DAY 63: Victorian Amazons

Toxophilia.
Surprisingly, it doesn't refer to a love of toxins. Rather, it means love of archery. And Victorian women who practiced archery were known as Toxophiliates.

Archery was all the rage at Newport during the Gilded Age, with tournaments for the ladies that rivaled polo matches among the men. From the depictions of the sport, I suspect men found the idea of women with bows in their hands to be immensely sexy--as though Diana the Huntress was practicing her aim while they looked on, fingering the diamond-and-gold arrow brooches that were awarded to the winners.

But what else were Gilded Girls allowed to attempt in the male-dominated world of sport? I've already mentioned riding, hunting and sailing--all admissible for women. In the summer months, as the Victorian era came to a close, women played golf or the more sedate croquet; dashed after tennis balls on grass lawns; enjoyed badminton, if tennis was beyond the capacity of their corsets; and discovered the daring new pastime of bicycling.

Randolph Churchill's youngest sister, Sarah Spencer-Churchill, was a demon cyclist known for spending all her time pedaling around Grosvenor Square as a debutante of eighteen, instead of riding demurely in Rotten Row. Consuelo Vanderbilt loved to cycle as well, although the summer she was eighteen she pedaled around Bar Harbor, Maine. Consuelo recalls speeding past her overly-protective mother, Alva, to hear a declaration of love and contract a secret engagement with polo-playing Winthrop Rutherford, in the hurried moments before Mamma caught up with them. The engagement was destined to failure, but what did Consuelo wear in that breathless moment? Here's a cycling costume, complete with shocking bloomers, from the period. Notice the stout and practical boots. Jennie Churchill bicycled in Maine that same summer of 1894, and undoubtedly wore the correct clothes to do it.



Women who played tennis did not necessarily need a special costume, but some found it practical to wear the simplest possible bustle. High collars and long sleeves prevented the coarsening effect of suntan.





And last but not least, there were even women who exercised indoors, in costumes designed for the purpose. Note the fencing class in session below. If a girl with a bow was considered sexy, a girl with a sword must be doubly so...

For more images from THAT CHURCHILL WOMAN, visit the  Pinterest board behind the novel.