Biographies
Click on a letter range to find the biography you require.
A-K
Henrietta Octavia Barnett née Rowland (1851 to 1936). Social reformer. Her career began as one of the voluntary workers for housing pioneer Octavia Hill in Marylebone. She married Samuel Barnett, and they jointly founded the University Settlement, Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel, London.
Louisa Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford, Lady Waterford (nee Louisa Anne Stewart) (1818 to 1891). Great-granddaughter of the writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and a gifted watercolour painter. 75 of her portraits are held by the National Portrait Gallery.
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814 to 1906). Philanthropist of the Coutts banking family, inheriting her first £1.8m in 1837, spent her life and fortune on improving the lives of the working-class in Britain, Ireland and abroad, becoming known as the 'Queen of the Poor'.
Frances Buss began her career in education as a teacher in her mother's school before gaining qualifications at Queen's College.
Charles, Bessie
Bessie Charles (1869 to 1932). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Charles, Ethel
Ethel Charles (1871 to 1962). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Denby, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Denby (1894 to 1965). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Drew, Jane
Jane Drew (1911 to 1996). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Mary Higgs, née Kingsland (1854 to 1937). Attended the Hitchin College for Women and Girton College, Cambridge.
Octavia Hill (1838 to 1912). Housing and education pioneer who trained with John Ruskin and founded the National Trust.
L-Z
Ledeboer, Judith
Judith Ledeboer (1901 to 1990). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Barbara Leigh Smith (later Bodichon) (1827 to 1891). Divided her life as a painter in Morocco and pioneering women's rights activist in London.
Gertrude Leverkus (1899 to 1976). Studied as a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at University College London from 1916 to 1919, the only woman taking her finals among 500 men.
Macarthur, Mary
Mary Macarthur (1880 to 1921)
See:
www.bclm.co.uk/downloads/witr_marymacarthur.pdf (Archived)
www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/u23465_3.pdf (Archived)
www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/g94532_3.pdf (Archived)
www.bclm.co.uk/downloads/a4_workers_institute_cradley_heath.pdf (Archived)
McClelland, Elspeth
Elspeth McClelland. See www.gardencitycollection.com/object-lbm2204
Scott, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Scott (1898 to 1972). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Smithson, Alison
Alison Smithson (1928 to 1993). See Lynne Walker's Golden Age or False Dawn?: Women Architects of the 20th century.
Ray Strachey, Rachel Conn Costelloe, Mrs Oliver Strachey (1887 to 1940). Women's rights campaigner and writer with a mathematics degree from Newnham College, Cambridge (1905 to 1908). She studied engineering at Oxford University in 1910.
Laura Ann Willson, Mrs (about 1878 to 1942). Started work at 10 years old as a 'half-timer' in a Yorkshire textile factory. She went on to become a founder member of the Women's Engineering Society.
