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Jeannie Lockett

Jane Lockett (27 August 1847 – 14 November 1890), better known as Jeannie Lockett, was an Australian feminist and schoolteacher. Her articles on women's social and political issues, including divorce, were published in England in the 1880s. She also wrote short stories and non-fiction for the Australian press, sometimes as Jennie Lockett or Jeannie Leckett or Beattie. Her novel, Judith Grant, was published posthumously.

Jeannie Lockett
Lockett c.1880
Lockett c.1880
BornJane Beattie
(1847-08-27)27 August 1847
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Died14 November 1890(1890-11-14) (aged 43)
Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Pen name
  • Jennie Lockett
  • Jeannie Leckett
  • Beattie
Occupation
  • Social and political writer
  • school teacher
Period1883–1892
Subject
  • divorce
  • female labour
Notable works"Divorce Considered from a Woman's Point of View"

Life

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Born Jane Beattie on 27 August 1847 in Bathurst, New South Wales,[1] she was one of 15 children of writer Mary Anne (died 1906)[2] and Hugh Beattie (died 1890).[3] The family later settled at Wagga Wagga where Hugh established the Brooklyn vineyard.[2][3] She married Thomas Lockett in Wagga on 27 May 1868.[1] He was a blacksmith who had grown up on the goldfields at Lambing Flat (now Young).[4]

Lockett left her husband in Wagga Wagga and moved to Sydney with her three young children, some time after their maid, Anne Blake, was sentenced to one year in Goulburn gaol for attempted suicide.[5] According to historian Caroline Hardy, Blake, who was pregnant at the time, may have been seduced by Thomas.[6] Lockett did not, however, divorce him. Marriage and divorce were common themes in her writing.[1]

After her marriage broke down, Lockett worked as a student teacher from 1877[6] and then assistant schoolteacher at Hamilton Public School in 1880.[7] In 1884 at Camperdown Public School she received a promotion.[8] In 1888 she had been transferred to Plunkett Street Public School as mistress overseeing the female students.[9] She also tutored students sitting for matriculation examinations for university entrance.[1]

Alongside her teaching, Lockett sent articles on the Australian social and political scene which were published in The Westminster Review, The Nineteenth Century (TNC) and St James's Gazette.[10] In 1885 her article on "Female Labour in Australia" was published in TNC in the hope of attracting women migrate to Australia to work as domestic servants. It was republished in The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, described as a "well-written paper"[11] but a review in the Australian Town and Country Journal felt it would do little to lessen the servant shortage.[12]

Lockett's only novel, Judith Grant, was published posthumously by Hutchinson & Co in London. The literary critic for The Age wrote that the book "shows power which, with a little experience, might have placed her in a high position amongst English authors" and that "the gradual development of Judith's character and her change from Calvinism to a species of Pantheism are well drawn; but the hero is at best a poor creature".[13] Judith Grant was republished by the British Library in 2011 as one of the Historical Print Editions.[14]

In the Australian Woman's Mirror in 1926, "Pacla" wrote that Lockett had influenced Sir Alfred Stephen's writing (he had drafted the NSW Divorce Amendment and Extension Act), following publication of her article on the subject in The Nineteenth Century, a London literary journal. Pacla had heard Stephen say that "she had put the matter so much better than he had been able to do that he had torn up three of his own articles just ready to post to England".[15] The series, "Divorce Considered from a Woman's Point of View", was republished in Wagga Wagga Express, which acknowledged The Westminster Review as the original publisher.[16]

Death and personal

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Lockett died aged 43 on 14 November 1890 at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst[17] and she was buried at Waverley Cemetery.[18] Her niece, the poet, Mary Gilmore,[1] wrote a detailed article about the Beattie family and its connection to Wagga Wagga.[19] Gilmore also believed that it was through Lockett's activism that public school teachers were permitted to publish their writing.[20]

Selected works

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Non-fiction

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  • "Dietary for Families" (1883 series)[21]
  • "Female Labour in Australia" (1885)[11]
  • "Divorce Considered from a Woman's Point of View" (1890 series)[16][22][23][24]

Short stories

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  • "Miss Nagg's Little Affaire de Coeur" (1883 two-part story)[25]
  • "Jo's Ideal" (1884 two-part story)[26]
  • "Brother Jack and the Other Jack' (1884)[27]
  • "A Stony Creek Idyll" (1885 two-part story)[28][29]
  • "The Millwood Mystery" (1886–87 serial)[30][31]
  • "Kitty Cartwright" (1887)[10]
  • "Awfully Sudden Death" (1887 serial)[32][33]
  • "The Garston House Tragedy" (1888–89 serial)[34][35]
  • "The Case of Dr. Hilston" (1890 serial)[36][37]

Novel

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  • Judith Grant: A Novel, Hutchinson (1892, 1893);[38] British Library (2011)[14]
  • The Millwood Mystery, Corella Press (2019)[39]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Jeannie Lockett". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b "The Late Mrs. H. Beattie". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. XLVII, no. 8313. New South Wales, Australia. 21 July 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b "Obituary". The Australian Star. No. 712. New South Wales, Australia. 15 March 1890. p. 6. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Mr Thomas Lockett". Tweed Daily. Vol. VIII, no. 185. New South Wales, Australia. 8 August 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Wagga Wagga Police Court". Wagga Wagga Advertiser and Riverine Reporter. Vol. V, no. 457. New South Wales, Australia. 1 March 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ a b Maguire, Mercedes (12 December 2020). "Marriage scandal inspired woman ahead of her time". NewsBank.com. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Government Gazette Appointments and Employment". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 233. New South Wales, Australia. 22 June 1880. p. 3053. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Government Gazette Appointments and Employment". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 148. New South Wales, Australia. 1 April 1884. p. 2194. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "GOVERNMENT GAZETTE". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 15, 700. New South Wales, Australia. 18 July 1888. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ a b "The Late Mrs. Jeannie Lockett". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XLI, no. 1089. New South Wales, Australia. 29 November 1890. p. 33. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ a b "Female Labour in Australia". Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal. New South Wales, Australia. 27 February 1886. p. 2 (Supplement to the Bathurst Free Press). Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Sydney Reflections". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXII, no. 833. New South Wales, Australia. 26 December 1885. p. 29. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Anglo-Australian Notes". The Age. No. 11804. Victoria, Australia. 24 December 1892. p. 8. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ a b Lockett, Jeannie (2011). Judith Grant. British Library. ISBN 978-1240886098.
  15. ^ "Women in the World". Australian Woman's Mirror. 2 (15). 9 March 1926. Retrieved 14 July 2024 – via Trove.
  16. ^ a b Lockett, Jeannie (23 August 1890). "Divorce Considered". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. XXXI, no. 5699. New South Wales, Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Family Notices". The Daily Telegraph. No. 3551. New South Wales, Australia. 15 November 1890. p. 1. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "Family Notices". The Daily Telegraph. No. 3551. New South Wales, Australia. 15 November 1890. p. 8. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Gilmore, Mary (4 July 1933). "The Beatties of Brooklyn". Daily Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ Wilde, W. H. (1988), Courage a grace : a biography of Dame Mary Gilmore, Melbourne University Press, ISBN 978-0-522-84368-2 via Google, no page number given
  21. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (10 November 1883). "The Ladies: Dietary for Families". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXVI, no. 1218. New South Wales, Australia. p. 874. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (30 August 1890). "Divorce Considered". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. XXXI, no. 5702. New South Wales, Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (6 September 1890). "Divorce Considered". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. XXXI, no. 5706. New South Wales, Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (13 September 1890). "Divorce Considered". Wagga Wagga Express. Vol. XXXI, no. 5709. New South Wales, Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (22 December 1883). "Miss Naggs's Little Affaire de Coeur". Evening News. No. 5190. New South Wales, Australia. p. 6. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. ^ Leckett, Jeannie (25 October 1884). "Jo's Ideal". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 1268. New South Wales, Australia. p. 824. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (6 December 1884). "Brother Jack and the Other Jack". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 1274. New South Wales, Australia. p. 1136. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. ^ Lockett, Jennie (7 March 1885). "A Stony Creek Idyll". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXIX, no. 1287. New South Wales, Australia. p. 488. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  29. ^ Lockett, Jennie (14 March 1885). "A Stony Creek Idyll". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXIX, no. 1288. New South Wales, Australia. p. 543. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  30. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (13 November 1886). "The Millwood Mystery". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXIV, no. 879. New South Wales, Australia. p. 32. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (5 March 1887). "Chapter XVIII.—Two Years Afterward". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXV, no. 895. New South Wales, Australia. p. 30. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  32. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (26 September 1887). "Awfully Sudden Death". Evening News. No. 6350. New South Wales, Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  33. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (11 October 1887). "Awfully Sudden Death". Evening News. No. 6363. New South Wales, Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  34. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (1 December 1888). "The Garston House Tragedy". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 986. New South Wales, Australia. p. 14. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  35. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (25 May 1889). "The Garston House Tragedy". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXIX, no. 1011. New South Wales, Australia. p. 32. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  36. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (12 July 1890). "The Case of Dr. Hilston". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XLI, no. 1069. New South Wales, Australia. p. 31. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  37. ^ Lockett, Jeannie (11 October 1890). "Chapter XVIII". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XLI, no. 1082. New South Wales, Australia. p. 27. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  38. ^ "Judith Grant : A Novel". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  39. ^ "The Millwood Mystery". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
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