Emily Jane Pfeiffer

Emily Jane Pfeiffer
BornEmily Jane Davis
26 November 1827
Montgomeryshire, Wales, UK
Died23 January 1890(1890-01-23) (aged 62)
London Borough of Wandsworth, England, UK
Occupationpoet, philanthropist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
Spouse
Jurgen Edward Pfeiffer
(m. 1850)

Emily Jane Pfeiffer (26 November 1827 – 23 January 1890, née Davis) was a Welsh poet and philanthropist.[1] She supported women's suffrage and higher education for women, as well as producing feminist poems.[2]

Pfeiffer was born Montgomeryshire, but spent much of her early life in Oxfordshire. She was the granddaughter of a banker, but her grandfather's bank collapsed in 1831 and her family could not afford a school education for her. She published her first poetry book in 1842. In 1850, she married a tea merchant. As a poet, she was particularly known for her sonnets.

Pfeiffer inherited her husband's wealth. She used it to promote women's education, and to establish an orphanage for girls.

  1. ^ H. Marshall & Son 1899, p. 139.
  2. ^ Blain 2014, p. 85.