CLEVER ESSEX - A METAL PROJECT
FUNDED THROUGH A HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND GRANT
RESEARCH TO DATE
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Anne Knight, female,
deceased.
(b.1781 – d.1862)
Anne Knight was born in Chelmsford in the late eighteenth
century above the family grocery shop. Her parents were
Quakers and pacifists, who were heavily involved in the
Anti-Slavery and temperance campaigns of the time and
her grandfather, William Allen, had been a well-known
radical and Nonconformist, so with a background like that
it is no surprise in some ways that Anne went on to
become such an active and tireless anti-slavery and
women’s rights campaigner.
What she managed to achieve in her lifetime, is truly
remarkable. She was a feminist before the term had even
been invented and a lifelong peace activist who
passionately protested against the injustices she saw in the
world.
As a young woman, living in her hometown of Chelmsford,
she set up a branch of the Women’s Anti-Slavery Society
and organised petitions and public meetings to support the
Quaker campaign to end slavery. She went on to tour the
UK and France, giving many lectures on the immorality of
slavery, campaigning for its immediate abolition without
compensation to the slave owners.
She was also an active member of the Chartist movement;
the first British working-class mass movement for political
and social reform, that grew out of the injustices inflicted
on the poor during the industrial revolution.
The Chartist’s campaigned for the rights for every man,
rich or poor to vote. Anne challenged the Chartists,
Born in Chelmsford
http://www.quakersintheworld.org/
quakers-in-action/166;
http://spartacuseducational.com/Wknight.htm
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23
07/41946967?uid=3738032&uid=2&
uid=4&sid=21104412030443
insisting they support “true universal suffrage” and
support women’s rights too.
She further took up the cause for women’s rights after
being banned from participating in the World Anti-Slavery
Convention in London in 1840 because she was a woman.
In 1847 she wrote the first ever pamphlet calling for votes
for women:
‘Never will the nations of the earth be well governed, until
both sexes, as well as parties, are fully represented and
have an influence, a voice, and a hand in the enactment
and administration of the laws.’
Anne helped found the Women’s Suffrage Society. In 1928
women were finally given the legal right to vote.
Anne died long before seeing this dream realised but she
did live to witness the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. To
honour her contribution to the anti-slavery campaign the
free slave village of Knightsville in Jamaica was named after
her.
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Margaret Cavendish
(b.1623-1673)
Margaret Cavendish was born in Colchester in 1623 to a
family of aristocrats. She was a scientist, a Duchess, a
celebrity in her own time and one of the most prolific
female writers of the seventeenth century. She wrote 21
books in total including: novels, non-fiction books,
biographies, plays and essays. She published all of her
works under her own name during a time when most
female writers (and there weren’t that many!) published
anonymously.
Her work was often derided in the press and she had the
nickname of ‘Mad Madge’, partly due to her eccentric
nature, strange dress sense, flirtatious behaviour and potty
mouth (she swore a lot) but mainly because of her
Born in Colchester in
1623
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/man
uscriptsandspecialcollections/collec
tionsindepth/family/newcastle/bio
graphies/biographyofmargaretcave
ndish,duchessofnewcastleupontyne
(c1623-1673).aspx
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?
sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF8#q=magaret%20cavendish
http://herstoria.com/?p=549
incredible daring for being a published woman writer in an
industry dominated by men.
Margaret wrote many books, including some highly
regarded important works on philosophy and social
commentary as well as a utopian romance called The
Blazing World, which was one of the earliest science fiction
novels ever written as well as being one of the first
feminist novels.
Streets ahead of her time Margaret was a groundbreaking
woman. She questioned her place in society and refused to
fit the mold. She was also a passionate campaigner against
animal testing.
Her personal life was equally extraordinary. After her
wealthy Royalist family lost their home and fortune in the
Civil War, Margaret became maid of honour to Queen
Henrietta Maria, moving with her to Paris, where she met
her husband to be, the Duke of Newcastle. She later
became the Duchess of that city, and was thereafter
known as Lady Newcastle. Despite moving in circles of high
society Margaret refused to play by the rules and was
always seen as a strange outsider.
She is still highly regarded today for her many literary
achievements and is now considered to be as important a
seventeenth century writer and natural philosopher as her
male contemporaries. She is also credited as being the first
British woman to publish in her own name. What a
trailblazer!
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
John Ray, male, deceased
(b. 29.11.1627 – d.
17.01.1705)
Known as ‘the Father of English Natural History’
seventeenth century botanist John Ray gained a
scholarship to Cambridge University at the age of just 16,
which was a huge achievement for the son of a local
blacksmith from a small rural Essex village.
His mother was a very religious woman and a herbalist
with great knowledge of medicinal plants, which she used
to heal the sick. Her understanding of and interest in herbs
and plants probably ignited John’s passion for natural
history.
During his time in Cambridge John was a committed and
high achieving student who spent his spare time roaming
the countryside, collecting plants to study.
Ray also studied the natural sciences alongside training to
become a Church of England minister. He went on to
lecture at the university in a wide range of subjects
including Greek, mathematics and humanities.
In the 1650s he began taking expeditions around Britain
with his friends in the summer holidays, collecting and
cataloguing the plants and animals of Britain. In 1663 he
embarked on a three-year expedition around Europe,
gathering further samples, which he continued to study for
the rest of his life.
In 1667 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and went
on to become an extremely important figure in the history
of British botany and zoology.
'Most accurate in observation, the most philosophical in
contemplation,
and the most faithful in description of all the botanists of
his own or perhaps any other time.' (Sir
James Edward Smith (1759 - 1828), Founder of the Linnean
Society)
Born near the village of
Black Notley, near
Braintree, Essex
Buried in Black Notley
Churchyard
http://www.jri.org.uk/ray/cal/letters
.htm#frs;
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/hist
ory/ray.html;
http://evolution.about.com/od/scie
ntists/p/John-Ray.htm;
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck
ed/topic/492392/John-Ray
In 1679 after his mother died, he moved back to Black
Notely in Essex. Towards the end of his life, Ray worked as
both a scientific and theological writer, having some
success publishing his work. He died in 1705 and is buried
at the local church in Black Notley.
John Ray inspired generations of botanists after him to
classify, document and collect organisms in order to
properly study species.
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Muriel Lester, female,
deceased
(b. 12.1885 – d. 11.02.1968)
Muriel Lester had a privileged childhood, growing up in a
beautiful middle class home in Loughton, Essex. Despite
her comfortable background Muriel turned down the
chance to attend university and decided instead to devote
her life to social justice, believing helping others was an
important part of her Christian faith. She became a
dedicated humanitarian, non-conformist and committed
pacifist as well as being a great friend of Mahatma Ghandi.
In 1908 Muriel and her sister Doris moved from Essex to
Bow in London's East End where they became actively
involved in providing social and educational activities for
the poor community living there at the time. They used
money left by their brother Kingsley (who died in 1914) to
buy a disused chapel, which they turned into a ‘teetotal
pub’ and community centre for local people. During
the General Strike of 1926, Kingsley Hall became a shelter
and soup kitchen for workers.
Muriel was also a passionate campaigner for women’s
rights as well as being a founding member of the Christian
pacifist organisation, the Fellow of Reconciliation (FoR). In
1926 she travelled to India to meet Mahatma Ghandi and
this meeting was the beginning of a long and deep
friendship.
Grew up in Loughton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna
tional_Fellowship_of_Reconciliation;
There is a blue plaque to
the Lester sisters on the
cottage, no.49 Baldwins
Hill, Loughton
http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Libr
ary/Library-and-ArchiveCollections/Protest-andCampaigning/Lester-Muriel
http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/p
df/bq/34-7_337.pdf;
Kingsley Hall the Lesters'
foundation at Bow where
Gandhi stayed
"Of all my English friends,
you are by no means the
least."Gandhi on Muriel
When Ghandi visited London in 1931 to attend a
conference he stayed with Muriel at Kingsley Hall. In 1934
Muriel accompanied Gandhi on his tour of the earthquakeshaken regions of Bihar.
In 1934 she began working as the Travelling Secretary for
FoR and during the next few years she travelled across the
globe, spreading the word of Christian non-violence to war
torn areas. She gave passionate anti-war speeches in
America, which caused her to be imprisoned in Trinidad in
1941.
Like Ghandi she preferred to spend her time with the poor
but she impressed many influential people of the time,
including Clement Attlee, H.G.Wells and Elanor Roosevelt.
As well as being a global peace messenger Muriel was also
a widely published author, who wrote numerous articles
and over twenty books, including two autobiographies, It
Occurred to Me (1939) and It So Happened (1947).
During a trip to Japan she was named the Mother of World
Peace and in 1964 her great contribution to world peace
was recognised when Muriel was awarded the freedom of
the borough of Poplar.
Muriel died on 11 February 1968 at her home, Kingsley
Cottage, back in her childhood village of Loughton in
Essex.
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Lady Gwendoline Guiness,
female, deceased
(b.1881 – d. 1966)
Lady Gwendoline Guinness (nee Onslow) was the daughter
of the fourth earl of Onslow, she grew up in London, in a
family committed to public service. When she was just a
child she became her father’s secretary when he was the
governor-general of New Zealand.
When she was 22 years old she moved to Southend, when
she married the brewer Rupert Guinness from the AngloIrish Guinness brewing dynasty. They had five sons and
three daughters. Her husband was a conservative MP for
the town and she helped him through nine election
campaigns for the Guinness family seat at Southend, which
stretched back to 1912.
Her practical experience in politics (extremely rare for
women of that time) and her social standing made
Gwendoline the perfect choice for chairwoman of the
Conservative Party's women's advisory committee, a role
she held from 1925 to 1933. She also became chairwoman
of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist
Associations in 1930.
When her husband Rupert Guinness stood down as
Conservative MP for Southend after inheriting the
Guinness empire, Gwendoline stepped in. Despite her
tremendous wealth, The Countess of Iveagh, as
Gwendoline was known, chose to spend the rest of her
working life supporting the town of Southend. She stood
for MP in 1927 and won the by-election on 19th November
taking 55% of the votes. In 1931 she reached 85%; the
following year she was granted the freedom of Southend.
She was the 4th female MP to ever take a seat in the House
of Commons and her election led the way for women in
society to become increasingly more involved in politics.
In 1928, women were finally given the vote on the same
She was first female MP
for Southend in 1927.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert
_Guinness,_2nd_Earl_of_Iveagh;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinne
ss_family;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwend
olen_Guinness,_Countess_of_Iveagh
;
http://www.oxforddnb.com/templat
es/article.jsp?articleid=33602&back=
terms as men via The Equal Franchise Act in. Even though
she had previously described herself as anti-feminist, when
the right for women to vote was under attack from
the Daily Mail and some right-wing tories she strongly
defended the policy.
Between 1929 and 1935 Lady Iveagh remained an
inconspicuous back-bencher in Westminster, giving loyal
support to party leader Stanley Baldwin. She was an
extremely glamorous woman and MPs were said to crowd
into the chamber for to see her fashionable outfits.
She served Southend as an MP for eight years until her
retirement at the 1935 general election.
Outside parliament and the Conservative Party, Lady
Iveagh involved herself in the Overseas Training School,
whose aim was to prepare young women who planned to
settle in the colonies by teaching them cookery,
preserving, dairying, and poultry-rearing to ‘smooth the
rough places of colonial life’.
Gwendoline also took part in philanthropic work, and
during the First World War she organized relief efforts for
prisoners of war, she was awarded a CBE in 1920 for this
work.She was an influential figure who used her wealth
and place in society to good use.
lmages
Edward Whymper, male,
deceased
(b. 1840 – d.1911)
Achievements
Edward Whymper was an English mountaineer, a talented
artist and an explorer, who is best known for being the first
person to climb the Matterhorn (one of the highest
mountains in the Italian Alps).
His father was a wood engraver and Edward inherited his
Connection to Essex
Lived at 4 Cliff Town
Parade in Southend,
there is a blue plaque on
the building today
recognising him.
Further research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward
_Whymper;
http://www.englishheritage.org.uk/about/news/edward
artistic skills. In 1860 he went to Switzerland to make
sketches of the Alps and this is where he began his
mountaineering career, exploring the landscape, climbing
higher and higher to find the best view.
From about 1900 when he was in England he lived at a
boarding house at 4 Cliff Town Parade (which is now a
B&B) although he was absent for long periods of time,
travelling a great deal.
In 1906 he married his housekeepers niece, Edith Lewin,
who was forty-five years younger than him! They had a
daughter Ethel, who lived in Leigh and also became a
mountaineer like her father. Edward probably settled in
Essex because his family ran the Anchor pub in Hullbridge
for many years.
Edward became obsessed with climbing the Matterhorn
and with the physicist John Tyndall they raced to see who
could reach the top first. He had eight unsuccessful
attempts before finally becoming the first person to reach
the summit on July 14th 1865. He must have been
extremely brave and determined, making the ascent by the
Swiss ridge, along a steep and dangerous passage that had
previously been thought of as too difficult to climb.
On the descent one member of his climbing party slipped,
pulling down the other three tied to him, all four men died.
Whymper had a lucky escape, the rope snapped and he
was saved. This terrible accident is described in Whymper’s
book Ascent of the Matterhorn 1871, which is filled with
beautiful engravings of the landscape also by Whymper. In
this book he writes:
‘Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength
are nought without prudence, and that a momentary
negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do
nothing in haste; look well to each step, and from the
-whymper-blue-plaque
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck
ed/topic/643069/Edward-Whymper
http://www.leighsociety.com/pdf/16
%20Leighway%20Winter%202005.p
df
beginning think what may be the end.’
Images
The accident had a profound effect on him and whilst he
continued to climb other mountains he never returned to
the Alps again.
He became internationally famous after reaching the
summit of the Matterhorn and he travelled around the
world giving talks and lectures about his experiences.
Whymper wrote several other books on mountaineering.
He published Travels Amongst the Great Andes of
Ecuador (1892), which contained valuable information for
geographers, geologists, and mountaineers. He also wrote
two handbooks on the climbing of Chamonix (1896) and
Zermatt (1897).
He was a brave explorer who took expeditions to
Greenland, a place that had barely been visited before by
Europeans, whilst there he made important advances in
Arctic exploration. He also made first ascents on the Mont
Blanc massif and in the Pennine Alps, South America, and
the Canadian Rockies and climbed Chimborazo in Ecuador,
the highest continuously active volcano.
During his expedition to Ecuador he studied altitude
sickness and the effect of reduced pressure on the human
body, his findings were written into a book and The Royal
Geographical Society awarded him the Patron's medal for
his ground-breaking work on altitude sickness.
He was a brave, adventurous, brilliant Essex man, as well
as a skilled artist. His expeditions paved the way for many
others and his pioneering work on altitude sickness has
saved thousands of future mountaineers from death.
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
William Gilbert, male,
deceased
(b. 1544 – d. 1603)
William Gilbert was an English doctor, physicist, writer and Born in Colchester
natural philosopher who was born in Colchester in the
sixteenth century to a wealthy family. He went to
Cambridge University at the age of just 14 and became a
doctor. He became extremely famous in his lifetime and
served Elizabeth I as her private physician in the last few
years of her reign.
He wrote many books but is best-known for his six volume
work published in 1600 called De Magnete (full title: On
the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on the Great
Magnet the Earth), which quickly became the most
important work in Europe on electrical and magnetic
phenomena.
In this book he describes the experiments he conducted
with magnets, where he realised that the earth was
magnetic and that this was the reason compasses point
north. He was the first to recognise that the centre of the
Earth was formed of iron and that an important and
related property of magnets was that they can be cut in
half to form two new magnets, both with north and south
poles. Also included in the book were descriptions of his
experiments involving polarity, magnetostatics, the
influence of temperature on magnetism and many more.
The book was published during a time when Europeans
were making long sea voyages and the magnetic compass
was one of the few instruments available at the time to
stop sailors getting hopelessly (and usually fatally) lost.
Through his experiments and research Gilbert helped
sailors understand more about magnets, saving hundreds
and thousands of lives.
His ideas were radical at a time when most people believed
that the earth was at the centre of the universe. Galileo
looked at Gilberts experiments with magnets and
http://neuroportraits.eu/portrait/wil
liam-gilbert;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/histor
ic_figures/gilbert_william.shtml;
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/
practical-physics/electric-chargeand-current-short-history;
;
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dyna
mic/offsite.htm?site=http://www%2
Dspof.gsfc.nasa.gov/earthmag/dema
gint.htm;
http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/gilbert.ht
ml;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Ma
gnete;
eventually came up with the theory that the earth revolves
around the sun.
Gilbert is also known as the originator of the term
"electricity" and he invented the first electrical measuring
instrument, the electroscope, which looked like a pivoted
needle.
Gilbert set up a medical practice in London in the 1570s
and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians
and in 1600 he was elected president. He never married.
He was a pioneer in the work of magnets and electricity
and became extremely famous throughout the world in his
own lifetime and had a great influence on future scientists.
Gilbert died suddenly in 1603, probably of the plague.
Images
George Warwick Deeping,
male, deceased
(b. 28.05. 1877 –
20.04.1950)
Achievements
George Deeping was a prolific English novelist and short
story writer from Southend. He was born in Prospect
House, which once stood opposite the Royal Hotel in
Southend High Street and later moved to nearby Royal
Terrace, overlooking the Thames Estuary. His father was a
doctor and George followed in his footsteps, studying
medicine at Cambridge University but after completing his
training and working as a doctor for a year, he gave it up to
become a full time writer.
During world War I he joined the Royal Army Medical
Corps and saw active service in Gallipoli, Egypt and France.
His first really successful novel was called Sorrell and Son
(1925) about a father who devotes his life to making his
son’s a success. The novel is based on Deeping's
experiences during the First World War. The book was so
popular it was made into a silent movie in 1927, which was
remade in 1934 as a sound film and then in 1984 Sorrell
Connection to Essex
Born in Southend-on-Sea,
Essex
Further research
http://jmb.sagepub.com/content/16
/2/103.extract
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwic
k_Deeping
http://www.southendtimeline.com/
warwickdeeping.htm
and Son was turned into a TV mini-series.
His work was not always well received by literary critics,
who disliked his melodramatic plots. He wrote a huge
number of historical romances and despite wide spread
criticism he became one of the best selling authors of the
1920s and 1930s, with seven of his novels making the bestseller list.
A number of his novels, particularly the Dark House and Mr
Gurney and Mr Slade are set in the fictional town of
Southfleet, which was modelled on Southend.
Deeping also published fiction in several US magazines,
including the Saturday Evening Post and Adventure.
He published over 200 original short stories and essays in
various British fiction magazines, which were eventually
put together into the multi-volume "Lost Story" collection.
Three silent films were made, based on Deeping's novels:
Unrest in 1920, Fox Farm in 1922, and Doomsday in 1928.
Kitty (1929), directed by Victor Saville, was the first British
talkie ever, which was all based on one of Deeping’s books.
Deeping published over sixty books in his lifetime, an
enormous achievement for this former doctor from
Southend.
Images
Grace Chappelow, female,
deceased
(b.1884, d?)
Achievements
GRACE Chappelow was a suffragette from Hatfield Peverel,
near Chelmsford. Her mother Emily Mary Elizabeth
Chappelow was also active as a social reformer during the
1870s and 1880s. Grace later attended The London
Collegiate School for Girls, where she was taught by Mrs
Carr Shaw, mother of George Bernard $haw. She also had
Connection to Essex
Born and died in Hatfield
Peverel, Chelmsford,
Essex
Further research
http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/featu
res/women_s_battle_for_the_vote
_1_210466
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id
=a2EK9P7-
private singing lessons at Mrs Shaw's home, where she
became acquainted with George Bernard Shaw, whose
wife was also a prominent Suffragette
In 1911 she was among 200 women arrested in London
during rioting. Her
crime was breaking windows. Her motivation was the
struggle to win the vote for women. She was sent to prison
and, like many suffragettes, starved herself to continue her
protest. Jailed campaigners were sometimes forcibly fed,
often through a tube, but she avoided this during her time
behind bars.
ZMsC&pg=PA604&lpg=PA604&dq=g
race+chappelow&source=bl&ots=a
N5Yp3ylqn&sig=tB9kED5ty0o52xVf3RvT5l1W6g&hl=en&sa=
X&ei=Ex25U6C4DfTb7Abr5YH4Ag&v
ed=0CF8Q6AEwDw#v=onepage&q=
grace%20chappelow&f=false
Some of Grace’s belongings are now part of the Suffragette
collection at Chelmsford museum, including a brooch, a
certificate commemorating her time in jail and signed by
suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst; and a knife given
to her by her brother during the spell in Holloway.
Certificate presented to
Grace by the suffragette’s
for her part in the campaign
Images
badge worn by Grace
Grace became quite eccentric in later life. She was a
vegetarian who lived with 13 cats, in a poor situation in her
mother’s house in Essex. She was known for her
determination and good sense of humour. She was
admired in Hatfield Peverel for her suffragette career.
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Chester Moor Hall
(b. 1703, —d. 1771)
English jurist and mathematician who invented the
born Dec. 9, 1703, Leigh,
achromatic lens, which he utilized in building the first
Essex
refracting telescope free from chromatic aberration (colour
distortion).
Convinced from study of the human eye that achromatic
lenses were feasible, Hall experimented with different
kinds of glass until he found (1729) a combination of crown
glass and flint glass that met his requirements. In 1733 he
built several telescopes with apertures of 2.5 inches (6.5
cm) and focal lengths of 20 inches (50 cm).
John Dollond of London received the Copley Medal of the
Royal Society in 1758 for the invention, but his right was
contested by yet another inventor in 1766. It was Hall,
however, who was established as the originator of the
achromatic lens, although he was largely indifferent to
priority claims.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1881
AReg...19..194K;
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Chest
er_Moore_Hall;
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck
ed/topic/252621/Chester-Moor-Hall;
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck
ed/topic/3648/achromatic-lens;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester
_Moore_Hall;
http://www.collegeoptometrists.org/en/college/museye
um/online_exhibitions/observatory/
telescope/;
Images
Sylvia Pankhurst
(b.1882, d.1960)
Achievements
Feminist icon, political activist and daughter of Emmeline
Pankhurst, the founder of the Women's Social & Political
Union known as the Suffragettes, Sylvia is an important
historical figure, famous for being imprisoned more times
than any other Suffragette.
Sylvia was an early force in the campaign for women’s
right to vote. She was also a talented painter and graphic
designer who trained at the Royal College of Art.
Her early paintings and decorative art were of very high
quality, and she created some memorable designs for the
Suffragette movement. At the Royal College of Art she
discovered that most of the scholarships were only offered
to men, but her protests were ignored. She was
commissioned to decorate Pankhurst Hall in Salford,
erected by the Independent Labour Party and named after
Further research
http://www.sylviapankhurst.com/
Connection to Essex
She lived in Woodford,
Essex, from 1924 until
1956. Woodford became
part of Greater London in
1965 but when Sylvia
lived there it was part of
Essex.
Red cottage in Woodford
her father, only to find later to her disgust that women
were not allowed into the building. It was this discovery of
Sylvia's that spurred her mother Emmeline into founding
the WSPU.
Sylvia abandoned her artistic career, however, in favour of
altruistic work, initially after discovering the appalling
conditions suffered by women in the East End just before
the first world war. 'Wherever there is a need,' she said,
'there is my country'.
She was imprisoned again in 1920, for the publication of
political articles in the Workers' Dreadnought – actually
written for her by the American journalist Claude McKay.
She published literature all her life; not only political
however. She had a lifelong interest in the care of mothers
and babies, and in 1930 she published Save the Mothers: A
plea for measures to prevent the annual loss of about 3000
child-bearing mothers and 20,000 infant lives in England
and Wales and a similar grievous wastage in other
countries.
She moved to Essex after meeting Italian revolutionary
Silvio Corio. They fell in love, and went to live together in
Red Cottage in Woodford from 1924 until Silvio died in
1954. Their son Richard was born in 1927. They never
married, which was extremely unusual for the time.
Together at Red Cottage the couple started theNew Times
and Ethiopia News, which was printed in Walthamstow on
the same presses used to produce the local Guardian
newspaper. In 1933, they moved again to a much larger
property near Woodford station called 'West Dene', 3
Charteris Road.
During her time in Woodford, Sylvia was at her most active
as a champion of human rights: writing and publishing, and
defending Ethiopia from Italian fascist invasion.
Red Cottage was pulled down in 1939 to make way for new
houses. All that remains to mark where the cottage stood
is a small Grade II-listed stone sculpture erected by Sylvia
Pankhurst in 1935 dedicated to anti-aircraft bombing after
Mussolini’s air attack on Ethiopia in 1932 had been
defended at the League of Nations as an acceptable form
of warfare.
For the rest of her life she remained constantly active,
campaigning against political oppression and promoting
worldwide human rights. She moved to Ethiopia in 1956
and spent her time improving conditions for mothers and
babies, and campaigned to open a specialist women's
hospital. On her death, she was given an Ethiopian state
funeral, and was buried in a place reserved for Ethiopian
heroes.
Images
Sir Bernard Arthur Owen
Williams, male, deceased
(b.1929 – d.2003)
Achievements
Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was born in Westcliff. He
attended Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1951 with a
first-class honours degree, before spending his year-long
national service in the Royal Air Force flying Spitfires in
Canada.
At the age of 22, after winning a fellowship at All Souls
College, Oxford in 1951 he was appointed Knightbridge
Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge in 1967. In 1988 he
left England to become Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at
the University of California Berkeley.
He was interested in opera from the age of 15, and served
on the board of the English National Opera for 20 years.
He received many honours in his lifetime, he was knighted
in 1999 and he became a fellow of the British Academy and
an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and
Connection to Essex
born on 21 September
1929 at 19 Valkyrie Road,
Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
Further research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commi
ttee_on_Obscenity_and_Film_Censo
rship;
http://www.goodreads.com/book/s
At the time of his birth his how/5595.Problems_of_the_Self;
parents lived in Elmsleigh http://isbrt.ruc.edu.cn/pol04/news/
Drive, Leigh-on-Sea,
p_news/abroad/200407/26.html;
Essex.
Sciences, as well as being awarded the honorary degree of
Doctor of Letters by Harvard University in 2002.
He also wrote a number of books including In Morality: An
Introduction to Ethics (1972) where he stated: "most moral
philosophy at most times has been empty and boring ...
contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way
of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at
all."
lmages
Ken Campbell
(b.1941, d.2008)
Achievements
Kenneth was an English experimental writer,
actor, director and comedian probably best known for his
work in experimental theatre. He was once called "a oneman dynamo of British theatre” as well as “the strangest
man in Britain.”
He was highly skilled at producing complex shows with
very little money. He became the director of the Liverpool
Everyman theatre in 1980, junior director at the Royal
Court London and also held a professorship at Rada in
ventriloquism.
Campbell became well known in the 1970s for the Ken
Campell roadshow, in which well known actors Bob
Hoskins and Sylvestor McCoy acted with him in his surreal
shows, which included bizarre acts like stuffing ferrets
down their trousers and banging nails up their noses!
He also produced some astonishingly lengthy plays,
including his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction
trilogy Illuminatus! and his 22-hour staging of Neil Oram's
play cycle The Warp, which was listed in The Guinness Book
of Records as the longest play in the world.
He appeared in many films and TV shows, including A Fish
Called Wanda, Fawlty Towers and even Derek Jarman’s The
Connection to Essex
Was born on 10
December 1941
Ilford, Essex
Further research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_C
ampbell
http://www.theguardian.com/stag
e/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campb
ell
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
obituaries/2663891/KenCampbell.html
Tempest.
His interests were as bizarre as his personality, they
including trepanning, teleportation and synchronicity. In
the 1980s he discussed these in theatrical monolgues on
stage. These surreal, experimental one-man shows won
him a devoted following.
The Independent called him: ‘a grand old man of the fringe,
though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible."
The Times said Campbell was ‘a one-man whirlwind of
comic and surreal performance’ and The Guardian said he
was "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in
the British theatre of the past half-century. A genius at
producing shows on a shoestring and honing the
improvisational capabilities of the actors who were brave
enough to work with him."
lmages
Joseph Lister
(b. 1827, d. 1912)
Achievements
Joseph was an Essex born surgeon who became known as
“the father of antiseptic surgery.” He pioneered the use of
antiseptics in surgery and introduced strict methods of
cleanliness in surgical practise, insisting on sterile
equipment. Lister used carbolic acid (now known
as phenol) to sterilise surgical instruments and to
clean wounds, which led to a huge reduction in postoperative infections and made surgery safer for patients.
This seems obvious now but before Lister introduced these
new methods patients often died after surgery from
infections known back then as ‘ward fever.’
Lister developed these methods after moving to Glasgow
in 1860 where he became a Professor of Surgery. He
read Louis Pasteur’s work on micro-organisms, which
discussed how wine went bad after being exposed to
microrganisms in the air, he realised these same
Connection to Essex
Born on 5 April 1828 in
Upton, Essex
Further research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep
h_Lister,_1st_Baron_Lister
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
/broughttolife/people/josephlister.
aspx
http://www.abpischools.org.uk/pa
ge/modules/infectiousdiseases_tim
eline/timeline5.cfm?coSiteNavigati
on_allTopic=1
microorganisms could be causing infection in his patients
wounds after surgery.
He knew that carbolic acid destroyed parasites on cattle
and could also treat sewage so began experimenting,
soaking dressings with carbolic acid (phenol) after surgery
to cover the wounds and the rate of infection was vastly
reduced. Lister then experimented with hand-washing,
sterilising instruments and spraying carbolic in the theatre
while operating to limit infection.
In the years from 1864-66 the death rate for Lister's
surgical patients was 45.7%. Between 1867-70, when he
introduced his new antiseptic treatment, this fell to 15%.
Listerian principles were adopted throughout many
countries by a number of surgeons. His discoveries saved
hundreds of thousands of lives.
Although the antiseptics and disinfectants used have
changed, aseptic surgery is still the basis of saving millions
of lives.
NB Lister hospital in Stevenage – named in honour of him.
Made a Baron.
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Peggy Mount
(b.1916, d. 2001)
Peggy was born in Leigh-on-Sea. Her disabled father died
when she was ten years old, leaving her alone with her
sister and mother. They lived in great poverty and Peggy
started working at a the age of 14 as a secretary, although
she dreamed of becoming an actress. When she was a
child she took acting classes with the dramatic society of
the Wesleyan Chapel in Leigh. Even when she was working
as a secretary she still took acting lessons from a drama
tutor, Phyllis Reader, in her spare time.
She started working in amateur theatre productions in
Southend and was given the nickname of the Amateur
Queen of Southend.
She spent a lot of time hanging around the Palace Theatre.
She got her first proper acting job with the Harry Hanson’s
Players, who she met at the Palace Theatre when they
were there for a season. She stayed with the company for
three years before taking her first major role as Emma
Hornett at Worthing. The play ran for three years in the
west End at the Strand Theatre, making Peggy a star.
From 1960 onwards she played classic parts on stage,
including the nurse in Romeo and Juliet.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she continued to work
both on the stage and in television series, most notably the
comedy series The Larkins, where she played the role Ada,
for which she became known as ‘televisions favourite
battleaxe’ with her ample figure, loud booming voice and
hair tied up in a scarf but she was much much more than
this, an actress of great talent and diversity, who overcame
a difficult background to have a really successful and varied
career.
Despite her fame Peggy remained very loyal to her
hometown and enjoyed sailing on the estuary with friends.
Peggy was born in Leighon-Sea, Essex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy
_Mount
http://www.aveleyman.com/Actor
Credit.aspx?ActorID=20333
http://www.theguardian.com/news
/2001/nov/14/guardianobituaries.fi
lmnews
http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk
/peggy_mount.htm
lmages
Roland & Francis Prout
lmages
William Charles Kernot
(b.1845, d.1901)
Achievements
The Prouts were well known boat builders on Canvey, the
business was started by Geoffery Prout in 1935 selling
dinghies and canoes. His sons Francis and Roland
represented Britain in the 1952 Olympics, in the twoman canoe sprint kayaks, called K-2 Kayaks. These brothers
experimented with canoes, tying them together making
the first catamaran. They went on to design and build a
prototype catamaran in their factory called , “Shearwater”
which won many local races. Orders soon came in for
others and soon Prouts became an internationally known
boat builder of world class catamarans, with orders
flooding in from ports all over the world, particularly to
Japan, North America and Europe.
Connection to Essex
Born March 1920 and July
1921
Achievements
Born in Essex, William immigrated to Australia later in life
and became a professor of engineering in Melbourne
University and in 1866 he became the first qualified
engineer to be produced by the university of Melbourne.
He was appointed the chair of the university in 1883 and
remained in this position until he died.
Connection to Essex
Was born on 16 June
1845 at Rochford, Essex,
England
Further research
http://www.canveyisland.org/page
_id__1423_path__0p2p28p70p.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canve
y_Island
Further research
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/k
ernot-william-charles-556
lmages
Poet
Ruth Pitter
(b.1897, d.1992)
Achievements
Ruth started writing poetry as a child, encouraged by her
parents who were both primary schoolteachers. In 1920,
she published her first book of poetry but couldn’t afford
to live off her poetry so she worked in the day in a factory
but she still managed to spend a few hours every evening
writing poetry.
In later years she became an extremely successful poet.
She was the first woman to receive the Queen's Gold
Medal for Poetry in 1955, and was appointed a CBE in 1979
to honour her many contributions to English literature.
From 1946 to 1972 she was often a guest on BBC radio
programs, and from 1956 to 1960 she appeared regularly
on the BBC’s The Brains Trust, one of the first television
talk shows, her thoughtful comments on a wide range of
issues made her a real favourite among viewers.
In 1974, she was named a "Companion of Literature", the
highest honour given by the Royal Society of Literature.
In her lifetime she published seventeen volumes of
poetry. Her A Trophy of Arms (1936) won the
Hawthornden Prize for Poetry in 1937, and in 1954 she was
awarded the William E. Heinemann Award for The
Ermine (1953). Most of her work was highly praised by
Connection to Essex
Born in Ilford, Essex
Further research
http://allpoetry.com/Ruth-Pitter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_
Pitter
critics.
She received the Hawthornden Prize in 1937 for A Trophy
of Arms, published the previous year. In 1954 she won the
William E. Heinemann Award for her book The
Ermine (Cresset Press, 1953).
Pitter was highly regarded by other important poets and
writers, including Philip Larkin, C. S. Lewis and W. B. Yeats.
Her poetry is still included in many important poetry
anthologies being published today.
lmages
Frederick Hester
Achievements
At the end of the 19th century an entrepreneur had a
dream of turning Canvey into an Island holiday resort.
Frederick Hester was born in Fulham in 1853, the son of
George Hester. With the expansion of the LT&SR railway
line from Fenchurch Street to Southend-on-Sea, Frederick
took advantage of the close proximity of Benfleet Station
to the adjacent reclaimed Island that was potentially an
ideal holiday resort. A small book was commisioned by
Frederick Hester and published in 1902 called 'A History of
Canvey Island' by A.A.Daly. Promoting its Dutch history the
book read more like a promotional guide to what glorious
plans Frederick had for the Island than a history book.
From 1897 Frederick started to buy land on Canvey
including Island Farm where it is understood he lived for a
while. An artesian well was sunk that supplied fresh water
by the bucket that could be purchased for 2 pence a pail.
Along with other land he owned, it was divided up into
small plots to be sold to the London visitors
Connection to Essex
Further research
http://www.canveyisland.org.uk/04
-history/06-hester/01.htm
lmages
Gertrude Mouillot
(b.1867, d.1961)
Achievements
In the essay written for The Palace Theater’s 80th birthday
celebrations, Gertrude Mouillot is described as ‘a theatrical
enthusiast, who had acted on stage in former years. She
gave the town a splendid Edwardian theater in 1942.’
When she was 24 years old she married the actor and
comedian Frederick Charles Arthur Mouillot, who became
a successful hotel and theatre owner.
She was a beautiful and intelligent woman, who was an
actress and a playwright. In 1900 Gertrude starred in the
Morell and Mouillot production of Belle of New York at
Swansea. She played leading roles on that stage many
more times, playing Desdemona, Ophelia and Audrey in
The Country Wench. On 9th November 1909 she appeared
in a radical night of theatre and politics at the Scala
theatre, for the suffrage campaign for women’s rights,
appearing alongside the most famous actress of the day,
Ellen Terry.
Gertrude was also a playwright and her work appeared
during the suffragette evening at the Scala. She was a
radical, a forward thinker, an Edwardian female playwright,
actress and theatre owner, who was considered to be an
important enough playwright to have her work performed
on this very special evening with the most sought after
actress of the time playing on stage. Gertrude was
obviously much more than just a rich man’s wealthy wife.
She was a political animal, bright and engaged with the
feminist politics of the time.
In 1911 her husband Fredreick died suddenly leaving her a
Connection to Essex
She gave the Edwardian
Palace Theatre in
Westcliff to the people of
Southend and died in
Colchester in 1961
Further research
http://teaup.me.uk/history/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PalaceTheatre-1912-2012-RachelLichtenstein/dp/0957407505
fortune, she became the owner of over fifteen theatres as
well as a theatrical management business.
She bought The Palace Theater in Westcliff in 1920. In
1942 she gave The Palace to the people of Southend.
Southend Council committee minutes, for 3rd September
1942, discuss this generous gift: ‘Mrs Getrude Mouillot has
addressed a letter to the Town Clerk expressing her desire
to make a gift of the theater to the Borough, with the
freehold site on which it is erected, as an expression of her
interest and goodwill to the town, the property to be held
by the Council for any purpose which they may decide for
the social benefit of the borough, but the property is not to
be sold.’
Gertrude Mouillot died at the age of 94 in 1961 in a
nursing home in Colchester. In The Southend Standard,
10th March 1965, there is an article entitled She Gave
Southend a Theatre: The actress who gave Southend its
Palace Theatre, music hall artiste Gertrude Mouillot…was a
very charming woman and had quiet a good business head,
particularly for those days.’
lmages
Achievements
Connection to Essex
Further research
Edward Bawden
Edward Bawden CBE RA (1903 – 1989) was an English
painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints,
book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture.
During the Second World War, Edward Bawden served as
official war artist, first with the British army in France, and
then, following the army's evacuation from there, in the
Middle East.[10] Already in France before World War II was
declared, Bawden recorded defences being prepared
at Halluin, then witnessed the bombing of Armentières and
the evacuation from Dunkirk. Bawden's work can be seen
in many major collections and is shown regularly at the Fry
Art Gallery, Saffron Walden and The Higgins Art Gallery &
Museum, Bedford.[20][21][22] Notable surviving public works
include a tile depicting a foot ferry on the River Lea,
commissioned by London Underground and located on
the Victoria line platform at Tottenham Hale station.
Bawden also produced the cameo-like silhouette of Queen
Victoria located at Victoria underground station.
Born 10 March 1903
Braintree, Essex, England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward
_Bawden
lmages
John Edgell Rickword, male,
deceased
(b. 1898 – d. ?)
Achievements
He was born in Colchester, Essex. He served as an officer in
the British Army in World War I, having joined the Artists'
Rifles in 1916, being awarded a Military Cross.[1]
On 4 January 1919, Rickword developed an illness that was
diagnosed as a "general vascular invasion which had
resulted in general septicaemia". His left eye was so badly
infected that they thought it necessary to remove it to
prevent the infection from spreading to the other eye.
He was a published war poet, and collected his early verse
in Behind the Eyes (1921)
He then took up literary work in London. He reviewed for
Connection to Essex
Born 22 October 1898
Further research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgell_
Rickword
the Times Literary Supplement, which led to his celebrated
review of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. J. C.
Squire published him in the London Mercury, and Desmond
MacCarthy as literary editor of the New Statesman gave
him work.
Later he became Editor of Our Time, the Communist
review, from 1944 to 1947, working with Arnold
Rattenbury[15] and David Holbrook. Rickword had an
upbeat view at the time on the possibilities of popular
culture and radical politics, and the circulation rose as he
broadened the publication's scope from popular political
poetry
lmages
BOUDICA or BOUDICCA
(ad.60)
Achievements
Boudica was a legendary leader, the queen of
the British Iceni tribe, a Celtic tribe based in Norfolk, East
Anglia. She was born into an aristocratic family, where she
learned how to fight. She was a great warrior who was
described by the Roman writer Dio as tall, with long red
hair down to her hips and a piercing glare. He also said she
was very intelligent, with a harsh voice and a terrifying
appearance. She liked to wear brightly coloured clothes
and distinctive jewellery, including a large golden necklace
and a gold brooch that fastened her cloak.
She was married to the king of Iceni, Prasutagus, who died
in the ad.60. The Romans had allowed the Iceni to rule
themselves but after Prasutagues death they decided they
took over in a brutal way, starting by confiscating Iceni
property. Then they publicly stripped and whipped Boudica
and raped her daughters. Hungry for revenge, the
fearsome Iceni queen led the first British revolt against the
Romans, joined by members of other British tribes.
The first attack was on the Roman capital of Colchester. As
Connection to Essex
She let the revolt against
the occupying Roman
army and destroyed the
city of Colchester, the
capital of Roman Britain,
and defeated the army
living there in ad.60
Further research
http://www.dotdomesday.me.uk/boudicca.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.
uk/romans_and_queen_boudica.ht
m
https://www.britishmuseum.org/ex
plore/highlights/articles/b/boudica.
aspx
http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/her
o/whowerethey/2
http://www.historicuk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEnglan
d/Boudica/
Boudica's huge army of about 30,000 angry Britons
marched towards Camulodunum (the Roman name for
Colchester), the Romans sent messages begging for
reinforcements but only 200 soldiers arrived. As the rebels
entered the city the Romans fled to the temple, hoping
they could keep the Britons out of the strongly reinforced
building until more help arrived but Boudica and her rebels
swarmed through the town, destroying everything and
everyone in their path. They burnt the temple to the
ground, killing everyone inside before setting fire to the
city.
Later her army marched on to London and St.Albans
destroying both place and defeating the Roman armies
there before eventually being defeated in a dreadful battle
somewhere in the Midlands.
Before the final battle Boudica and her daughters drove
round in her chariot to all the amassed rebel warriors,
inspiring them to be brave. She told them she was
descended from mighty men but she was fighting as an
ordinary person for her lost freedom, her bruised body and
outraged daughters. She said: 'Win the battle or perish:
that is what I, a woman will do; you men can live on in
slavery if that's what you want.'
During the battle thousands of Britons were slaughtered
and Boudica is thought to have poisoned herself to avoid
capture.
Despite Boudica’s eventual defeat the uprising so shook
the Roman emperor Nero that he nearly ordered the
Romans to withdraw from Briton. Instead the Romans
stayed for another 350 years.
Boudica has become legendary figure, a warrior queen
who fought against occupying forces and oppression. Her
story was forgotten in history for a time until the Victorians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=1LhT7rCC6O8
A stained glass window in Colchester
Town Hall depicts the ultimate Essex
girl Boudicea
revived it. They called her Boadicea, and wrote books and
poems about her and even named a ship after her. Prince
Albert commissioned a large bronze statue of Boudica and
her two daughters in a chariot, which still stands outside
the Houses of Parliament today.
A primary school has been named after Boudica in
Colchester. She is well remembered throughout the city as
the ancient fearsome warrior queen who
defended Essex from the occupying Roman army - a never
to be forgotten historical heroine who had her first victory
in Essex.
Work in progress...........we are still looking and updating this document with more amazing people who make up Clever
Essex.
If you would like to nominate someone to appear on this list, please email chalkwell@metalculture.com