Researching the lives of the women in our book has been so rewarding and has been a project we have been so proud of, as we have recovered these women’s lives from obscurity. Whilst our book focuses on a huge selection of important women in Brighton & Hove, we have included a snap-shot of some of these women on our website who achieved above and beyond for their time – such as Mercedes Glietze who was the first woman to swim the channel, Helena Normanton who was the first woman to have a passport in her name or Dorothy Stringer who had a school named after her. All of these women have fascinating stories to tell, which we hope you will enjoy reading!

The last 50 years has been a golden age for Women’s History research but there is still work to do. If you know of other women we should be researching we welcome your ideas.

A selection of our notable women can be found here:

Clementina Black (1853-1922)

Maud Streatfield Bond (1866-1959)

Freedom of the City Mary Clarke (1895-1910): https://brightonwomenshistory.org.uk/news/

Faith Matyszak-Gander (1931-2015)

Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981)

Margaret Jane Hardy MBE (1874-1954)

Mary Hare (1865-1945)

Muriel Margaret Hart MBE (1924-2023)

Pauline Henriques (Crabbe) OBE (1914-1998)

Dr Louisa Martindale (1872-1966)

Helena Florence Normanton (1882-1957)

Mary (Molly) Attfield Paley (1893-1974)

Elizabeth Robins (1862-1952)

Ada Kate Schofield, née Hands (1859-1937)

Dorothy Stringer OBE (1894-1977)

Minnie Turner (1866-1948)