All articles in Women in History
12th May, 2017 in Women in History
A tribute to Emily Wilding Davison
On the anniversary of the death of Emily Wilding Davison, the suffragette who lost her life through injuries sustained falling under the King’s horse on Derby Day in June 1913, it is important to reflect on her role in the women’s campaign for the right to vote, and her daring ap…
5th April, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Mildred: American WWI front-line witness
‘The Stars & Stripes are flying at my gate, and they are flying all over France. What is more they will be flying – if they are not already – over Westminster, for the first time in history.’ – Mildred Aldrich, April 8, 1917 So wrote an elated Mildred Aldrich when she could f…
2nd April, 2017 in History, True Crime, Women in History
The mysterious Princess Caraboo
On the evening of Maundy Thursday in 1817, a young woman wearing colourful Eastern dress was seen wandering through the sleepy village of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire 8 miles north of Bristol. She was wearing a black stuff gown with a muslin frill at the neck, a red and black sha…
27th March, 2017 in Military, Women in History
The 100th anniversary of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
On 28 March 1917 the first women were enrolled into the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and embarked for France three days later. Yet in 1914 the suggestion of women in the army would have been considered ridiculous by the War Office. Why in 1917 was there such a big U-turn? When wa…
24th March, 2017 in History, Women in History
Anne Boleyn and the Irish connection
Up to a couple of years ago, though very few of us knew of the law, it was an offence punishable by death for any person in Ireland to speak against or in any way to criticize the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Luckily, our president, Michael D. Higgins, has now rep…
21st March, 2017 in History, Women in History
Pocahontas: The English connection
The Native American princess, associated with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, is famously said to have intervened to save the life of pioneer Captain John Smith. Later captured by the English during Anglo-Indian hostilities in 1613, she was held for ransom but dur…
13th March, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Odette: World War Two’s darling spy?
Born in Amiens as Odette Marie Celine Brailly she assumed a variety of names during the course of her war service. Yet she was universally known to both the British and French public in the post-war years simply as Odette. At a time when it was rare for a woman to step out of the…
13th February, 2017 in Natural World, Society & Culture, Women in History
Birds of a feather: The female founders of the RSPB
Today, the RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity and the largest wildlife conservation charity in Europe. But what many people do not know is that it started life over 125 years ago thanks to the courage and determination of two Victorian women – Emily William…
6th February, 2017 in History, Women in History
The moment Princess Elizabeth became queen
After bidding farewell to Elizabeth and Philip at London Airport on 31 January, the king, queen and Princess Margaret returned to Sandringham. Along with a team of nannies, they were to care for Charles and Anne, while the children’s parents were on tour. Five days later, on 5 Fe…
20th January, 2017 in Entertainment, Women in History
Audrey Hepburn: Life beyond Tiffany’s
Look back at the fashion and film of the 1960s and there is one waif-like, pixie-featured figure that will peer back at you from behind large dark glasses, beneath a wondrous hat and adorned in impeccable clothes. Audrey Hepburn has long since been an international icon of fashio…
13th January, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Queen Elizabeth I: A brief history
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was born at Greenwich on 7 September 1533, a huge disappointment to her parents, who longed only for a boy. When her mother was executed three years later the little princess was banished from court as an unwanted bastard, but re…
16th December, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
10 things you didn’t know about Emily Brontë
For most households the week before Christmas is a joyous one filled with happiness and anticipation, but it was rather different for one household on the western edge of Yorkshire in December 1848. Emily Jane Brontë died from tuberculosis on 19 December of that year, leaving jus…