Isabel Spearman was born in Leicestershire, England in 1849 and was known as a typical farm hand. A librarian at the University of Leicestershire, she managed to secure a position in the British Museum after eloping with her husband. Although this may have seemed like the height of vanity for an American-born woman, it was in fact a strategic move on her part, since she had to demonstrate her American citizenship for the duration of their marriage. Although it is not clear how she maintained her citizenship, it is known that she lived and worked in England long before she returned to the States to marry her husband. She never set foot in the United States but managed to acquire a naturalization card in 1866, which allowed her to live and work legally in the United States under the guarantee of the Union Flag.
After the dissolution of her marriage, she decided to change careers and pursue a career in journalism, traveling, and the writing of novels. Although these pursuits did not earn her the position she desired or the citizenship papers needed to change her status, nor did it help to secure her financial needs, it is clear that her husband’s citizenship status played a role in her decision to seek out a different career path and to leave her husband. Had she remained married to a man of the same nationality, even if he was American, it is quite possible that her career advancement would have been much greater. Her decision to leave her husband to pursue a new profession certainly seems to undercut her claim that her departure was motivated by anything else other than a desire to be free of her marital obligations.
Although some people may view her status as a stepping stone to a successful and prosperous life, some will take issue with her account of their marriage. As it turns out, her status as an American is actually the main reason that she ended up in a British prison after the war. At the time of their separation, Spearman had already been refused admittance to an American college by Harvard University because of her nationality. In response, she and her husband both made the arduous journey over the pond in order to attend the University of Cambridge in England. Once there, though, her citizenship papers were quickly taken away, and she was later taken back to America where she was accused of being an “enemy alien” by the US Army.