author
Barbara H. (Barbara Henry) Farquhar
1815–1875
Best known for The Pearl of Days, she was a Scottish essayist whose writing linked everyday working life with ideas about rest, education, and women's intellectual equality. Her work found a wide Victorian readership and still offers a clear window into 19th-century social and religious debate.
1 Audiobook
The pearl of days : or, The advantages of the Sabbath to the working classes
by Barbara H. (Barbara Henry) Farquhar
About the author
Born Barbara Henry Smith in 1815, she became a Scottish essayist and later wrote under the name Barbara Henry Farquhar. She is chiefly remembered for The Pearl of Days: or, The Advantages of the Sabbath to the Working Classes, an award-winning essay first published under the signature "A Labourer's Daughter."
Her writing argued for the value of a weekly day of rest for working people, and sources also describe her as a writer who supported the intellectual equality of the sexes. Another of her known works is Female Education: Its Importance, Design, and Nature Considered, which shows the range of her interest in moral and social questions.
Farquhar died on March 12, 1875. Though not widely known today, her work captures a lively part of Victorian debate about labor, religion, and education, and it helps modern readers hear a thoughtful 19th-century voice speaking directly to ordinary life.