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Campaign hoping to honour Nottingham women with historic plaque trail

A history group is uncovering the little-known stories of Nottingham women who have shaped society through a campaign to get more female representation in public memorials.

Nottingham Women’s History Group has created the ‘plaque attack’ project – inspired by the tradition of dedicating plaques to important figures from the past.

Across Nottingham a wide array of historical sites and plaques are dedicated to people who have had an impact on the city and world around us. But very few are dedicated to women.

There are several different sets of records listing monuments and memorials across the city. One of them lists 267 different historical spots – but just 17 celebrate the contributions of women.

Recent initiatives such as the city Green Heart statue – Standing In This Place – commemorating the thousands of unnamed women behind the East Midlands’ cotton textile industry, and Beeston’s first plaque honouring a woman – local politician and social worker Eleanor Littlewood – have made progress.

But now Nottingham Women’s History Group plans to make sure more are marked with the  ‘plaque attack’ project.

The group hosts talks, guided walks and runs stalls at events to discuss women’s history across Nottingham. It has more than 300 members to which it regularly sends newsletters to organise funding for plaques.

Sian Trafford, the group’s chair, said: “Our aim is to get these women more out there and known about, and young people in particular get to know there are some role models that did all sorts of things. It’s not about us – it’s about the women in history.”

The group has a list of around 25 women which they are currently working on. Volunteers are gathering more information, conducting research and speaking to the owners of buildings where the women lived.

Some of those who feature on the list are Margaret Glen Bott, Rose Fylemann and Mary Gillick.

Bott was a surgeon and gynaecologist, setting up her practice in 1919 and became the first woman surgeon at the Women’s Hospital. She was also a city councillor and a magistrate who was particularly interested in Juvenile court work. She lived on Regent Street.

Fylemann was a successful children’s author from the 1910s to 1950s who lived on Castle Place, by the Lenton Park Estate.

Gillick was a sculptress, most famous for her work creating Elizabeth II’s first coin portrait, who lived on Sherwood Street.

However, the group have many more women they’re researching and are planning plaque campaigns for.

Miriam Jackson, Treasurer for the group, said: “There are loads of others that are worthy, 50 in our book and loads more that we have researched. We’re drawing on the research we’ve done and a couple of our members dig intro archives and expose stories on various women and their achievements, some of these are completely forgotten.”

The group has been a part of successful campaigns for plaques previously, such as one on Nottingham Council House which celebrates ‘first’ women in the city, including the city’s first female mayors, sheriffs, and MPs.

The group hopes to launch an official waking trail through historical plaques and places related to Nottingham women.

More information about the group’s work is available on their website.