As we approach International Women's Day on the 8th March, we thought it would be good to take a look at some of the amazing and significant women who have links with Aldeburgh. We’ve highlighted a few in our shop window and we’ve written more about them below but these are just a handful of interesting women with links to the town. Visit the Aldeburgh Museum to find out more.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

1836 – 1917

Born in London in 1836 to a successful businessman, Elizabeth attended good schools and was expected to marry well and live the life of a lady. However, this was certainly not her intentions and she went on to become a pioneering figure in the fields of medicine and women’s rights.

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman physician, convinced Elizabeth that she should become a Doctor which was unheard of at the time. She was refused entry to several medical school and barred from courses because she was female but the Society of Apothecaries did not specifically forbid women from taking their examinations. In 1865 she passed their exams and become a doctor. The society then changed its rules to prevent other women entering the profession this way!

She set up a dispensary for women in London in 1866 and in 1870 was made visiting physician to East London Hospital where she met future husband, James Anderson. She still didn’t have a medical degree however, and, determined to get one, she taught herself French and gained a degree from the University of Paris. The British Medical Register still refused to recognise this qualification.

In 1872 she founded the New Hospital for Women in London which was staffed entirely by women and her friend Elizabeth Blackwell became the professor of Gynaecology. Finally in 1876, women were permitted to enter the medical profession, something that may not have happened so soon had it not been for Anderson and other women that she had inspired. She helped to set up the London School of Medicine for Women and later became a Dean there.

Anderson’s father, Newson Garrett, was one of the Garrett brothers from Leiston. He had built up a successful barley and coal merchant business at Snape in the 1840s and went on to develop a maltings at Snape Bridge, the site of which would eventually become the Snape Maltings Concert Hall. He was a significant businessman in Aldeburgh and became mayor in 1889.

In 1902 Anderson retired to Aldeburgh and she also became Mayor of Aldeburgh in 1908 – indeed the first female Mayor in England. She died in Aldeburgh in 1917 and is buried in the churchyard at St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church in Aldeburgh.

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett GBE

1847 – 1929

Younger sister to Elizabeth, Millicent Garrett was born in Aldeburgh in 1847. Elizabeth introduced her to Emily Davies, an English Suffragist who inspired Millicent to campaign for votes for women.

Millicent married Henry Fawcett a Liberal politician and women’s rights activist in 1867. He had been blinded in a shooting accident in the 1850’s and Millicent was his secretary and his carer but she continued to pursue her writing career. She was very active in politics and in 1870 she published her very successful ‘Political Economy for Beginners’. Her husband died in 1884.

There were two main strands of the votes for women campaign – suffragettes and suffragists. The suffragists believed in working within the law to create change. The suffragettes were more radical and used civil disobedience to make their voices heard. Millicent was a suffragist and led the National Union for Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) 1897-1919, Britain’s largest women’s rights association. It was an instrumental force in gaining the right for women to vote.

In 2018 she was the first woman to be commemorated with a statue in Parliament Square. Her statue holds a sign that reads: ‘Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere’. This was a quote from a speech she gave in 1920 following the death of suffragette Emily Davison who walked onto a race course in protest during the Epsom Derby and was killed by the King’s horse.

We owe a great deal to Millicent for her hard work and determination as without which, we may not have the freedom that we do today.

Bessie Hepburn & Dorothy Clarke

Bessie and Dorothy were two women who lived in Aldeburgh and who made history for being the first women to receive the George Medal, presented to them at Buckingham Palace in 1941.

They were members of Air Raid Precautions in the war and Bessie was an Ambulance attendant and Dorothy an Ambulance driver. Their medals were awarded after they bravely drove an ambulance across a minefield on Thorpeness beach to rescue two dying soldiers.

Contact Aldeburgh Museum for more information: www.aldeburghmuseum.org.uk

Imogen Holst

1907 – 1984

Imogen Holst achieved a great deal in her lifetime and at a time when women weren’t expected to be huge achievers in her field. As a student at the Royal College of Music, she excelled at conducting and won prizes for composing. She had a passion for dancing and organised the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She had a firm belief that music should be for all, for everyone to enjoy and this underpinned a great deal of her work.

Imogen was the daughter of Gustav Holst so she grew up surrounded by music. Throughout her life she wrote several books about her father’s career, published several of his pieces and she worked hard to ensure that his music lived on after he died.

In 1940 under the Council for the Encouragement of Music and Arts, she took on a roll as Music Traveller in the West Country to try and boost morale during the second world war. She conducted brass bands, choirs of the Women’s Institute, sing-songs for evacuee children – anything that could use music to help lift wartime spirits.

She was an inspirational teacher and whilst teaching at Dartington Hall in the 1940’s she created an impressive music school. It was here that she met Benjamin Britten when he and Peter Pears were giving a recital and a friendship between Britten and Holst began.

In the early 1950’s Imogen moved to Aldeburgh to become Britten’s assistant and in 1956 she became joint Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival, a role that she held for 20 years. She initially lived in a flat on Aldeburgh High Street but in 1962 moved to a bungalow on Church Walk designed by modern architect Cadbury-Brown. She lived alone and was a very private person and yet she loved the company of others. Today, her minimalist bungalow is available for musicians to stay in, to use as an inspirational space in which to compose their own music.

With such a busy life she was essentially a part-time composer and much of her own work is overlooked, but I believe some of her pieces are being performed at Snape Maltings this year.

She died in March 1984 and is buried in the churchyard at St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church in Aldeburgh, near to the graves of Britten and Pears.

Holst’s friend, Ursula Vaughan Williams wrote:

"Imogen had something of the medieval scholar about her … content with few creature comforts if there was enough music, enough work, enough books to fill her days. Indeed, she always filled her days, making twenty-four hours contain what most of us need twice that time to do".

Folk Music Journal via Wikipedia

There is so much more to find out about the work and life of Imogen Holst, you can do so here: https://brittenpearsarts.org/imogen-holst-in-her-own-orbit. She will no doubt feature heavily in the forthcoming exhibition called Britten & Women to be held at The Red House in Aldeburgh this year. Find out more about it here: https://brittenpearsarts.org/exhibitions/britten-and-women

More Amazing Women...

Did you know that all of the following women have links to Aldeburgh, I'm sure there are lots more too!

• Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh - Crime Author. She lived in Aldeburgh and the area featured in some of her novels.
• Kathleen Hale - Children’s Author who wrote Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) series between 1938 - 1972. She loved Aldeburgh and in 'A Seaside Holiday' in 1952, Orlando went on holiday to a town called Owlborrow which was based on the town
• Maggi Hambling - Artist and sculptor, you can find her steel Scallop on Aldeburgh Beach and you're also likely to find her in the Aldeburgh Carnival Procession!
• Mary Potter - Artist who swapped houses with Britten and Pears when her marriage broke down and she moved out of the Red House and moved into Crag House on the sea front. In later years when this house became too big for her, Britten invited her back to the Red House where she lived in a custom-built bungalow called the Red Studio.
• Joy Winn - Golfer. The English Ladies Amateur Championship has been played five times at Aldeburgh and Joy was runner-up in 1938. Aldeburgh was one of the first Golf Clubs in the world to allow women to play with equal rights to men (Garrett Anderson and Fawcett were both members and I'm sure this was influential).
• Nora Acheson - Doctor and author. There's a statue of Nora's dog Snooks by the Boating Pond.

We are very lucky to have The Aldeburgh Museum and The Red House in Aldeburgh so pay them a visit and find out more about the history of our town.

To find out more about International Women's Day please visit: www.internationalwomensday.com