeth Storie and Mary Prince", Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women: The Hard Way Up, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 63–84, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64215-4_3, ISBN 978-3-319-64215-4, retrieved 2024-05-01
- ^ a b Boos, Florence (2013). "Under physical siege: Early victorian autobiographies of working-class women". Philological Quarterly. 92 (2).
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