This book covers new ground in its focus on the Anglican Church congresses 1861-1938 as a public space in which the views of notable women were widely disseminated. It celebrates the contribution made by women to public life and discourse on womanhood as platform speakers, and commemorates the presence of the large numbers of women who joined congresses as audience members.Original research draws on extensive primary sources from official records, diaries and the press to capture women's views and voices and to evoke congress as a communicative social space and a window into topical affairs. Women and the Anglican Church Congress 1861-1938 examines the roles of women in the Church and reflects on how women with a sense of vocation negotiated contemporary attitudes to their positions and spirituality. The book also explores how women's secular aspirations towards citizenship in the context of poverty, work, temperance, eugenics, class and suffrage played out at congress.

AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsTables and IllustrationsIntroduction: Congress: A Space for Women1. Visiting the Church Congress2. Women in the Anglican Church: Deaconesses, Sisters, Missionaries, and Philanthropy3. The Mothers' Union and the Girls' Friendly Society4. Networks: Organisations, Politics, Empire and Suffrage5. Widening Horizons in Education and Leisure6. Public Service and the World of Work7. Spiritual and Theological Aspirations and the Latter Years of Congress8. Conclusion: Women, Congress, Space, Place and AgencyAppendicesPrimary SourcesBibliographyIndex