The man who heard her voice

The Fawcetts by Ford Madox Brown

This 1872 double portrait by Ford Madox Brown perfectly depicts the close and intertwined relationship of Henry and Millicent Fawcett.

Born in 1833, Henry was a gifted mathematician when at the age of 25 he was blinded in a shooting accident. Undeterred, he continued his studies focussing on ecconomics and became Professor of Political Ecconomy at Cambridge at the age of thirty.

Henry Fawcett was a radical thinker, an early proponent of both Darwin’s theory of evolution and a campaigner for women’s suffrage. This lead to a parallel career in politics. After numerous defeats he was eventually elected as a Member of Parliament in Brighton on behalf of the Liberal Party in 1865 and eventually appointed as Postmaster General under the Gladstone administration.

Having been rejected by Elizabeth Garrett, Henry turned his attention and affection to her sister, Millicent. By his own account, he heard her voice and was entranced. They were married in 1867 and had a successful and happy marriage until Henry’s untimely death from pleurisy at the age of 51.