Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith (1827-1891)

George Eliot's closest friend after moving to London, Barbara Bodichon, nee Leigh Smith, was a feminist activist who strove for women’s education and enfranchisement. Bodichon's parents were not married, which isolated Bodichon socially. After Eliot began living unmarried with Lewes, Bodichon became an especially close friend, one who could sympathize with social shunning. Eliot supported Bodichon in many of her political acts, including petitioning parliament to pass a Married Women's Property Bill to protect married women’s earnings. Both women had been involved with the married John Chapman, who attempted to convince Bodichon to have a sexual relationship with him, using Lewes and Eliot’s unsanctioned domestic partnership as a positive example.
In 1857, Bodichon married a French doctor and lived abroad in Algiers half the year. Barbara Bodichon was the first to recognize Eliot's Adam Bede as the work of her friend, which delighted the author. Along with Emily Davies, Bodichon founded Girton College, Cambridge, the first university open to women, which Eliot supported with a modest financial donation. After Bodichon suffered from a stroke in 1877, she left to live in Sussex and the women rarely saw one another after that. Although Bodichon was surprised to read of Eliot's marriage to John Cross, she heartily wished them well. She was one of the last people Eliot wrote to before her death.

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://georgeeliotarchive.org

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