Anna Wheeler (author)

Anna Wheeler
Bornc. 1780
Died7 May 1848(1848-05-07) (aged 67–68)
Camden, London, England
NationalityAnglo-Irish
Occupation(s)Writer and supporter of women's rights
Spouse
Francis Massey Wheeler
(m. 1795; sep. 1807)
ChildrenRosina Bulwer Lytton

Anna Wheeler (c. 1780 – 1848), also known by her maiden name of Anna Doyle, was an Irish-born British writer and advocate of political rights for women and the benefits of contraception. She married Francis Massey Wheeler when she was "about 16" and he was "about 19", although the year is not known. They separated twelve years later. After his death she supplemented her income by translating the works of French philosophers.

She was an acquaintance of Robert Owen, Jeremy Bentham, and Frances Wright. The philosopher William Thompson described his book Appeal of One Half of the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain them in Political, and Hence in Civil and Domestic, Slavery as the "joint property" of himself and her.

A staunch advocate of political rights for women and equal opportunities in education, she was friendly with French feminists and socialists.