ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the rise in female educational provision in the second half of the nineteenth century. It explains the women writing about sport in Victorian Britain included a small number of working-class and middle-class authors. The chapter develops three sections along class lines to look in particular at working-class female swimmers, middle-class hockey players and upper-class field sports enthusiasts. The argument uses an industrial context to focus on different kinds of work, education, play and writing across a variety of leisure and sport. Fletcher argues that the Principals modeled physical education on the style of the Victorian boy's public schools but with an additional focus on gymnastics. The formation of the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) is a good example of how the creation of sports associations could change and regulate labour markets. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the study of British women's writing in relation to sport lags somewhat behind that of North American academia.
