All articles in Women in History
5th May, 2021 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture, Women in History
Josephine Butler: The Victorian feminist who campaigned for the rights of prostitutes
Josephine Butler was once described as ‘the most distinguished Englishwoman of the 19th-Century’. Born in 1828, she was the leader of a national women’s political campaign – one of the very first. As a woman, she defied Victorian convention by becoming involved in politics….
5th May, 2021 in History, Women in History
Portrait of a queen: Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour
Within 24 hours in May 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed and Jane Seymour was betrothed. King Henry VIII was the catalyst in these two inextricably linked events. Portraits of Henry have remained fixed in the nation’s consciousness for the past 500 years, but of the queens, there ar…
19th March, 2021 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Ten things you may not know about Princess Mary
If ever a member of the Royal Family has been underestimated, then it is Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. Few people are aware of the immense amount of work she undertook in her public life and her importance in the history of the Royal Family during the tw…
17th March, 2021 in History, Society & Culture, Women in History
A brief history of women in power
Historically, the most common way for a woman to become a ruler was as a regent. There were, however, many cases where the regent decided to stay in power. A prime example is Empress Wu Zetian who, as consort, ruled over China’s Tang Dynasty. She married Emperor Gaozong in 655; h…
4th November, 2020 in Society & Culture, Transport & Industry, Women in History
Married to a coal miner
Life was difficult for women from the coalfields during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Those girls who were daughters of miners understood some of the difficulties, but it was still their ambition to marry into the industry and take on the responsibility for looking…
21st July, 2020 in History, Society & Culture, Women in History
The life of an anchoress
The anchorite, or religious recluse, has been a part of Christian religious life since its early days. They lived solitary lives out in the desert – indeed, these solitaries became collectively known as the Desert Fathers. In Ireland the hermits often made their homes in rough st…
27th March, 2020 in Entertainment, Women in History
Diana Dors: Mink and millions?
Diana Dors had a background of home stability and comfort. As the only child of financially stable parents much of her upbringing was cosseted and secure. Although Diana could be considered indulged, she was still a female child being raised in an age of male breadwinners and fem…
18th March, 2020 in Women in History
THP’s favourite women in history
March marks Women’s History Month and, while we’re proud to promote the roles women have played throughout the history of the world all year round here at The History Press, we’re celebrating the month by sharing some of the women from history we most admire… Katherine Johnson Ka…
30th January, 2020 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Ask the author: Julia Abel Smith on Lady Augusta Murray
Prince Augustus Frederick, George III’s sixth son, caused a royal scandal when he married Lady Augusta Murray in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Upon the couple’s eventual split, Augusta went from socialite to social outcast and has been largely forgotten by histor…
29th January, 2020 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
The forbidden marriage of Lady Augusta Murray
In the evening of 4 April 1793, preparations were being made for a clandestine ceremony in Rome. The wedding of the son of the King of England to the daughter of the Governor of the Bahamas would not only be concealed, it would also be illegal. That night His Royal Highness Princ…
28th January, 2020 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture, Women in History
Flirting with fascism: Lady Houston and Oswald Mosley
In the mid-1930s Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was going from strength to strength and in 1934 it had 40,000 members. Those who were tired of the economic and political stagnation of interwar Britain were attracted by Mosley’s nationalistic messages such as ‘Our first…
23rd January, 2020 in Aviation, Women in History
Beatrice ‘Tilly’ Shilling: Celebrated aeronautical and motorcycle engineer
Born at Waterlooville in Hampshire to master butcher Henry Shilling and his wife Annie, Tilly and her three sisters attended the high school for girls in Dorking. Already unorthodox, by the age of 15 she knew she wanted to be an engineer and already owned a second hand motorcycle…