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This text was published first as on the Pascal Theatre Company’s website dedicated to .

Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan was a prominent figure in London’s Victorian society, a pioneering activist whose interests bridged multiple causes, from women’s rights to education and spiritualism. Her life reflects the complexities and interconnectedness of Victorian reform movements, and her unique contributions remain a testament to the power of advocacy and intellectual broad-mindedness.

Early life and marriage

Sophia was born in 1809 in London Blackfriars into a family known for its intellectual and reformist leanings, the eldest child of William Frend (1757-1841) and his wife Sarah Blackburne. One of the leading mathematicians of his period, a Unitarian and Whig by conviction, William Frend was a well-known figure in London’s progressive circles. His beliefs connected the family to a network of like-minded reformers, many of whom embraced causes such as abolitionism, women’s rights and educational reforms. A much beloved friend of the Frends was poet and essayist Charles Lamb (1775-1834), who wrote the young Sophia an acrostic poem based on her name:

ACROSTIC

To S.F.

‘Solemn Legends we are told

Of bright female Names of old,

Phyllis fair, Laodameia,

Helen, but methinks Sophia

Is a name of better meaning

And a sort of Christian leaning.

For it Wisdom means, which passes,

Rubies, pearls, or golden masses.

Ever try that Name to merit;

Never quit what you inherit,

Duly from your Father’s spirit.’

- Charles Lamb.

In 1820, when Sophia was eleven, the family moved from Blackfriars to Stoke Newington, where she spent some of the happiest times of her late childhood and adolescent years. In her book of reminiscences, Sophia makes astute and often amusing observations about many of her family’s friends, most of them men, scholars of Greek and Hebrew, astronomers and antiquarians, whom she recounts as being ‘peculiar people’ who ‘had leading thought or special study’. 

Many women reformists frequented the Frends’ social circles, among whom notable figures such as essayist and author of children’s literature Anna Letitia Barbauld (1743-1825) and educationalist and philanthropist Lady Byron (1792-1860). The family enjoyed a close relationship with Lady Byron whose daughter, Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), William Frend tutored in mathematics and science. Sophia herself later became Ada’s tutor and Lady Byron’s confidante on family matters. Lady Byron introduced young Sophia to the committee of the Children's Friend Society, whose benefactor she was. 

From an early age, Sophia received instruction in philosophy and Hebrew, as well as in mathematics and astronomy from her father. She accompanied him everywhere, blossoming within the wide intellectual circles of the Frends’ household. This instilled in her a strong commitment to reason and intellectual rigour, progressive social ideas, and principles of social justice that she displayed throughout her life. 

In 1831 the family moved back to central London in Tavistock Square, where ‘we found ourselves among a little knot of philanthropists’. Sophia was enormously interested in all the people she encountered, among whom ‘some were political, some social reformers, and all were bent on discovering a panacea for the evils which were developing so rapidly then’. 

Sophia continued to live in Tavistock until her marriage on 3 August 1837 to Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871), a mathematician like her father and a long term friend of the Frends. The De Morgans’ marriage was instrumental in shaping both their lives as they supported each other’s intellectual and personal pursuits. While Augustus was deeply immersed in mathematics and logic, Sophia’s interests were always grounded in social reforms, in literature and later in spiritualism. Their intellectual curiosity created a strong dynamic and a partnership marked by shared ideals and mutual respect. Sophia managed the household and provided emotional and logistical support to Augustus as he engaged in teaching, research and writing.

Augustus De Morgan’s position at University College London (UCL) linked the family to a progressive institution that championed secular education and intellectual freedom. Sophia’s own personal and ideological activism often intersected with UCL’s mission and she successfully moved between the world of books and her social milieu. The De Morgans’ home in Bloomsbury, 69 Gower Street, and later in Great Camden Street, Camden Town, served as a meeting place of intellectuals, artists and like-minded activists, continuing the great progressive tradition of the Frends’ household. 

Deeply devoted to her seven children, Sophia kept nursery journals and recorded their dreams. 

Sophia was an affectionate and nurturing mother who left a profound mark on her children. She shared her husband’s progressive views on education, and they firmly upheld the cultivation of reason in their children as a fundamental principle of parenting. Sophia’s notebooks reveal her preoccupation with this important task.

Shaped by this upbringing and the stimulating environment of their home, the De Morgan children became influential figures in their own right: William, the eldest son became a well-known potter and artist; George, the second son, followed in his father’s footsteps as a mathematician at UCL; and Mary, their youngest child, was an author of fairytales.

Advocacy

Elizabeth Reid’s (1789-1866) ‘Ladies' College’ project captivated both Augustus and Sophia, especially as they sought a way to provide their daughters with the same education as their sons. In 1849, Reid succeeded in establishing Bedford College at 47 Bedford Square in Bloomsbury and Augustus gave a course of lectures to its first pupils. 

Sophia dedicated herself with great fervour to the abolition of slavery in America. Drawing upon her rational persuasive upbringing and deep theistic convictions, she drafted a compelling letter from ‘the Englishmen and Englishwomen’ urging the American people to renounce slavery.

She shared these ideas with Rachel and Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) who leveraged their political connections to bring them to the public attention. Following an article in The Times in November 1852, the Dutchess of Sutherland gathered a significant number of signatures from the ‘women of England’, as well as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Palestine. The resulting petition was sent to the ‘women of America’.

Alleviating poverty for the underprivileged was one of Sophia’s constant philanthropic preoccupations throughout her life. She became involved in the campaigns led by Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), a Quaker philanthropist and a leading advocate for prison reform in the 19th century, to improve the treatment of prisoners, especially women and children. Sophia formed a committee of ladies to visit the wards regularly and send suggestions about the welfare of the inmates to prison boards. Later in 1857, this committee became the Workhouse Visiting Association.

A firm believer in the transformative power of education as a cornerstone of social justice, Sophia supported schools for working-class children and she worked tirelessly to improve the conditions of women labourers. One of her notable contributions, and a crucial initiative at a time when women’s economic independence was severely limited, was her support for the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women. This organisation established in 1859 aimed to improve the economic status of women, particularly the working poor, by providing them with vocational training, better working conditions and fair wages. 

In connection with her interest in the working poor, Sophia became a member of the committee for the establishment of playgrounds, founded in 1856. The committee viewed the creation of playgrounds as a vital way to provide children with a space to play, develop and escape from the harsh realities of their lives in the urbanised industrial cities of the time. In 1858, Sophia wrote a plea for playgrounds in Household Words, a weekly journal conducted by Charles Dickens, and again in 1867 in Good Words magazine.

Later in her life, Sophia became a vocal critic of vivisection, the practice of performing experiments on live animals, which many considered necessary for scientific advancement. 

Her objections to vivisection were aligned with her broader ethical views on human dignity and compassion. In this regard, she was an early advocate for the idea that scientific progress should not come at the expense of unnecessary suffering.

Spiritualism

Spiritualism, a controversial movement seeking to bridge science and the supernatural, started to gain traction in the mid-19th century. Sophia’s open-mindedness towards unconventional theories sparked her interest in this movement and, like other middle-class intellectuals of her time, she actively experimented with mesmerism and other metaphysical ideas about human consciousness and development.

The De Morgans were profoundly shaken when Alice, their beloved eldest daughter, died of tuberculosis on 23 December 1853. After this loss, Sophia immersed herself in exploring the spirit world, a pursuit that would consume her for the rest of her life. American spiritualist Maria Hayden (1826-1883) is one of the first mediums to introduce séance practices to Britain in the early 1850s. Sophia attended her sessions and was deeply intrigued by her apparent ability to communicate with spirits.

In her investigations with various mediums, Sophia positioned herself at the intersection of spiritualism and rational inquiry, engaging with both believers and sceptics in her attempts to understand the unseen world. She saw chemist William Crookes’ (1832-1919) efforts to apply scientific rigour to spiritualism as a validation of her conviction that spiritual phenomena could be studied systematically. 

Although not a firm believer himself, Augustus supported Sophia’s interest in spiritualism and remained open to the possibility that psychic phenomena might one day be explained by physical sciences. 

A decade after Alice’s death in 1863, Sophia published her book From Matter to Spirit: The Result of Ten Years Experience in Spirit Manifestations, with a preface by Augustus. The book was published anonymously to protect reputations, but within days, both the author and the preface writer became known to the public. 

This book explored the nature of the spirit world, communication with spirits, and the relationship between the material and immaterial realms, and was based partly on earlier ideas promoted by the scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Sophia saw spiritual development as an ongoing process that did not end with death and she believed in an organised spirit world that could interact with the material world through mediums. She believed that séances and messages from the dead, were evidence of genuine spirit communication. Her book framed the spiritualist phenomena she investigated, such as table-turning, ‘spirit writing’, visions, dreams and voices, within a rational, quasi-scientific framework. 

De Morgan holdings in Senate House Library, 91app

Senate House Library holds the and the Augustus De Morgan Library. 

Papers of the De Morgan family comprise material dating 1756-1928 and relating to the suffragette movement, such as photographs, newspapers, press cuttings and pamphlets; correspondence of Augustus de Morgan; and material relating to the de Morgan and Frend families, notably correspondence, family photographs, drawings, letters, legal documents and memorabilia. Papers of Sophia De Morgan are an important part of this archive containing personal and professional correspondence with notable figures, Sophia’s writings in manuscript, and other collected papers relating to her interests.

Works by Sophia De Morgan

‘Chips: a plea for playgrounds’ in , Volume XVII, 30 January 1858, pp.160-161

. Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1863

. Longmans, Green, 1882

‘Playgrounds for poor children’ in , Volume 8, November 1867, pp. 727-730 

. Society for the promotion of the return of Women as Poor Law Guardians, 1899.

. R. Bentley,1895

Archives

. Part of: De Morgan family papers (MS913). Senate House Library MS913B. 

References

Attar, Karen. “.” Ed. Mary Hammond. The Edinburgh History of Reading: Modern Readers. Edinburgh University Press, 2020. 62-82. 

Richards, Joan L. “De Morgan’s Family: Sophia and the children.” Eds. Karen Attar Et al. . Open Book Publishers, 2024. 221-245.

Written by Mura Ghosh, Academic Librarian