Threaded through this text(ur)ing of a life is an appeal for enfranchisement intimately connected to a desire for the public recognition of the value of her professional endeavour, social contribution and moral probity. A figure painter

trained in London and Paris, Sophia Beale augmented her income by writing and teaching, opening an art school in Albany Street, near Regent's Park, and advertising herself as a pupil of Charles-Alp honse-Paul Bellay and Jules-Elie Delaunay, which gave a certain distinction in years when French technique was at a premium.! Beale had held strong views on women's suffrage since the early 1860s, when she considered:

In 1889 a vehement debate took place over women's suffrage in the periodical press. Public declarations of support and opposition were issued, lists of names distributed, articles for and against printed. In setting out the debates for enfranchisement, Fawcett took up and modified Beale's letter, using her case to argue for the vote for independent, middle-class women who already paid rates and taxes and who could vote in local but not national elections.