Elise Haighton

Elise Adelaïde Haighton (28 May 1841 – 11 August 1911) was a Dutch feminist and free thinker who wrote under the pseudonyms Hroswitha and Brunhilde or Brunehilde.

Biography

Haighton was born in Amsterdam on 28 May 1841, the daughter of Richard Haighton and Antoinette Petronella Martha Finkensieper. She lived with her mother for much of her childhood, since her father died at a young age. She was one of the first women in the Netherlands to complete teacher training in accordance with the Dutch Secondary Education Act of 1863. She became a writer in 1870 and not much is known about her life before then, except that she worked as a primary school teacher for a few years.