The Women Who Built Bristol: Volume 3 will be published on March 3 in time for International Women’s Day. Author JANE DUFFUS shares some of the behind-the-scenes stories from this popular series.
When I give talksabout my work on ‘The Women Who Built Bristol’ project (which I do frequently), I am guaranteed to be asked two questions. One is where I find the women who I write about. The other is if I will ever run out of women to write about. The second question is easier to answer than the first.
So, where do I find the women I write about? Honestly, I get asked this question so much that I wrote a 5,000-word chapter attempting to answer this, which is included in Volume Two of ‘The Women Who Built Bristol’. In short: from all over the place. If there was already an existing repository of fascinating women, there would have been no need for me to have spent the past eight years working on these books!
After ticking off the so-say ‘obvious’ women from Bristol’s past (eg Mary Carpenter, Hannah More, Annie Kenney and co), there comes the much more fun task of really digging around to unearth the forgotten gems. Which means I have ended up finding women to research from street signs, building names, plaques in church walls, throwaway mentions online, or when somebody emails to suggest somebody to me.
An easier question to answer is will I ever run out of women to write about. And the short answer is: no.
Volumes One, Two and Three each contain 250 different women from Bristol’s past. Quick maths bring that tally to 750 women. There are also a bonus 10 women in a limited-edition booklet (Volume 3.1) that has been produced this month as a thank-you for people who pre-order Volume Three directly from me, which means there are now 760 women in The Women Who Built Bristol’s archives. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Everyone gasps when I give talks and tick off these numbers, and I agree that 760 sounds impressive. But if you think that the books cover roughly a 1,000 year period, then that’s not even one woman a year. There are still thousands of women out there just waiting to have their stories shared.
For a signed copy of any books in The Women Who Built Bristol series, please order direct from Jane at: janeduffus.com. All pre-orders of Volume Three come with a free gift.
One of the women in Volume Three is Eleanor Addison Phillips (1874-1952). Here’s her story in a nutshell:
She may have been the headmistress of Clifton High School from 1908 to 1933, but Eleanor Addison Phillips was more than an educator. She was also the co-founder of a global movement for professional women.
Eleanor trained to become a teacher before studying history at the University of Oxford. Following the suggestion of her professor, Eleanor successfully applied for the post at Clifton High School and made her move to Bristol.
Under Eleanor’s watch, Clifton High School expanded into a greater area of Clifton, the number of students doubled, and more than 60% of pupils were successful in gaining places at university once they left the school.
At the same time, Eleanor played a key role in the founding of the Venture Club movement, which later evolved into the UK wing of the global Soroptimist movement. Both were volunteer-led women’s organisations advocating for human rights and gender equality in a peaceful manner.
Eleanor retired in June 1933 and, to mark all that she had achieved she was appointed as an Honorary Member of all Soroptimist Clubs in recognition of her outstanding services. Eleanor is the only woman to have ever received this honour.
Following her retirement, Eleanor remained in Bristol until 1941, at which point she returned to Oxford for a few years before settling in London until her death in 1952. A portrait of Eleanor is stored at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and while she looks rather stern in this and other photos, those who knew Eleanor insisted she had a good sense of fun.