All articles in Women in History
5th February, 2018 in History, Military, Women in History
Women’s war work and 1918’s Representation of the People Act
By the end of World War I about one million more women were at work than had been in the summer of 1914. Most of them had taken jobs previously done by men who were in the armed forces. The large number of working-class women was nothing new; such women had always gone out to wor…
22nd January, 2018 in History, Women in History
End of an era: The death of Queen Victoria
As the January mist enveloped Osborne House, a short line of mourners passed silently through the grounds towards Queen Victoria’s private apartments. In the corridor outside her rooms a tall Indian man stood alone. It was Abdul Karim, the Queen’s Indian Munshi or teacher. He had…
12th January, 2018 in Local & Family History, Society & Culture, Women in History
How militant were women’s suffrage campaigners in Gloucestershire?
February 6 1918 was a landmark date for all those who had fought for women’s parliamentary votes. On that day, an Act of Parliament gave most women over the age of 30 the right to vote. A huge milestone but, given that all men over 21 were enfranchised at the same time, not as hu…
24th November, 2017 in Society & Culture, Women in History
Lily Maxwell: The first woman to vote
Women in Britain aged over 30 got the vote in 1918, but they weren’t the first women to vote in Britain. Political history is often dominated by characters who have certain things in common; they are well-connected, well-educated, wealthy. Lily Maxwell was none of thes…
21st November, 2017 in Women in History
Women in STEM: From unacknowledged helpers to feted pioneers
It would be completely wrong to say that women have not participated much in science historically or that Caroline Herschel was among the first. A much truer claim would be to say that women have always participated in STEM (science, technology, engineering an…
25th October, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Transport & Industry, Women in History
The Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce’s quest for more horsepower
From a somewhat privileged background, Mildred – known in later life as the Hon. Mrs. Victor Bruce, the first woman to fly solo from the UK to Japan – was given her first pony at the age of six. The beast was a Shetland, appropriately named ‘Dinky’; he was used to pull a ‘g…
24th October, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Tsar-crossed lovers? The truth about Nicholas II and ‘Matilda’
In 2017 controversy has erupted in Russia over a new film. Matilda, directed by Aleksei Uchitel, dealt with the love affair between the future Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, and the young Polish ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska (Matilda Kshesinskaya) of the Imperial Ball…
11th October, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture, Women in History
Elizabeth Fry: Saint of prison reform
‘We long to burn her alive’, wrote the Reverend Sydney Smith in 1821 of Elizabeth Fry. ‘Examples of living virtue disturb our repose and give birth to distressing comparisons.’ Even in her lifetime there was a daunting purity about Elizabeth Fry, which chilled her own sisters and…
18th September, 2017 in History, Women in History
Catherine of Aragon’s arrival in England
On 27 September 1501, fifteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon bid farewell to her beloved Spain and boarded a ship from Laredo bound for England and the beginning of a new life. After more than a decade of marriage negotiations, Catherine was to marry Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales,…
5th September, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s last love
Catherine, William and Anne Parr were born within a short four-year span, between the winters of 1511-12 and 1515-16. Close in age, they became emotionally close to each other as children, a bond no doubt strengthened by the early loss of their father. As adults, they continued t…
21st August, 2017 in History, Local & Family History, Women in History
When Henry VIII met the Holy Maid of Kent
On Monday 20 April 1534, a twenty-eight-year-old Benedictine nun was taken from her cell in the Tower of London, stripped of her religious habit and bound hand and foot to a hurdle. She was dragged behind a horse for five miles through London’s filthy streets to Tyburn, where she…
7th August, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Entertainment, Women in History
Dorothy Squires’ love: Roger Moore
When letters, written in Italian landed on Dorothy Squires’ doormat, it signalled that her life was about to change forever. Her then husband, Roger Moore of ‘007’ fame, had been filming in Rome but unbeknown to Dorothy filming had finished and he was back in the country. Dot had…