In the monotony of lockdown, many of us have pounded the same pavements day after day. However, it’s easy to forget the rich history that shapes every street and building in London. For this reason – and in honour of International Women’s Day on March 8 – Islington Now has created a walking tour to celebrate Islington’s pioneering female figures, past and present. The theme is representation. Our aim is to provide a new map for you to rediscover well-known places and showcase the industrious women of Islington.
“The work of women is often invisible,” said Islington tour guide, Oonagh Gay. However, Islington has been home to “outstanding women” throughout its history – women “determined..to change their lives” and those of others for the better.
Start at Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 0HB
Site One: City, University of London
The tour starts at City, University of London; a hub of learning centred around Northampton Square. The university’s origins date back to the Northampton Institute, established in 1852 and set up with the intention of promoting the “industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women” in the area. The university’s alumni includes a variety of pioneering women, who have forged new paths in different careers.
Among these is Theresa Wallach, a pioneering female engineer who won a scholarship to the university in 1928, and in 1935 rode a motorcycle from London to Cape Town. Dr Dipu Moni graduated from City in 2005 with a Masters in Law and became Bangladesh’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Senior newsreader Sophie Raworth attended City as a postgraduate and studied broadcast journalism before joining the BBC.
Exit Northampton Square along Wyclif Street. Turn right and walk up St John’s Street.
Site Two: Dame Alice Owen
On your left is the watering house, Dame Alice Owen. Alice Owen was born in 1547 in Islington. After the death of her third husband in 1598, Owen was granted more freedom, and money, than at any point in her life. With her newly acquired fortune, she bought land in Islington and Clerkenwell to build hospitals, schools, chapels, and almshouses. These institutions served poorer communities and provided support for widowed and working-class women, enabling them to enjoy more independent, self-sufficient lives. Today, Owen is remembered primarily as an English philanthropist. She died in 1613 and was buried in St Mary’s Church, Islington.
Dame Alice Owen is one of the most important women in Islington’s history, said Oonagh Gay. Her generosity and support for schools has helped improve the lives of working-class women in the past and today.
Keep walking up St John’s Street. Pass Angel station. Then stop. On your right, across the road, should be the chemist, Boots. You should be at 43 Islington High Street.
Site three: Alice Hayes
This unexpected stop is a symbol of female resilience and industriousness. Number 43 Islington High Street used to be a Sainsbury’s. During the First World War, many women got their first taste of independence when they were employed to fill the vacancies created by men who joined the armed forces. Many of them, after experiencing the independence and financial benefits of employment, decided to stay in their jobs after the war. As a result, female representation in the workplace, particularly in management positions, ballooned. One of these women was Alice Hayes, who became a manager at this Sainsbury’s store, one of the first women to do so. In fact, by the end of the war around a third of Sainsbury’s shops were managed by women.
Keep walking up Upper Street (northwards). Then turn right for a detour down Charlton Place.
Site four: 32 Charlton Place, Islington, London, N1 8AJ
A blue plaque marks the former home of Caroline Chisholm. Chisholm was born in 1808 and lived in different places across the world – India, Australia, Islington. Having witnessed first-hand the difficult and often dangerous conditions women lived in, Chisholm dedicated herself to setting up schools and schemes that supported women, particularly vulnerable immigrant wives and girls. In 1849 she set up the Family Colonisation Loan Society from her home right here. The society aimed to support emigration by lending people half the cost of travel to Australia. To gain support for the initiative, Chisholm gave evidence in front of the House of Lords twice, acting as one of the few female voices in Westminster.
Leave Charlton Place and get back on to Upper Street. Keep walking up Upper Street and keep left at the fork in the road. Stop when you get to New Unity Church.
Site five: New Unity, 277A Upper Street, Islington, London N1 2TZ
New Unity, which is now a non-religious church with a majority atheist congregation, which once included Mary Wollstonecraft. Born in 1759, Wollstonecraft is hailed as one of the first women to campaign for female liberation and education. To learn more about her feminist campaigns and connection to New Unity read this earlier article from Islington Now: http://islingtonnow.co.uk/mary-wollstonecraft-the-first-feminist/
Take a few steps further up Upper Street (northwards) and stop outside the Town Hall.
Site six: Town Hall, Upper Street, Islington, London N1 2UD
For decades, female voices have helped to shape change in Islington. Valda James was the first black woman elected to Islington Council in 1986, and became Mayor of the borough two years later. Part of the Windrush generation, James moved to England in the 1960s and dedicated her career to improving social services in the area.
Another inspiring Islington politician is Councillor Kadeema Woodbyrne, who was recently made Islington Council’s Women and Girls Champion (the first role of its kind in a London council). This role involves protecting the rights of women and girls in the area and championing services designed to support female livelihoods. On taking up the position, Woodbyrne said: “Women and girls in our borough still face barriers to reaching their full potential and it is vital we continue to break down those barriers.”
Cross the road and walk down Barnsbury Street. When you reach Thornhill Road turn right and then left down Lofting Road. You should be walking past Thornhill Primary School. Walk down Lofting Road and then Bridgeman Road until you get to Thornhill Square.
Site seven: Edith Garrud
At Thornhill Square there is a plaque commemorating Edith Garrud, whose London home was near this green space. Garrud was an unconventional feminist, remembered most as the first female professional martial arts instructor in the Western world. She popularised jujutsu in the capital by performing at a number of exhibitions and running classes for the ‘Suffragettes Self-Defence Club’. When many suffragettes were being captured and imprisoned, Garrud became a trainer to ‘The Bodyguard’, a group of 30 women tasked with protecting their fellow suffragettes from arrest.
Edith Garrud had a “transformational” impact on women’s suffrage and life in Islington, said Oonagh Gay. “Men weren’t used to women fighting back” and she represents female physical strength and the importance of women defending themselves.
Walk out of Thornhill Square (southwards) and down Matilda Street. At Copenhagen Street turn left and walk past Barnard Park. Turn right on to Barnsbury Road. Keep walking down (southwards) until you get to Donegal Street.
Site eight: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
On Donegal Street is Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman in Britain to qualify as a physician and surgeon. She was also a co-founder of one of the first hospitals staffed by women. Growing up in Suffolk, Anderson moved to London in her early adulthood. She was intent on practicing medicine and opening up the field for more women to join. Garett was part of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women and organised lectures on ‘Medicine as a profession for ladies’. In 1865 she finally obtained a license from the Society of Apothecaries and, because she was barred from employment in existing hospitals, set up her own practice in 20 Upper Berkeley Street.
Walk past the school and down Rodney Street. Cross the A501 and walk down the road towards Kings Cross Baptist Church. Turn right towards Percy Circus and then walk down Prideaux Place.
Site nine: Amelia Blanford Edwards
19 Wharton Street, Clerkenwell, London, WC1X 9PT, London Borough of Islington
On this street, in the late 19th century, was the home of Amelia Blanford Edwards. Edwards was a novelist and Egyptologist, best known for her ghost story, ‘The Phantom Coach’ and her travelogue of Egypt, ‘A Thousand Miles Up the Nile’. In 1882, she co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund to enhance Britain’s historical understanding of ancient Egypt and protect monuments from tourism and modern development. For her dedication to ancient worlds, she is remembered as ‘The Godmother of Egyptology’.
Walk to the end of Wharton Street towards Lloyd Street. Turn left and then right at the bottom of Lloyd Street. Walk down River Street to Myddleton Square Garden.
Site ten: Myddleton Square Garden
Myddleton Square featured in the 2015 film, Suffragette – and therefore is a fitting place to end the tour. Meryl Streep, emulating women before her, stood at number 20’s doorstep dressed in Suffragette colours.
Although Myddleton Square wasn’t used that much by actual suffragists, said Oonagh Gay, it is a great symbol for how women have fought not just for the vote, but for a greater contribution to life in many spheres across Britain today.
