In 1141, Matilda, daughter of Henry I, sat down to a victory banquet in Westminster, certain of her imminent coronation as Queen Matilda of England. Yet it was a coronation that would never come to pass - so how was England's potential first queen regnant foiled?
english women
LGBTQ+ Couples: Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West
"I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia..." The love affair of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West was colourful and lively, and the impact the two women had on each other and their work can scarcely be measured.
LGBTQ+ Couples: Anne Lister and Ann Walker
Gay marriage has only been legal across the UK for just over two years, after legislation took effect in Northern Ireland on 13th January 2020. However, the first lesbian ‘wedding’ actually took place a little short of two centuries before, when Anne Lister and Ann Walker wedded at Holy Trinity Church in York in 1834.
W is for… Witches
The Pendle Witch Trials, in which twelve people were accused of witchcraft and ten sentenced, are some of the most infamous in English history, accounting for 2% of all witch executions carried out across three centuries. Read on to find out about the series of events that led to these deaths.
R is for… ‘Red’ Emma Sproson
Studies of the suffrage movement in the UK—at least in school settings—are overwhelmingly focused on the middle- to upper-class, London-based women who were members of the WSPU or the NUWSS. But this erases many working-class people who were just as influential, including Black Country activist, Emma Sproson.
I is for… Iceni
The Iceni were a Britonnic tribe in Iron Age and Roman Britain, which co-existed peacefully with Rome until around AD 60. When Rome tried to ransack the tribe, their queen, Boudicca, launched a revolt that almost drove the Romans from Britain for good.
E is for… Eleanor Marx
Karl Marx is known throughout the world for his political theory, but it was his youngest daughter, Eleanor, who put that theory into practice. Fiercely intelligent and quick-witted, she was heavily involved with socialist movements and early trade unionism, and she was a strong campaigner for the rights of working-class women and Jews.
B is for… Bella in the Wych Elm
In April 1943, four young boys would make a grisly discovery in Hagley Wood in Worcestershire, England. What they found would spark a murder mystery complete with theories of witchcraft and espionage which remains to be solved to this very day.
Anne of Great Britain – England’s Forgotten Queen
Queen Anne had a tragic life, suffering the losses of almost everyone she had loved. History remembers her as weak, ineffective, and constantly under the thumb of her 'favourites'. Yet, this could not be further from the truth.