Bailey, VictorSchofield, AnnAnderson, Christine Aliisa2009-05-082009-05-082008-01-012008http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:10060https://hdl.handle.net/1808/4535As more middle-class women began to participate in the public life of London more frequently between 1890 and 1914, middle-class women's identity shifted from the "Angel-in-the-House" to the "New Woman" to the "Angel-in-the-City," and to ultimately the "Modern Woman." This dissertation explores these stages of transition and contemporaries' reactions as middle-class women redefined themselves within the modern city. I argue that their experiences working and living within the cultural milieu of London shaped a modern femininity that incorporated a political consciousness and forming a gendered and political identity. Female suffragists attempted to re-imagine Britain's public, social, political and cultural institutions as middle-class, woman-centered and feminist spaces, and the Actresses' Franchise League succeeded in creating this space in the design of the Woman's Theatre in 1913.352 pagesENThis item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.Europe--historyWomen's studiesTheaterActressBritainFemininityModernityPerformancePoliticsDissertationopenAccess