Mrs. Emily Jane Pfeiffer, who left in 1890 large sums of money for the promotion of the higher education of women. She strongly advocated the study of English literature in the universities, and herself lectured privately on the subject to young working men and women. Miss Swanwick's life was thus divided between literary pursuits and active philanthropy. She never sought publicity, but her example and influence had an important and invigorating effect on women's education and on their position in the community. She signed John Stuart Mill's petition to parliament in 1865 for the political enfranchisement of women. The University of Aberdeen conferred on her the honorary degree of LL.D. She was a Unitarian. Miss Swanwick was the centre of a large circle of distinguished friends, who included Crabb Robinson, Tennyson, Browning, Gladstone, James Martineau, and Sir James Paget, and these, with many others, were frequent visitors at her house. Her marvellous memory made her a delightful talker, and she was full of anecdotes in her later years about the eminent persons she had known. She died on 2 Nov. 1899 at Tunbridge Wells, and was buried in the Swanwick family plot on the western side of Highgate Cemetery five days later. Her name appears on the south side of the Reformers Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. References Attribution Sources Mary L. Bruce, Anna Swanwick (London, 1903) External links English non-fiction writers English essayists English translators English feminists English feminist writers People associated with Girton College, Cambridge 1813 births 1899 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Writers from Liverpool 19th-century British translators 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century essayists People associated with Somerville College, Oxford