Charlotte Wilson

Charlotte Mary Wilson (6 May 1854, Kemerton, Worcestershire – 28 April 1944, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York) was an English Fabian and anarchist who co-founded Freedom newspaper in 1886 with Peter Kropotkin, and edited, published, and largely financed it during its first decade. She remained editor of Freedom until 1895.^[1]

Charlotte Wilson, who was born Charlotte Mary Martin, was born into a middle class family in Kemerton, in Worcestershire, a village near the town of Tewkesbury in the adjoining county of Gloucestershire.^[2] Her father, Robert Spencer Martin, was a wealthy surgeon, whose grandfather was a silk manufacturer^[3], while her mother, Clementina Susannah Davies, came from a prosperous commercial and clerical family^[4].

Wilson initially attended Cheltenham College, where "she was very unhappy"^[4]. Afterwards, in the early 1870s, possibly 1873 or 1874, she attended Merton Hall^[5], a small manor house which was attached to the School of Pythagoras in the Cambridge University^[6], where she was one of fourteen girls. In college Wilson took the Higher Local Examination.^[4] She did not take a degree because at the time women were not allowed to take a degree in the university^[4], a proscription which wasn't lifted until 1923^[2]. Wilson left Cambridge "with a fluency in the language of positivist social science, an ability to engage in masculine discourse about economics and evolution that made hers one of the handful of female voices audible in the radical debates."^[3]

In 1876, Wilson married Arthur Wilson, son of the vicar of Islington in London^[3], a distant cousin, a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford and a stockbroker.^[4] The couple initially lived in Hampstead in London, where she became "active in charitable and educational work."^[4]. In 1885, E. Nesbit, the Fabian writer and poet described Wilson in a letter to Ada Breakwell, a friend of hers, as follows:

"She has a husband who is very nice, and a perfect gentleman. Did I tell you about her house? He is a stockbroker and they used to live in a charming and rather expensive house at Hampstead, but she at last declined to live any longer on his earnings (which she tersely terms the 'wages of iniquity') and now they have taken quite a little cottage where she means to keep herself by keeping fowles! It is a charming and quite idyllic little farm.^[7] They have two rooms - study and kitchen. The kitchen is an idealised farm kitchen, where of course no cooking is done - but with a cushioned settle, open hearth, polished dresser and benches and all the household glass and crockery displayed, mixed up with aesthetic pots, pans, curtains, chairs and tables - a delightfully incongruous but altogether agreeable effect." (Italics in the original)

Anarchist author George Woodcock (1990) documented: "on her conversion to socialism^[8] [Wilson] assumed a simpler way of life in a cottage at the edge of the Heath"^[9].^[10]

Hinely (2012) observed that, in the three to four decades before World War I, "Individual radicals and their fluid organizations met and diverged under many different labels: anarchists, anti-imperialists, New Women, eugenicists, vegetarians, and, most broadly of all, socialists."^[3] Furthermore, as anarchist author David Goodway documented: "In the early years of the revival of socialism, boundaries between the various societies were blurred and there was much overlapping."^[11] Wilson was a case in point. Goodway again: "An example is Charlotte Wilson, the first editor of Freedom, also being a member of the Fabian Society."

Woodcock documented that Wilson "was a founder member of the Fabian Society, and in December 1884 was elected, with Bernard Shaw and three others, to its first executive committee."^[12] Also, as Hinely (2012) observed, starting in the late 1870s, she formed or joined numerous organizations.^[3] For example, she founded an informal political study group for advanced thinkers, known as the Hampstead Historic Club^[13] (also known as the Karl Marx Society or the Proudhon Society^[14]), which met in Wyldes.^[15] No records of the club have survived. However, there are references to it in the memoirs of several of those who attended. For example, in her history of Wyldes, Wilson recorded the names of some of those who visited her house, most of whom are known to have been present at club meetings.^[16] The names included: Sidney Webb, George Bernard Shaw, Sydney Olivier, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Belfort Bax, Edward Pease, E. Nesbit, Hubert Bland, Karl Pearson, Havelock Ellis, Edward Carpenter, Frank Podmore, Ford Madox Brown, and Olive Schreiner among others. The secretary was Emma Brooke.^[17]

The Hamstead Historic Club initially turned its attention to studying Das Kapital by Karl Marx which was read out by a Russian woman in French but later turned to Proudhon. In 1889 George Bernard Shaw described the Club discussions and how heated they became.^[18] Although the Fabian Society and Hampstead Historic Club contained many of the same people, they remained separate. The ideas debated by the club resulted in the publication of Fabian Essays in Socialism in 1889.^[18] This led Shaw to describe Hampstead, and the meetings, as 'the birthplace of middle-class socialism.'^[19]

Another society was The Society of Friends of Russian Freedom, which was established by Wilson with Sergei Stepniak, Karl Pearson and Wilfrid Voynich. In this context, Wilson is believed to be the model for Gemma in the best-selling novel The Gadfly by Ethel Voynich.^[20][21]

In September 1886, the Fabian Society had two powerful female members, Wilson and Annie Besant.^[22] However, Wilson "had been gradually edged out by Annie Besant's determination that the Society should adopt an active political role"^[23]. Consequently, the Society held a meeting in Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street of the various socialist organisations in the city to debate the possibility of forming a political party based upon the party model of politics that was being adopted in Continental Europe^[24].^[25] Besant made such a proposal and Hubert Bland seconded it, while William Morris proposed and Wilson seconded an amendment to it. Their amendment was:

"But whereas the first duty of Socialism is to educate people to understand what their present position is and what the future might be, and to keep the principles of socialism steadily before them; and whereas no Parliamentary party can exist without compromise and concession, which would hinder that education and obscure those principles: it would be a false step for Socialists to attempt to take part in the Parliamentary contest."^[26]

The amendment was defeated. Consequently Wilson "resigned from the Fabian executive in April 1887, and took no active part in the society for twenty years, though she maintained her membership."^[26]

Initially, while Wilson was in the Hamstead Historic Club, she particularly admired William Morris.^[27] However, she then changed her allegiance to Peter Kropotkin.^[27] Correspondingly, from 1884 to 1896, she wrote extensively to Karl Pearson about anarchism, the Fabians, the Karl Marx Society and about her hoped-forRussian Society.^[28][29] In particular, she asked his advice about reading Marx and tried to justify to him her view of human nature that "made anarchism the only moral system of politics."^[27] In mid-January 1886, anarchist Peter Kropotkin, who was sick with malaria and scurvy^[30], was finally released with his anarchist colleagues from Clairvaux Prison. During his imprisonment, Wilson had been in touch with his wife.^[31] On the 20th January, Kropotkin wrote to George Herzig, a friend of his in Geneva: "I am called to London to found an anarchist (English) paper; the means are existant and I will get to work busily" ^[32]. Woodock and Avakumoović (1971) commented: "It is not certain from whom the 'call' came, but it was very probably from Charlotte Wilson"^[32].

In early March^[33], Kropotkin and his wife emigrated to England, where they settled in Harrow, London^[30]. In the same month, or in early April, they met Wilson, Dr J. Burns-Gibson, and one or two others.^[33][34] In the October, the first issue of Freedom was published as a four-page sheet.^[35] Wilson became its editor and remained in the post until 1895.^[26] The newspaper's mission statement is stated in every issue, on page 2, and summarises the writers' view of anarchism:

"Anarchists work towards a society of mutual aid and voluntary co-operation. We reject all government and economic repression. This newspaper, published continuously since 1936, exists to explain anarchism more widely and show that only in an anarchist society can human freedom thrive."

Her publication Work (1888) was mistakenly attributed to Kropotkin for many years.^[36]

For the remainder of the century, during which in 1896 her father died, which in 1903 was followed by the death of her mother, Wilson did not involve herself in left-wing politics.^[26] She resumed political activity in 1906. She did not disavow anarchist ideology. However, she alligned herself with the Fabian Society.^[26] And shortly afterwards, from 1908 to 1913^[37], she served as its General Secretary, during which she joined the campaign for female suffrage.^[38][39][40]

Wilson was also the main founder of the Fabian Women's Group, which:

"originated in a drawing-room of fashionable South Kensington. At its first gathering in March 1908, fourteen ladies pledged to unite in the study of the relation between the two most vital movements of the day: socialism and feminism. Many distinguished and remarkable women were involved, including Beatrice Webb, novelist Edith Nesbitt, birthcontroller Annie Besant, shopworker and first woman cabinet minister Margaret Bondfield, and 1902s Labour MP Susan Lawrence."^[41]

Wilson hosted the meetings of the Group at her home in St John's Wood.^[26] She was also the Secretary of the Studies Subcommittee (1908–1913) of the Society in which she heavily influenced the direction of its studies into working conditions for women. In 1912 she co-wrote with Helen Blagg a tract for the Society entitled Women and prisons. In 1911, according to Walter (2007, p. 227) she described the activities of the Fabian Women's Group.^[42] And, until 1916, when she resigned because of illness; she was its most active member.^[26]

1880s

• "Women's labour in factories". Justice. 8 March 1884.
• "The condition of the Russian peasantry". Today. July and August. 1885.
• "The Family as a Type of Society". The Anarchist. April 1886.
• "Freedom" (PDF). Freedom. 1 (1 October): 1. June 1886.
• "Anarchism". Fabian Tract No. 4 What socialism is. London: George Standring. 1886. July 1886^[43]
• "The principles and aims of anarchism". Present Day (July). 1886.
• "Education by force" (PDF). Freedom. 1: 1–2. November 1886.
• "Women's Labour" (PDF). Freedom. 1 (10): 2. July 1887.
• "The condemned anarchists". Commonweal. 12 November 1887.
• "The tragedy of Chicago. Freedom. December 1887.
• "The women of the commune". Freedom. April 1888.
• "Work". Freedom. July 1888.
• "The marriage controversy". Freedom. October 1888.
• "The revolt of the English workers in the nineteenth century". Freedom. April-September 1889.
• "What anarchist communism means". Freedom. August 1889.

1890s

• "Democracy or anarchism". Freedom. February 1890.
• "Anarchism and outrage". Freedom. December 1893.^[44]
• "Anarchism and homicidal outrage". What is anarchism?. 1893.^[45]

1900s

• "A brief history of Freedom" (PDF). Freedom. XIV (153): 49-50. 1900.
• "Wyldes and its story". Transactions of the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society. 1902-1903.
• "The economic disintegration of the family". Fabian News. July 1909.
• (With Helen Blagg) Women and prisons (Fabian Tract No. 163 ed.). London: The Fabian Society. Retrieved 12 February 2026. 1912.

• Alexander, Sally, ed. (1988). Women's Fabian Tracks. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01244-9.
• Anon (1895). "Emma Brooke: The author of Transition". Current Literature. XVIII (1). Retrieved 11 February 2026.
• Bevir, Mark (2011). The making of British socialism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15083-3. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
• Boix, Carles (2007). "The emergence of parties and party systems". In Boix, Carles; Stokes, Susan C. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927848-0.
• Briggs, Julia (1987). A woman of passion The life of E. Nesbit 1858-1924. New York: New Amsterdam Books. ISBN 0-941533-03-4. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
• Claeys, Gregory, ed. (2005). "Introduction". Owenite socialism Pamphlets and correspondence (Volume 1 1819-1825 ed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14973-8. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
• Daniels, Kay (2003). "Emma Brooke: Fabian, feminist and writer". Women's History Review. 12 (2): 153–168. doi:10.1080/09612020300200353. ISSN 0961-2025.
• Fabian Women's Group (1988). "Three years work, 1908-1911". In Alexander, Sally (ed.). Women's Fabian Tracts. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01244-9.
• Hinely, Susan (2012). "Charlotte Wilson, the "Woman Question", and the Meanings of Anarchist Socialism in Late Victorian Radicalism". International Review of Social History. 57 (1): 3-36. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
• Goodway, David (2012). Anarchist seeds beneath the snow. Oakland, California: PM Press. ISBN 978-1-60486-221-8. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
• Langley Moore, Doris (1966). E. Nesbit A biography (Revised ed.). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
• MacCarthy, Fiona (2014). The simple life C.R. Ashbee in the Cotswolds (2014 ed.). London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-32020-2. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
• MacKenzie, Norman; MacKenzie, Jeanne (1979) [originally 1977]. The First Fabians. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 0 7043 3251 5. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
• Oakley, Ann (2021). Forgotten wives How women get written out of history. Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-4473-5583-0. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
• Osofsky, Stephen (1979). Peter Kropotkin. Boston: Twane Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7724-5. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
• Pease, Edward R. (1916). The history of the Fabian Society. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
• Porter, Theodore M. (2004). Karl Pearson The scientific life in a statistical age. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11445-5.
• Rooum, Donald (2016). Richards, Vernon (ed.). What is anarchism? (Second ed.). Oakland, California: PM Press. ISBN 978-1-62963-146-2. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
• Quail, John (2019) [originally 1978]. The slow burning fuse. Oakland, California: PM Press. ISBN 978-1-62963-582-8. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
• Shaw, Bernard (1965) [originally 1889]. Laurence, Dan H. (ed.). Collected letters 1874-1897. London: Max Reinhardt. ISBN 978-0670805433. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
• Venning, Philip (1977). Wyldes: A new history. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• W, N (1986). "Charlotte Wilson". Freedom A hundred years October 1886 to October 1986 (PDF). London: Freedom Press. ISBN 0 900384 35 2. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
• Walter, Nicholas (1979). Introduction. Three essays on anarchism. By Wilson, Charlotte. Over the Water, Sanday, Orkney: Cienfuegos Press. ISBN 0-904564-26-6. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
• Walter, Nicholas (2007). The anarchist past and other essays. Nottingham: Five Leaves. ISBN 978 1 905512 16 4.
• Wilson, Arthur (1902). "Wyldes and its story". Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society Transacations (Hampstead Antiq. and Hist. Soc. 1902-3): 145-158.
• Wilson, Charlotte (1979). Three essays on anarchism. Over the Water, Sanday, Orkney: Cienfuegos Press. ISBN 0-904564-26-6. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
• Woodcock, George (1990). Peter Kropotkin From prince to rebel (1990 ed.). Montréal, Québec, Canada: Black Rose Books. ISBN 0-921689-61-6.
• Woodcock, George; Avakumoović, Ivan (1971) [originally 1950]. The anarchist prince. New York: Schocken Books. Retrieved 24 February 2026.

• Pease, Edward R. (1925). The history of the Fabian society (Second ed.). Retrieved 10 February 2026.
• Wilson, Charlotte (2000). Walter, Nicolas (ed.). Anarchist essays. London: Freedom Press. ISBN 0-900384-99-9.

• A History of Freedom Press
• Charlotte Wilson: Edited Works, Organized by Work Archived 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• Charlotte Wilson: Edited Works, Organized by Date