I am delighted to report that two more of my ‘Enterprising Women’ have just been recognised with an English Heritage Blue Plaque. For the work of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett is now highlighted, this new plaque joining that of their sister/cousin, Millicent Fawcett, on the outside of their home and business premises, 2 Gower Street, Bloomsbury.
The first published study of their work is detailed in a section headed ‘The Home’ in my Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle (2002). Having continued the research in the intervening years, most recent discoveries were revealed in an online talk I gave last month for the Victorian Society. If you are interested it is, I believe, possible to buy a recording.
Thus, Rhoda and Agnes Garrett are now memorialized by two blue plaques, the other being by the gate to their Rustington, Sussex, house, then known as ‘The Firs’. I had the pleasure of unveiling that one in 2018.
And while Blue Plaques are on my mind, I’ll mention that Fanny Wilkinson, entirely forgotten before I made her the subject of the section ‘The Land’ in Enterprising Women, is also now memorialised by two. One is the English Heritage version, on her one-time flat in Bloomsbury
The other is in the garden of her former family home, Middlethorpe Hall, now a delightful hotel. I had the pleasure of giving a talk about Fanny and her work to accompany that unveiling in 2022.
I may say that I initiated none of these commemorations – I just didn’t think to do so – but how delighted I am that the work of these interesting women has touched the imagination of those who launched the four proposals.
And here’s the book that started it all:
330 pages, 75 illustrations £25 +pp (can be ordered directly from me – elizabeth.crawford2017@outlook.com).