The sight of Jeannette Washington emerging from some tenement in Pittsburgh’s Lower Hill District was common. She had been a fixture in the Hill for half a century, tirelessly working to improve health in the Black community, prevent unnecessary deaths…
Image: https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/2/collection/913701/the-unwelcome-visitor-or-the-quaker-in-a-quake In 1721 in the parish of Llangollen, a ‘base’ infant named William was baptised. His parents were Simon Rogers and Elizabeth Roberts. Two years later, Elizabeth bore a second child fathered by Simon. The child was named Robert,…
Tahaney Alghrani School’s Liaison Officer This year we challenged the students to create a poster which illustrates one of two themes: Extraordinary women working for today and tomorrow. Heroines who have made an impact locally, nationally or internationally in the past…
In 2020 I wrote a piece for the WHN blog about the biography I’m not writing. In ‘Giants and Geniuses’ https://womenshistorynetwork.org/giants-and-geniuses-by-lucienne-boyce/ I explained my decision not to write about someone very famous, or someone who’s described as a ‘giant’ or…
The new look Summer 2021 edition issue of Women’s History Today is now available for purchase. The digital version of this edition is available free to all members – see details below.
In the summer of 1922, Winifred Coombe Tennant (1874-1956) was selected as a delegate to the Third Assembly of the League of Nations, making her the first woman to ever represent Britain at this international organisation. In this pioneering role,…
Approximately 70,000 Jewish immigrants arrived in Britain fleeing Nazi persecution from 1933 until the outbreak of the Second World War. 20,000 of those refugees were women who were allowed entry under domestic permits: there were also an unknown amount who…
Women who produced ‘bastard’ children during the Civil War and Interregnum period were often depicted, within both court and popular literature, as ‘lewd women’ in opposition to patriarchally-defined models of the ‘chaste maid’ or legitimate wife. Yet in certain circumstances,…
Carved onto the gravestone of Baroness Mary Vetsera in Heiligenkreuz, this Bible verse provides a sobering outlook on her short life. In the early hours of the 30th of January 1889, seventeen year old Mary was shot – willingly –…