A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Cobbe, Frances Power

by John William Cousin

Cobbe, Frances Power (1822-1904).—Theological and social writer, was b. near Dublin. Coming under the influence of Theodore Parker, she became a Unitarian. Her first work, pub. anonymously, was on The Intuitive Theory of Morals (1855). She travelled in the East, and pub. Cities of the Past (1864). Later she became interested in social questions and philanthropic work, and wrote many books on these and kindred subjects, including Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors (1869), Darwinism in Morals (1872), and Scientific Spirit of the Age (1888). She was a strong opponent of vivisection.