The Modern Venus Competition In February 1924, an unusual beauty contest took place in London to promote a new film called The Temple of Venus. The Modern Venus Competition set out to find the British woman whose figure best matched…
Category: Blog
The Women’s History Network blog
A Citizenship Crisis: Anglo-German Marriages in First World War London – Lucy Blackburn
The 1870 Naturalisation Act transferred a woman’s right of nationality to their husband’s upon marriage. Thus, in terms of Anglo-German marriages, a British woman became German and a German woman became British. This issue had profound consequences during World War…
27th April 2022: Women’s History Month – Homes of Women Writers Lunchtime Roundtable
For the second of our special Women’s History Month seminars, we invite you to join us for a roundtable session with several key figures from museums and collections centred around celebrated women writers. We’ll be sitting down with Sally Jastrzebski-Lloyd,…
Going Round the Daily Mirror Shopping Clock – Mary Feerick
Towards the end of my teaching career I knew I had become part of History. Not surprisingly I had to halt videos of the Poll Tax Demonstrations to give an eyewitness account that varied from Andrew Marr’s narrative. However it…
Helen Cox: A pioneering accountant – Lizzie Broadbent
Increasing socio-economic diversity in the professional services sectors is currently a hot topic. In November 2020, a City of London socio-economic diversity taskforce was launched and last year two of the Big Four accountancy firms published firm-wide socioeconomic pay gaps,…
Uncovering sexual assault and harassment in an early nineteenth-century letter – by Natalie Hanley-Smith
Harriet Ponsonby, Countess Bessborough (1761-1821), is perhaps best-known today for being the younger sister of the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish (1757-1806). Although not as famous as her sister, Bessborough was a fascinating woman in her own right. As…
Sex and the City: Gender and the City of London – Emma Barrett
While discussing her career trajectory, an oral history participant disclosed her cancer diagnosis. Thrown, I said I was sorry. Her reply was shocking: ‘Don’t be, in many ways it was a good thing…it made me get off the hamster’s wheel’.…
“Bad” Breadwinners: The Necessity for a Lodger(s) in the Working-Class Homes of Victorian England – Vicky Holmes
Gathering a thousand plus newspaper reports of coroners’ inquests regarding lodgers and the households who took them in, I have been able to examine many aspects of this domestic arrangement. I have been able to ascertain a broad spectrum of…
Women accessing justice in early modern Scotland – Rebecca Mason
When Jonet Pollock brought suit before Glasgow’s commissary court in 1694, she listed a string of accusations and complaints against her ex-partner, William Jamieson. In her complaint, Jonet insisted that William had refused to pay an outstanding debt due to…