Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Mumsnet classics

Relive the funniest, most unforgettable threads. For a daily dose of Mumsnet’s best bits, sign up for Mumsnet's daily newsletter.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Tell me about an amazing woman in history that I may not have heard about?

293 replies

AwfulMaureen · 11/01/2014 18:16

There are LOADS of women in history who've done incredible things or had amazing careers but have been forgotten...like an amazing singer from the twenties/thirties who also worked as a prostitute and who wrote and sang some of the most shockingly filthy songs in addition to having a stunning voice.

She began singing professionally as a child having been singing on the street for money...she was offered work in bars. ...I love Lucille Bogan...WARNING...don't play the song in the link if the kids are around!

Tell me your favourite unknown women?

OP posts:
Deliaskis · 15/01/2014 15:41

Ooops sorry, I really thought I had trawled the whole thread to avoid duplication, turns out I missed a big picture right there on page one. Blush

Sorry!

AnAdventureInCakeAndWine · 15/01/2014 15:09

You could if I hadn't nominated her on Saturday Grin. But you can certainly second her...

Deliaskis · 15/01/2014 13:39

Can I nominate Nelly Bly , an american journalist in the late 1800s who faked insanity so she could go undercover in a mental asylum and report on conditions there.

SkaterGrrrrl · 14/01/2014 23:47

I heart this topic, OP.

Gatogris · 14/01/2014 23:43

Maria Elena Moyano en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Elena_Moyano

Gatogris · 14/01/2014 23:35

You have probably never heard of her.

Micaela Bastidas en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micaela_Bastidas_Puyucahua She and her husband led a rebellion against the Spanish Crown.
Tomasa T'ito Condemayta, another woman who fought with them against the Spanish crown.

Flora Tristán en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Tristan French- Peruvian feminist.
María Jesús Alvarado Rivera en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Jes%C3%BAs_Alvarado_Rivera

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sor_Juana_In%C3%A9s_de_la_Cruz

cremolafoam · 14/01/2014 23:27

Rosalind Franklin

cremolafoam · 14/01/2014 23:19

Jocelyn Bell

duchesse · 14/01/2014 23:07

I read that poem only yesterday to DD3! DD3 assured me that I was quite wrong and that there was only the first verse to the song/poem.

Thisisaghostlyeuphemism · 14/01/2014 21:49

While we're mentioning janes, I will add that little remembered English poet, Jane Taylor. Author of twinkle twinkle little star.

Juliealpha · 14/01/2014 21:34

Prof Jane Somerville. cardiac prof and mother of 4

Rosalind Franklin, worked on the discovery of DNA, and horribly over looked by Watson and Crick (both men!)

HesterShaw · 14/01/2014 17:03

Define "historical" though - her work certainly goes back a long way.

SleepPleaseSleep · 14/01/2014 16:42

She's not historical, but I'm an admirer of Jane Goodall. Back when women still weren't thought to think Shock she went out to middle of nowhere in Africa and quietly set about revolutionising primatology and now works in conservation.

Historically I'm also interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine!

babybarrister · 14/01/2014 15:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Frizzbonce · 14/01/2014 14:16

Ida and Louise Cook. Ida was a prolific Mills and Boon author in the 1930s. The sisters were keen opera fans and on their travels across Europe they discovered the plight of the Jews, and using Ida's money they began to smuggle refugees out of Austria and Germany. Before they went the Nazis would rob them and impose huge taxes on fleeing Jews, so anything taken out would have to be portable. Ida would wear a family's entire fortune in a brooch openly pinned to her Woolworths cardie. Then put the money in a British bank so the family would have money to survive on when they reached England. (Because back then the UK Govt were just as 'welcoming' to refugees even when it became clear that Hitler was intent on genocide). The border guards never stopped or questioned these two little spinster ladies. They only stopped when war broke out. Ida and Louise were recognised as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem in 1963.

Thisisaghostlyeuphemism · 14/01/2014 11:20

Ooh has anyone mentioned Hannah Arendt?

German-born philosopher, writer and professor, she covered the Eichmann trial and coined the phrase, 'the banality of evil'.

funnyperson · 14/01/2014 01:09

Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953. Her husband died in jail supporting Indian independence.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Lakshmi_Pandit
Vasundhera Raje, democratically elected by more than 71 million people, current Chief Minister of Rajasthan, and a great modern administrator.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasundhara_Raje

SconeRhymesWithGone · 14/01/2014 00:20

Two more women from the American Civil Rights Movement, one of whom died as a result of her activism:

Viola Liuzzo

Virgina Durr

TootleFrootle · 14/01/2014 00:05

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at poster's request.

TootleFrootle · 13/01/2014 23:50

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at poster's request.

TootleFrootle · 13/01/2014 23:41

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at poster's request.

SconeRhymesWithGone · 13/01/2014 23:34

Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria is a very interesting woman. She was an artist who insisted on going to art school at a time when royals, especially women, were not usually educated outside their palaces. She was a supporter of women's rights and was the first British princess since Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII) to marry a non-royal. The province of Alberta in Canada is named for her.

Princess Louise

Original poster
AwfulMaureen · 13/01/2014 22:49

Ooh how nice! Smile I've never had a thread in Classics before! It's got some amazing stuff in it though...and I'm so glad there are so many people on here who know all of these amazing women's stories and have shared them. Flowers

OP posts:
EBearhug · 13/01/2014 22:31

Elizabeth Lilburne, Leveller.

SunshineOnACrappyDay · 13/01/2014 22:30

Great news :)