Ladies’ Encounters with Napoleon with Dr Emma Gleadhill

Born in 1775, Jane Austen lived through the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) and her plots include a revolving array of Royal Navy and Army officers being stationed in and out of her female character’s lives. Many of Austen’s readers would have themselves been impacted by the Wars, with one in five families directly involved in the army, navy, militia and or as volunteers, including Austen’s own family.

From 1802-03, British women tourists flocked to Paris, keen to see the sites of the Revolution and, despite general anti-French sentiment, to be presented to Napoleon Bonaparte. In this talk, Dr Emma Gleadhill will take a brief look at two such women, who had quite contrasting views of Napoleon’s appearance shaped by their politics.

Dr Emma Gleadhill is a social and cultural historian, and watercolour artist, based in Melbourne, Australia. She is specifically interested in women’s history, travel, and accessing new dimensions of the female experience through souvenir culture.