Mary Hays

Biography

Mary Hays was a writer who steadfastly championed the cause of women’s intellectual liberty, producing novels and essays that defended the right of women to education, to independence, and to moral agency. A close friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, she carried forward the radical currents of her time in works such as "Memoirs of Emma Courtney," which challenged the limitations placed upon female minds.

Her later life was touched by hardship, yet she maintained hope in the future, inspiring succeeding generations of women to assert their dignity and to seek truth with courage, a legacy honoured at Abney Park Cemetery.