Originally posted on Instagram on 14th July 2023
July 14th is Black Country Day so I just had to select as many women from my home region as Instagram slideshow posts allow to celebrate!
Lady Wulfrun (c.935-c.1005)
Wulfrun was a noblewoman and landowner who held significant estates in Staffordshire. She was born in the kingdom of Mercia, an area which is now known as the English Midlands; the exact place is unknown, but she had a close connection with Tamworth, then the centre of royal power in Mercia. According to the ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’, she was kidnapped by Vikings when they seized the fort at Tamworth, probably in order to hold her for ransom.
In a charter dated 985, Wulfrun was granted ten hides of land where she endowed a collegiate church in 994 – this was to become known as Wolvrenehamptonia (Wulfrun’s heaton), presently called the city of Wolverhampton.
Wulfrun probably lived until the age of 70, dying in 1005. It has been suggested that she died and was buried in Tamworth.
Patience Round (1831-1934)
While perhaps not as ‘accomplished’ as some of the other women on here, it would be remiss of me not to include Patience Round. She spent her life making chain as an outworker in Cradley Heath and it was work she was incredibly proud of.
When Mary Macarthur travelled to the Black Country to aid the women chainmakers, Patience travelled outside of Cradley Heath for the first time in her life to hear Macarthur speak. The strike that followed was probably one of the most exciting moments of her life. She said: “These are wonderful times. I never thought that I should live to assert the rights of women. It has been the week of my life.”
Patience was 79 at the time of the strike, making her the oldest of the women chainmakers. She had been in the industry since she was 12. She died at the age of 103 and her funeral was performed for free.
Sara Wells Page (1855-1943)
Sara Wells Page was born in Moxley, a village in the borough of Walsall. Her grandfather was a wealthy Ironmaster and her father was a successful timber merchant, so when both of Sara’s parents died in the 1870s, they left a considerable fortune for their nine children. This allowed them independent lives, evident through Sara in that she never married and had a flourishing career as a portrait and figurative painter.
She studied drawing first at the Wolverhampton School of Art before travelling to Italy in 1891. She returned a year later and exhibited her work at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. Sara eventually settled in a wealthy Paris suburb where she kept her own studio.
She returned to England in 1934 and spent her last years in Dorset with her sister, Elizabeth, where she died aged 87/88.
Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)
Evelyn Underhill acquired her curiosity for mysticism at an early age, having experienced “the ‘still desert’ of the mystic—in which there was no multiplicity nor need of explanation”. Neither her parents nor her Protestant husband, with whom she grew up, shared her interest in the spiritual; indeed, her husband actively tried to discourage her from converting to Catholicism (Evelyn had previously been agnostic).
However, this did not stop her and she became prominent in the Anglican Church for her writings, publishing over 30 books. Evelyn was the first woman to lecture the clergy in the Church of England and the first woman to conduct official spiritual retreats for the church. She was well read and knowledgeable, and received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Aberdeen University.
She died on 15th June 1941, aged 65.
Evaline Hilda Burkitt (1876-1955)
Evaline Hilda Burkitt was not the only woman in her family to be involved in the fight for women’s emancipation. She and her siblings were born in Wolverhampton and they were all, including the girls, well-educated. Evaline lived with her wealthy paternal grandparents until she was 25, then moved in with her elder sister, Christobel, in Birmingham. Evaline, Christobel, and another sister, Lillian, all became involved in the WSPU and all were arrested at various points.
Evaline was arrested four times in 1909 alone, once for throwing a stone at Asquith’s train as it pulled out of Birmingham New Street. She was force-fed 292 times between 1909 and 1914, repeatedly being released under the Cat and Mouse Act. She received the Hunger Strike Medal ‘for Valour’. Evaline was the last suffragette to be force-fed in Holloway Prison.
She died on 7th March 1955, aged 78.
Maggie Teyte (1888-1976)
Margaret ‘Maggie’ Tate was born in Wolverhampton on 17th April 1888. Her parents were both amateur musicians and her brother, James, became a composer, so it is fair to say that music ran in the family. The family moved to London when Maggie was ten and she was later able to study at the Royal School of Music.
She moved to Paris in 1903 and made her first public appearance in 1906. She eventually changed her surname from Tate to Teyte, finding it was often mispronounced in Paris. She studied with Debussy himself and was the only singer ever to be accompanied by him on piano with an orchestra in public.
Maggie travelled around the United States from 1911-1919, then returned to Britain. She had some difficulties reviving her career after going into semi-retirement from 1921-30 but she managed, performing until 1956. She taught for the last twenty years of her life, dying on 26th May 1976, aged 88.
Gwen Berryman (1906-1983)
Gwen was born in Wolverhampton in 1906 and showed talents for music at a young age. She studied at the Birmingham School of Music and then the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded a gold medal for singing. Her West End stage debut took place in 1932, but Gwen later returned to the Midlands to run a dress shop.
During the Second World War, she made a return to performing, appearing in concert parties put on to entertain armed forces in the Midlands. She then joined the Wolverhampton Repertory Theatre and made numerous radio appearances at the end of the 1940s, which led to her casting as Doris Archer in the new radio drama series ‘The Archers’.
Gwen made an appearance in the very first ‘Archers’ episode on 1st January 1951 and continued in the role until her character’s death in 1980. She herself died three years later in 1983.
Dorothy Round (1909-1982)
Dorothy Round grew up playing tennis on a hard court laid down by her grandfather at the family home in Dudley. She entered her first tournament when she was 16. She won the junior Worcestershire championships in September 1925 and reached the semifinals of the Junior Tennis Championships at Wimbledon in 1926.
Dorothy played at Wimbledon many times, achieving her major successes in the 1930s. In the 1933 Wimbledon Championships, she reached her first Grand Slam final and, though she lost to Helen Wills Moody, Dorothy did take a set from her, becoming the first to do so since 1925. She went on to win Wimbledon the following year, becoming World No. 1.
Dorothy won Wimbledon singles again in 1937 and mixed doubles in 1934, 1935, and 1936. She retired from tennis in 1950. She died in Kidderminster on 12th November 1982, aged 73.
Ann Beach (1938-2017)
Ann was born in Wolverhampton, where her grandfather was mayor. The family soon moved to Cardiff where Ann became involved in choirs; she was encouraged by the conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra, who believed she could become an opera singer.
Instead, Ann decided to pursue drama, and she won a scholarship to RADA, moving to London when she was 16. She made her professional debut in 1957, soon after working alongside Joan Littlewood at Stratford. She made her TV debut in 1961 in ‘The Rag Trade’. Also in her television credits were ‘Foyle’s War’ and ‘Midsomer Murders’, and she played Hugh Grant’s mother in the 1999 film, ‘Notting Hill’.
Ann’s most famous role was as Sonia Barrett in the sitcom ‘Fresh Fields’, which she starred in from 1984-86. Both of her daughters followed her into acting. She died on 9th March 2017, aged 78.