Mona Caird

Alice Mona Alison Caird (née Alison; 24 May 1854 – 4 February 1932) was an English novelist, essayist, and social reformer. She wrote on feminism, marriage, motherhood, animal rights and civil liberties. Her essays on women's position in marriage were controversial in the late 19th century.

Biography

Caird was born Alice Mona Alison in Ryde, Isle of Wight, the elder daughter of John Alison of Midlothian, Scotland, who some biographies claim invented the vertical boiler, and Matilda Hector, who the 1871 census records as having been born in Schleswig-Holstein, then part of Denmark. Her parents married on 21 June 1853 in St Leonards, near Glenelg, South Australia; her father was based in Melbourne and her mother was the eldest daughter of John Hector. Caird wrote stories and plays from childhood. The art critic Elizabeth Sharp, who married William Sharp, was reportedly a childhood friend of Caird.

In December 1877, she married James Alexander Henryson, son of Sir James Caird. Her husband farmed about 1700 acres (688 ha) of estates in Cassencary, Creetown, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He supported her independence, although he lived mainly at Cassencary and Northbrook House, Micheldever, Hampshire, while she spent much time in London and abroad. She mixed with literary people, including Thomas Hardy, who admired her work, and educated herself in the humanities and science. The Cairds had one child, a son born on 22 March 1884 and named Alison James, whom she called Alister. Her husband adopted the surname Henryson-Caird in 1897; he died in 1921.