Education
Born in South London, Jane obtained a degree in English Literature and Music from the University of Roehampton in 1987, and followed with an MA in Women's Writing at Essex University in 1989. Her PhD was obtained in 1995 at Birkbeck College, London, her subject being the Victorian novelist and essayist known as Ouida (1839-1908).
Teaching career
Jane taught in the English Literature Department at Kingston University from 1999 to 2019. She was Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature, teaching undergraduates and graduates. She examined PhD theses at a range of institutions, and was an external examiner at Roehampton University.
She also taught at Michigan State University in the United States.
Biographies and essays
Biographies and essays
Biographies and essays
Jane's first major biographical work was that of Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (2001). She also co-authored five volumes of material, Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns (2003). She was subsequently commissioned to write a biography of Katherine O'Shea, an English woman from a political family whose relationship with Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell led to a widely publicised divorce in 1890 and his political downfall. Kitty O'Shea was published in 2005. She also edited two collections of essays concerning the novelist and essayist Ouida, Life Writing: The Spirit of the Age and the State of the Art (2009); and Ouida and Popular Culture (2013), contributing a chapter to both.
Chapters and articles
Biographies and essays
Biographies and essays
In addition to her major books, Jane has contributed some thirteen chapters to books and on-line resources on Ouida, Josephine Butler and Kitty O'Shea; and five refereed articles/reviews on the same topics.
Victorian child prostitution
Jane's research into Josephine Butler lead her to Butler's work on child trafficking and prostitution in late-Victorian Britain.
She is currently working on a book on sexual crimes against girls heard at the Old Bailey in the 1880s.
Doulton women artists
For over a decade Jane has collected Doulton Lambeth ceramics, particularly pieces by the 'lady artists', and has uncovered the strong connection between these women and West Norwood Cemetery.
The Victorians and death
The Victorians and death
The Victorians and death
Jane's interest in social history extends to Victorian funerary practices and London's 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries. She is the Chair of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery, one of the seven, where she is a leading researcher.
Personal
The Victorians and death
The Victorians and death
Jane has a life-long interest in Victorian culture. She is a singer, pianist and ballet dancer. She has built the Jordan Collection of ceramics decorated by the lady artists of Henry Doulton's Lambeth works.
She continues to live in South London.