Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797): Author and promoter of women’s rights. Wollstonecraft was born in London, the fifth of seven children of Edward John Wollstonecraft (1736–1803), an increasingly unsuccessful businessman and farmer. Financial troubles forced the family to move frequently. Wollstonecraft initially worked as a lady’s companion, in a school she set up with her sisters and a friend, and as a governess. But in 1787 she decided to concentrate on a literary career, aided by the radical publisher, Joseph Johnson (1738–1809; DNB), for whom she wrote reviews and translations. Her Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790), a contribution to the French Revolution debate, made her well-known. It was followed by A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), the feminist work for which she is now best remembered. Wollstonecraft spent the years 1792–1795 in France; though supportive of the revolution she was disillusioned by the Jacobin Terror of 1793–1794. She also began a relationship with Gilbert Imlay (1754–1828), an American adventurer, and they had one child, Fanny Imlay (1794–1816). After Wollstonecraft returned to London she undertook a business trip to Scandinavia for Imlay, which resulted in Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1796). In 1797 Wollstonecraft married William Godwin and died shortly after giving birth to their child, the writer, Mary Godwin (1797–1851; DNB). Wollstonecraft’s reputation was severely damaged by Godwin’s Memoir (1798) of his wife, which revealed much about her turbulent private life. Southey was a great admirer of Wollstonecraft, and remained so, even when his own views became more conservative. He dedicated ‘The Triumph of Woman’ (published in his Poems (1797)) to her. They met in London in 1797, where they moved in the same radical circles. Southey mourned her death in his 1797 poem ‘To A. S. Cottle’.