To think they could find at least ONE inspirational woman to put on our bank notes?

[MiniPenguinMaker]

I have to admit that I felt a bit miffed when I saw that Elizabeth Fry was being phased out and replaced by Winston Churchill from 2016.

There will be NO women left on British currency. Surely they could find a few? Emmeline Pankhurst perhaps?!

It gives the impression that the achievements of British women are not considered worthy of recognition. I have been getting really grumpy about this. I wonder who makes these decisions and whether this has even occurred to them. Am I being unreasonable to feel peeved that us women make up a significant proportion of the population and yet when we pay for things with our hard-earned cash it is a bunch of dead white men on there?

[amazingmumof6]

goblin - why do you care?

[GoblinGranny]

I'm intrigued by the clues you are throwing out, and I thought it was more polite to ask than run an advanced search on your name.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Harriet Taylor Mill. Someone upthread said Emmeline Pankhurst was not really a campaigner before she met her DH. The opposite is true of Harriet Taylor Mill.

Her DH John Stuart Mill said of her, "Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it, than is ever likely to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom."

He didn't think she was 'token'.

[HullMum]

can we please stop assuming that all religious nutters are American? please?

[HullMum]

also yy to boudicca, she's a fascinating part of UK history

[amazingmumof6]

goblin that's nice, now you are threatening me.

[GoblinGranny]

How am I threatening you? I can only find out what you have chosen to share. How is that intimidating to you?
Anyway, you don't appear to be an American, so I got that wrong.
You do seem to misinterpret posts though, I don't see the OP asking for a vote on suggestions, just asking if SIBU to be irritated. And she isn't, but I don't see why you are. Irritated that is.

[amazingmumof6]

goblingranny whatever is on one thread should be not dragged over to another.

why would you want to find out whatever I have shared previously? what's it to you?

this is not a thread about me and I don't appreciate being "stalked" if I'm not answering your question.
so yes, it feels like a threat.

If I'm irritated that must be the lack of sleep - sick kids keeping me up.

[GoblinGranny]

Ok, but do you understand that the thread has become more about thinking of different inspirational women who could be used on a British banknote?

[amazingmumof6]

"There will be NO women left on British currency. Surely they could find a few? Emmeline Pankhurst perhaps?!" was posted by OP

"surely they could find a few" - so off they went in search of candidates for about 4 pages before I even looked (I think)

maybe it did become more about suggesting different people than what OP felt. but threads evolve, so not sure why that's a problem.

whoever has a problem with what's on the banknotes should just hand them to me.

[cuillereasoupe]

Aphra Behn would be cool: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphra_Behn

Otherwise YY to Mary Anning, Mary Somerville, Ada Lovelace, or Rosalind Franklin.

[perfectstorm]

The universe is primarily composed of hydrogen. Scientists would generally agree that this discovery is significant enough to be on a par with gravity (Newton) or relativity (Einstein) but I suspect not many know that the first person to realise it was a woman, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. A British woman, who died in 1979. I think discovering the very stuff of which our universe is made might perhaps be enough to save her from allegations of being "token" or "undeserving".

Of course, a more intelligent question might be as to why her name is almost completely unknown.

[Saltire]

I am curious that the NI bank notes have the Spanish Armada on oen and the US space shuttle on another. I wonder what the connection is.

Anyway my choice of inspirational women would include

Margaret Beaufort
Odette Sansom GC MBE

[thermalsinapril]

Julie Andrews

[KittenofDoom]

amazingmumof6

I never said you couldn't suggest who you want. I said there is no point in suggesting someone who has already had their turn.

At least you learned something. I am pleased to have been of service.

[FreedomOfTheTess]

My understanding is, the Bank of England asked the public who they would most like to see on one of our bank notes, and Winston Churchill came top by a zillion miles.

While I admit it's disappointing there won't be any women (other than the Queen) on the notes, when the change is made, if Winston Churchill was the popular choice then it's hard to argue against that really isn't it? And it's certainly difficult to argue for Winston Churchill NOT being on one of the banknotes.

The 'faces' on the notes do change every so many years, so the next time they change one of the notes, make sure you vote for your favourite. They do tend to ask the public their opinion each time.

[C4ro]

Ada Lovelace had a rather awesome sort of "princess leia" hairdo that I wager would be as hard as a "scientist beard" to repro...

[KittenofDoom]

They could always bring back Britannia

[absolutmum]

I find it very sad that they are replacing Elizabeth Fry. She carried out lots of fantastic work and she was one of my ancestors!
My son won't be able to use that as his interesting fact any more.

[pigletmania]

Yanbu at all. There are plenty of inspurational women

[perfectstorm]

FreedomOfTheTess, that's incorrect. The public can certainly make suggestions, but the Governor of the Bank of England decides. It's not democratic.

Apart from Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin, Louise Meitner was an equal partner in the discovery of nuclear fission, but her partner, Kurt Hahn, seemingluy deliberately, suppressed her role (recently released letters between the two apparently show that she was instructing him on what experiments to run when the rise of Nazism split them to different countries, as the research continued) and succeeded in doing so for decades. Weitner retired a British citizen, and died in Cambridge. Her part is now universally acknowledged in scientific circles and she's been posthumously awarded a prize, as well as had an element in the periodic table named after her. The Berlin Hahn-Weitner Institut is, obviously, called after them both. It's probably worth noting that neither were involved in or supportive of the development of their discovery into nuclear weapons, either.

So yes: the woman who discovered DNA's structure (Rosalind Franklin) the woman who discovered the universe was made up primarily of hydrogen (Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin) or the woman who discovered nuclear fission (Louise Weitner). All British, all made a huge contribution to our world, all appropriately non-tokenistic people. And not one of them is exactly famous. In fact you'll usually be told no woman has ever made much of a contribution to science, with a cursory aside that Marie Curie is the exception that proves the rule.

[Hafen]

What about some of the girls off towie, or maybe Jordan

[FreedomOfTheTess]

perfectstorm - I'm fully aware that the Governor makes the final decision, I'm not stupid.

However, they do gage public opinion, and the Governor is made aware of what that opinion is.

Winston Churchill who was one of the names being considered for the new fiver, and knowing the public strongly supported him being on the back of one of our notes, it made the current Governor's decision a bit essier.

Mervyn King said as much when he was interviewed on the news the other day, as as he's the Governor, I think he knows what he's talking about!

[FreedomOfTheTess]

• Obviously they wouldn't put it simply to public vote, otherwise we'd end up with David Beckham on the back of one of the notes!
  
  My point was, if people on here feel that strongly about it, they need to be sending their suggestions to the Bank of England for the NEXT time they change one of the notes.

[SomethingOnce]

It'd be amazing if an MN campaign resulted in the next change recognising one of the women discussed on this thread (not Katie Price, obv).