Caroline Dexter

Caroline Dexter (; 6 January 1819 – 19 August 1884), later known as Caroline Lynch, was an English-Australian dress reformer, writer, and feminist.

Early life Dexter was born Caroline Harper in Nottingham, England on 6 January 1819, in. Her parents were Mary Harper née Simson, and Richard Harper, a watch maker and jeweller. She was educated privately in England and Paris, where she became good friends with novelist George Sand. In 1843, in Nottingham, she married the painter, William Dexter, who later migrated to Sydney, Australia aboard the Bank of England in 1852. Dexter followed in 1855 aboard the Marie Gabrielle.

Career In Sydney, Dexter and William opened and ran a Gallery of Arts and School of Design, where Dexter was a teacher. However, this soon failed as a venture. They subsequently moved to Gippsland in 1856. While in Gippsland she wrote Ladies Almanack: The Southern Cross or Australian Album and New Years Gift. When it was published in 1858 it was the first ladies' almanack published in the colonies. Soon after the book was complete Dexter separated from William, who moved back to Sydney, while she moved to Melbourne. Her continued support for dress reform caused controversy in the Sydney Morning Herald. Nonetheless, she ran an Institute of Hygiene and promoted divided skirts for women and the abolition of corsets in Melbourne.

'Low Tide at Boulogne', by Richard Parkes Bonington, was part of Dexter and Lynch's art collection.Dexter met Harriet Clisby through their shared interests in social reform and feminism. Together in 1861 they produced the first all-women publication called the Interpreter which released two issues.

Death Dexter died on 19 August 1884, in North Brighton at her residence 'Bombala', aged 65.

Legacy

Dexter Street in the Canberra suburb Cook is named in her honour. A book about William and Caroline, Folie A Deux: William and Caroline Dexter in Colonial Australia, was written by Patrick Morgan in 1999.