Biography, portraiture, and the Victorian heroics of blindness: the case of Henry Fawcett, MP

Henry Fawcett (1833-84), though largely unknown today, was renowned in the Victorian period first as a Liberal parliamentarian and then as Postmaster General. Upon his death in 1884, he was widely celebrated as a hero. This article explores how Fawcett comes to signify a particularly Victorian notio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWord & image (London. 1985) Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 221 - 237
Main Author Prizel, Natalie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.10.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Biographies
blindness
Brown, Ford Madox (1821-1893)
Case studies
Fawcett, Henry (1833-1884)
Ford Madox Brown
Henry Fawcett
Leslie Stephen
Portrait photography
portraiture
Pre-Raphaelite
Stephen, Leslie (1832-1904)
Victorian
Victorian period
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Summary:Henry Fawcett (1833-84), though largely unknown today, was renowned in the Victorian period first as a Liberal parliamentarian and then as Postmaster General. Upon his death in 1884, he was widely celebrated as a hero. This article explores how Fawcett comes to signify a particularly Victorian notion of heroism distinct from its Romantic forbearers and Modernist followers. It is his blindness-an impairment that might seem to disqualify Fawcett from certain versions of robust heroism-that in fact enables his heroism to be understood and emulated. Focusing on Leslie Stephen's The Life of Henry Fawcett (1884) and an 1872 portrait of Henry and Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett by Ford Madox Brown, this article demonstrates how practices of biography and portraiture co-evolve in such a way as to render the blind politician an exemplary and imitable hero for his time and beyond.
ISSN:0266-6286
1943-2178
DOI:10.1080/02666286.2024.2371791