 Wollstonecraft was born on 27 April 1759 in Spitalfields , London . She was the second of the seven children of Edward John Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Dixon . Although her family had a comfortable income when she was a child , her father gradually squandered it on speculative projects . Consequently , the family became financially unstable and they were frequently forced to move during Wollstonecraft 's youth . The family 's financial situation eventually became so dire that Wollstonecraft 's father compelled her to turn over money that she would have inherited at her maturity . Moreover , he was apparently a violent man who would beat his wife in drunken rages . As a teenager , Wollstonecraft used to lie outside the door of her mother 's bedroom to protect her . Wollstonecraft played a similar maternal role for her sisters , Everina and Eliza , throughout her life . For example , in a defining moment in 1784 , she convinced Eliza , who was suffering from what was probably postpartum depression , to leave her husband and infant ; Wollstonecraft made all of the arrangements for Eliza to flee , demonstrating her willingness to challenge social norms . The human costs , however , were severe : her sister suffered social condemnation and , because she could not remarry , was doomed to a life of poverty and hard work . 
