*The only Marlow people to exhibit at the 1851 Great Exhibition that I have found were Ann Washbourne / Washbourn who exhibited children's clothing she had made, and Elizabeth Frewin who exhibited her lace.
*The first known Marlow meeting in support of votes for women occurred way back in 1872. Mary Sargant Florence of Lord's Wood house Marlow Common was a vocal Edwardian and 1920s era Suffragette. She was a founder member of the Tax Resistance League for whose supporters she designed pin badges and banners. The League advocated the refusal of women to pay any taxes until they received political representation. She was an artist and a feminist writer too. More will be published on Mary in the future.
Edith Hayes, another artist, joined Mary in refusing to pay tax. In 1913 possessions seized from the two women in lieu of unpaid taxes were auctioned by Marlow auctioneers Kendalls. The auction was picketed and disrupted by Suffragettes from Marlow and elsewhere. The embattled auctioneer stressed that he was not making any political statement against universal suffrage by holding the auction. The items were purchased by the ladies' supporters.
Edith lived at Bovingdon Green.
(To read more about the cause of women's suffrage in Marlow, including opposition to it see here)
*Marlow appointed one of the first female local Registrar of Births and Deaths in England, Louisa Russell, in 1882. See my previous post dedicated to her here
*One of the country's pioneering female dentists Olga Von Oertzen moved to Bisham in 1892 and held her practice in Marlow High Street 2 days a week. She was a big supporter of Marlow Institute. Sadly she died in 1895. Olga was German of origin and qualified as a dentist in the USA before moving to England specifically to aid the development of female dentists here. Previous to being a dentist she worked as a nurse, against the wishes of her noble family. She was decorated for her courageous devotion in attending soldiers in the Franco-German Wars. She left nursing when the conditions she worked in began to have a serious effect on her health. She continued to suffer ill health after her move to England and it was on her doctors orders to seek country air that she left London for Marlow.
*Publicly attended women's hockey matches began taking place in the early 1910s in Marlow. There were also mixed gender matches and women could be members of the club unlike most other sporting clubs in the area. They did not however serve on the committee. During the 1st world war both women's and men's matches were played at Star Meadow as well as the original playing ground of the Cricket Club in Pound Lane. Star Meadow is now built over but was next to Wycombe Road. By the early 1890s there had already been female events in disciplines like punting as well as rowing at the Regatta - although they could not join the Rowing Club as members until 1911.
*Vera Terrington was one of the first female MPs when she was elected as the Liberal candidate in 1923 for High Wycombe. She lived at the now demolished Spinfield house in Marlow. She campaigned for men and women to have equal parental rights and for easier access to credit for farmers amongst other things. Interested in novel remedies for the shortage of affordable housing she built two experimental cheap cottages on her Marlow lands to demonstrate that such things were possible.
Text by Charlotte Day with additional research by Kathryn.
To find other posts about women in Marlow history, or everyday life here in the past, see the post listing here
Some Research Sources:
The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions Volume 13 edited by J Bourchet 1882 .
Annual Report of the National Society for Women's Suffrage 1872, digitized by Google. Accessed August 2020.
Museum of London.
National Portrait Gallery London Website [info about Mary Sargant Florence]
Wikipedia Article on Mary Sargant Florence.
South Bucks Standard September 9th 1892 and 3rd April 1913. Newspaper copies held at the British Library accessed June 2020 via the BNA.
1851 Great Exhibition Catalogue.
Grave Bisham.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reproduce this material for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here so that the sources listed above do not lose credit for the information they provided.
