‘How the Other Half Lived’: Celebrating Historic Women in Bath

WEATHER UPDATE 8th March: EVENT GOING AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO CAN MAKE IT. 

A special event to mark International Women’s Day, shining a spotlight on fascinating women with a Bath connection. New research by Abbey archive research volunteers will reveal the lives of several Georgian women commemorated in Bath Abbey.

Guest speakers will talk about women connected to Bath who deserve to be better known, such as Ruth Coard, who recorded the destruction of many buildings in Bath in the 1960s and Empress Menen, consort of the Ethiopian Empire and wife of Emperor Haile Selassie. There will also be a spotlight on Bath’s Suffragettes and Fanny Murray, a famous Georgian beauty and courtesan.

Timing: 9.30 – 2.30

Location: Learning room in Bath Abbey’s vaults (NB please enter at 9, Kingston Buildings, BA1 1LT, next to the Abbey, not the main entrance)

42 free places are available to book on Eventbrite. Donations to the charity ‘Women’s Aid’ are invited on the day.

Programme:

9.30 – 10.00 Refreshments on arrival

10 – 10.15 Introduction to the Monumental Lives project by Anna Riggs, Bath Abbey Archivist and Polly Andrews, Learning Manager

Bath Abbey’s ‘Women on the walls’, by three of the Archive research volunteers:

10.15 – 10.45 Ceris Humpreys on Anna Selina Storace, Mozart’s Susanna

10.45 – 11.00 Vanessa Reed on Sarah Crowden, Mistress of the Bluecoat School

11.00 – 11.30 Emma Pound on Anne Welch, friend of Fanny Burney

11.30 – 11.45 Refreshment break

11.45 – 12.15 Jade Littler, Mayor’s Guide, on Bath-linked Suffragettes, including Emmeline Pankhurst

12.15 – 12.45 Pauline Swaby-Wallace, Project Manager, Fairfield House, on Empress Menen, Empress consort of Ethiopia

12.45 – 1.15 Lunch break: you are welcome to bring your own sandwich or go out to a local café. Refreshments will be provided

1.15 – 1.45 Dr Amy Frost, Senior Curator, Bath Preservation Trust, on Ruth Coard, documenter of the 1960s Sack of Bath

1.45 – 2.15 Barbara White, Biographer, on Fanny Murray, C18th courtesan

2.15 – 2.30 Feedback and questions

2.30 End