Spirited performances: A critical study of the life of Georgina Weldon (1837-1914

On 15th April 1878, Georgina Weldon was forced to barricade herself in her room in order to avoid being captured and confined in a private lunatic asylum at the instigation of her husband. The incarceration attempt signalled the beginning of Weldon's involvement with lunacy reform, and heralded her spectacular appearances in venues ranging from law courts to music halls to promote herself and a variety of radical causes. Weldon had been drawn towards a career on the stage since her childhood, and although her involvement with the professional theatre was relatively limited, she nevertheless adopted and cultivated a performative approach to her life in general and the reform of the lunacy laws in particular. This thesis provides a critical evaluation of the work of Georgina Weldon (1837-1914). Approaching Weldon from a thematic perspective it examines the formative influences and major events in her life, considering the extent to which her performance of identity illuminate the lives of other Victorian women. Weldon's biography studied in this manner provides a number of valuable case studies for the social historian. Weldon was a member of the Victorian social elite who commingled with many levels of society. Following the breakdown of her marriage, she not only conducted an inventive campaign for lunacy reform, but also earned her living as a stage and concert performer, ran an orphanage, represented herself in court on numerous occasions, and developed a passionate relationship with another woman. This thesis therefore examines these various elements of Weldon's biography, attempts to determine to what extent her experiences were either typical or atypical of those of other women of the period, and considers the means by which she constructed her identity through performance.