Today, we celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day (IWD), so it seems appropriate to provide some historical context. International Women’s Day has its origins amongst the socialist and communist parties campaigning for rights for the working-class at the beginning…
Category: Women’s History
Women’s History Month: ‘Red Ellen’, Ellen Wilkinson, 1891 – 1947
Ellen Wilkinson was a key radical figure in British socialism and feminism of the early and mid-20th century, a woman of idealism, pragmatism, energy and passion who was involved in many of the major struggles of the period. Born in…
Women’s History Month: S. Margery Fry (1874-1958) ‘Women Champion of the Underdog’
Margery Fry was born on 11th March 1874 into a prominent and well-connected Quaker family. She was the eighth child of Edward and Mariabella Fry, whose family was later completed by the birth of Margery’s younger sister, Ruth. Margery’s father…
Women’s History Month: Caroline Herschel
On 5 March 1777 Caroline Herschel made her first appearance as a professional singer (her brother William conducting), at the Upper Assembly Rooms at Bath in Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabeus.This information comes from Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles…
Women’s History Month: The story of Josephine Kearney (1876-1957).
Jessie Street National Women’s Library Ultimo Sydney Australia is a specialist library which collects preserves and promotes the literary and cultural heritage of Australian women. It is unique resource established in 1989 and named in honour of the well-known activist…
Women’s History Month: Women in 19th century colonial Hong Kong.
The colonial authorities of nineteenth century Hong Kong believed that the vast majority of the Chinese women residing in the colony were prostitutes. For example, in 1878 Charles May, a member of the colonial government, testified to an inquiry into…
Women’s History Month: Nanna Conti (1881-1951)
Nanna Conti was a leading German midwife during the Nazi era. She was born on 4 April 1881 in Uelzen near Hanover. Her father, Dr. Carl Eugen Pauli (1839-1901), worked as headmaster of the local boys’ secondary school. Little is…
Women’s History Month: Lady Colin Campbell (1857-1911)
Lady Colin Campbell became the centre of media attention in 1886 when her husband accused her of adultery with a Duke, a general, a doctor and a fire-chief. The subsequent divorce trial was one of the longest in English legal…
LGBT History Month: Bessie Craigmyle (1863-1933)
On 27 February 1933, Bessie Craigmyle was sitting by her fireside reading a newspaper. Two days earlier she had observed the forty sixth anniversary of the death of “the friend of her life” Maggie Dale. Possibly she dozed off; at…