ABSTRACT
John Locke tells his readers very early in Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) that the purpose of his work is to detail how “a young gentleman should be brought up from his infancy”—a program of education “which in all things will not so perfectly suit the education of daughters; though, where the difference of sex requires different treatment, it will be no hard matter to distinguish” (§ 6). On its face, the text was partly written in response to a query from Locke’s friend Sir Edward Clarke, who wanted a guide to raising his sons. This chapter attends to the critical role that three women played in Locke’s account of childrearing and education: Damaris, Lady Masham, Mary Clarke, and Betty Clarke. These women have long been recognized as important personal figures in Locke’s life, but as scholars increasingly recognize, they served as more than lovers, friends, and family to Locke. His theory of education was forged in dialogue with and observation of their domestic labor. Thus, while Locke’s theory of education is concerned with the rearing of young gentlemen, its production was supported by the intellectual and practical labor of gentlewomen—curious, skeptical people who challenged his views.
