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.

Content contributors for our website: Susy Baird, Marianne Tingay, Sue Delafons, Maria Hogg, Clare Hughes, Gerry Holloway, Jenny Stroud, Miranda Spiers.

A selection of our notable women can be found here:

Laura Bayley (1862-1938)

Clementina Black (1853-1922)

Maud Streatfield Bond (1866-1959)

Margaret Bondfield (1873-1953)

Mary Clarke (1862-1910)

Alice Ann Cornwell (1852-1932)

Mary Elizabeth Cozens (1857-1920)

Muriel Dowding (1908-1993)

Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871)

Faith Matyszak-Gander (1931-2015)

Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981)

Martha Gunn (1826-1815)

Margaret Jane Hardy MBE (1874-1954)

Mary Hare (1865-1945)

Muriel Margaret Hart MBE (1924-2023)

Pauline Henriques (Crabbe) OBE (1914-1998)

Edith ‘Biddy’ Lanchester (1871-1966)

Victoria Lidiard (1889-1992)

Eva MacNaghten (1866-1936)

Faith Matyszak-Gander (1931-2015)

Louisa Martindale (née Spicer) (1839-1914)

Dr Louisa Martindale (1872-1966)

Hilda Martindale (1875-1952)

Isabella McKeown (1858-1941)

Sheila McWattie (1956-2015)

Harriot Mellon (1777-1837)

Eva Moore (1868-1955)

Lilian Decima Moore (1871-1964)

Lieutenant Jacqueline Nearne (1916-1982)

Patricia Norman (1924-2020)

Helena Florence Normanton (1882-1957)

Ellen Nye Chart (1839-1892)

Jane Ovenden (1825-1907)

Mary (Molly) Attfield Paley (1893-1974)

Tessie Reynolds (1877-1954)

Dame Jean Rivett-Drake (1909-1999)

Elizabeth Robins (1862-1952)

Ada Kate Schofield, née Hands (1859-1937)

Sylvia Sleigh (1916-2020)

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh (1876-1948)

Dorothy Stringer OBE (1894-1977)

Edith Tudor-Hart (1903-1973


Minnie Turner (1866-1948)

Dr Gladys Mary Wauchope (1889-1966)