During the UK’s second national lockdown I underwent the process of researching and writing my dissertation from the comfort of my damp ridden university bedroom. During this period of restriction and, what at times felt like voluntary home arrest, I…
Category: Blog
The Women’s History Network blog
Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy comes home to Congleton – Maureen Wright
The sun shone down on the town of Congleton, Cheshire, on International Women’s Day, 2022. That was the date chosen by Elizabeth’s Group, of which I am Patron, to unveil the magnificent life-size statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy (1833-1918), Victorian…
Sarah Sophia Banks’ tokens and collecting as a methodology – Kerry Love
I study late Georgian (early nineteenth century) material culture that is broadly ‘political’ in nature: referencing an event, campaign, or political person and looking at how individuals used them to engage with political ideas. One group of sources that I…
Kathlyn Oliver: Sexual Identities, Loneliness and The Link – Iona Tytler
Kathlyn Oliver is best known for her suffrage activism and advocacy for the rights of domestic workers. Oliver originally came from a middle-class background, with a father in the civil service.[1] However, after his death Oliver entered employment as a…
First, we Eat a Bagel, then, we Smash the Patriarchy: Queer Jewish Women in Late Twentieth Century Britain – Mie Jensen
In my work on non-heterosexual Jewish women’s lived experiences and practices in contemporary England and Israel, I have been struck by the many stories that have referenced involvement with NGOs and activism (especially feminist, LGBTQ+, and climate change groups). To…
Breaking the Glass Chamber: Women, Politics and Parliament 1945-1997 September 15-17th at Queen Mary University of London
Registration is now open for this exciting conference being held at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London, from the 15-17 September 2022. See the full programme here and register here. 2022 marks a series of historic anniversaries…
6th July 2022: Academic Fellowship Celebration – Independent Research Fellows’ Roundtable
Don’t miss the first of two seminars celebrating the Women’s History Network’s Academic Fellows! Our WHN Independent Research Fellows 2021/2022 will be speaking about their seminal work and research, ranging from the groundbreaking activism of British South Asian women in…
George I’s Forgotten Consort: Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal
In 1720, leading politician Robert Walpole confided in his colleague Earl Cowper that he “did everything” by the Duchess of Kendal and that she was “in effect as much Queen of England as ever any was.”[i] The Duchess was Melusine…
‘But why this here and now only when I loved I knew’: Remembering Kathleen Raine (1908-2003)
‘If hate were love, if love were hate, It could not make our tale untold…’[1] Few poets have the honour of providing the title for an international bestseller. Even fewer watch the words they wrote grace subsequent film posters and…