All articles in Women in History
14th February, 2019 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture, Women in History
The deb of 1930: Margaret Whigham enters society
As with every rite of passage in Margaret Whigham’s young life, she strove to be the first of her contemporaries to officially come out into society. Headstrong, wilful and with disregard for her parents’ authority, she wrote in her memoirs: ‘My mother must have realised there wa…
18th January, 2019 in Entertainment, Women in History
Mary, Queen of Scots in seven actresses
Scotland has a long and turbulent royal history, but no one invites fascination and speculation quite as much as Mary, Queen of Scots. Born in Linlithgow Palace on 8 December 1542 and pronounced queen six days later when her father, James VI, died with no male heirs, Mary’s life…
18th January, 2019 in Biography & Memoir, Sport, Women in History
Mercedes Gleitze: Britain’s empowering swimming heroine
Try to imagine living in a period when young women, especially those born into the working classes, were locked into the age-old traditional role of having first to find a husband, and then having to work exclusively in the home – cleaning, cooking and bringing up children. The b…
14th January, 2019 in Local & Family History, Transport & Industry, Women in History
Women of the Durham Coalfields
Back in 1984, when I began tracing my own family story, there was excitement in learning to use census records to discover where my ancestors were living. There was also satisfaction in locating them in baptisms, marriages and burials in parish records. I soon realised however th…
14th January, 2019 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Vera Eriksen: The Second World War’s most enigmatic spy
In September 1940 a beautiful young woman arrived by sea plane and rubber dinghy on the shores of Scotland accompanied by two men. It was to be yet another episode in the Germans’ attempt to penetrate British defences and infiltrate spies into the country. Of all the female spies…
7th January, 2019 in History, Women in History
Ask the author: Conor Byrne on Katherine Howard
Henry VIII’s fifth and youngest queen, Katherine Howard, has long been the victim of assumption. While the guilt of her predecessor and cousin, Anne Boleyn, continues to be debated, Katherine has been labelled as a silly girl who should have known better. Unsatisfied with this su…
12th December, 2018 in History, Society & Culture, Women in History
The 1918 General Election
The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday 14 December 1918. Not only was it the first general election to include all eligible voters of the U…
1st November, 2018 in Military, Women in History
A first act of remembrance: The Red Cross Pearls
The Red Cross Pearl Appeal came to completion at the same time as the Armistice in 1918. The auction of the 41 necklaces made of donated pearls at Christie’s was one of the first post-war acts of remembrance. Although there was great relief that the fighting was over there were m…
10th October, 2018 in Military, Society & Culture, Women in History
World War One: Fashion Revolution
A century seems a long time back in history, but for those enduring the four years of the Great War it was lived as present tense – a daily reality. This was not a history lesson or a nostalgic retrospective, it was immediate and modern. Clothes of the wa…
1st October, 2018 in Entertainment, Women in History
Mata Hari: The enduring fantasy
Mata Hari is a name that still resonates over 100 years after her execution for espionage. But why do we find female spies in general and Mata Hari in particular so fascinating? Why should we remember a woman who betrayed her adopted country, a self-proclaimed international woman…
7th September, 2018 in Military, Women in History
The history of the Auxiliary Territorial Service
The history of the Auxiliary Territorial Service – the ATS – really began in the middle of the First World War. As early as 1916, in the face of heavy casualties on the French battlefields, the British government was forced to acknowledge that women were needed in the army to tak…
18th July, 2018 in History, Women in History
Margaret Tudor: English princess, Scottish queen
On 8 August 1503 Princess Margaret Tudor of England married King James IV of Scotland in Holyrood Abbey, becoming Queen of Scots and providing the Scottish throne with an heir, King James V. She would marry twice more before her death in 1541 and, like her ill-fated granddaughter…