1. Anna Freud, 20 Maresfield Gardens, NW3 5SK
The blue plaque for Anna Freud is located at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead where she lived after escaping from Vienna in 1938, with her father, to her death in 1982.
Anna Freud pioneered the field of child psychoanalysis. She believed that every child was an individual and so should be treated as such. Although she applied the ideas of psychotherapy to her child patients she felt that a very different approach should be taken compared to her father’s adult patients. In particular, she realised that trust was one of the most important factors and so she spent a long time getting to know her patients. Also, she felt that as children could not be expected to sit still for extended periods of time, describing their feelings, other methods were required. She encouraged children to express themselves through painting and drawing.
2. Martina Bergman-Österberg, 1 Broadhurst Gardens, NW6 3QX
Martina Bregman-Österberg was born in Sweden in 1859. After studying gymnastics in Stockholm, she moved to London in 1881 and was appointed to the London School Board as ‘Lady Superintendent of Physical Exercises in Girls’ and Infants’ Schools’. She sought to include physical education in the formal curriculum and during her time on the London School Board she introduced Swedish-style gymnastics to schools in every area of London. As there were no qualified teachers at the time she set up her own training college, here, in South Hampstead. Her college only accepted women as she felt that they will be much better placed to understand the needs of school girls. In fact, this was the very first college training physical education in the UK. Men who wanted to learn how to teach physical education had to go abroad.
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3. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, 20 Upper Berkeley Street, W1H 7PF
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman in the UK to qualify as a doctor. Born in 1836, she was educated at home before being sent to boarding school in London. Although her education was rather lacking, she studied mainly literature with no science or maths, she did develop a love of reading and learning. After a meeting with Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to become a doctor in the US, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson decided to pursue a career as a doctor. She applied to doctors on Harley Street in London for apprenticeships but was turned down by them all so she decided to train as a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital. Proving herself a very successful nurse, she was allowed to attend out-patient clinics and eventually operating theatres. When her application to enter the hospital’s medical school was turned down she persisted and was allowed to attend lectures on chemistry and medicine and eventually she was allowed in to the dissecting rooms. Many of the male medical students were not pleased though and sent a petition to the administration asking her to be removed. As a result, she left the hospital and applied to university medical schools around the country, being rejected by them all. Not undeterred, she discovered a backdoor into medicine by becoming a member of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. By continuing to study privately she eventually sat the exams to gain a license to practice medicine becoming the first woman to qualify as a doctor. Of the nine applicants only three passed with Elizabeth Garret Anderson coming top of the class. Soon afterwards, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries changed their rules preventing other women following in her footsteps.
As a woman, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was not allowed to take up a position at a hospital and so she decided to open her own practice, here at 20 Upper Berkeley St. She continued to fight for women’s rights and to help more women to train as doctors. Along with other pioneering women, she set up the London School of Medicine for Women which trained many women around the world. She also helped to introduce the UK Medical Act of 1876 which overturned the previous act preventing women from entering medical school and becoming licensed doctors. Later in her life she was elected the Mayor of Aldeburgh, the first woman to become mayor in the UK. She was a truly remarkable woman who fought overt prejudice for the benefit of all women.
4. Rosalind Franklin, 107 Drayton Gardens, SW10 9QS
Rosalind Franklin was one of the four key figures whose work lead to the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. Rosalind Franklin was born in London in 1920. She studied Natural Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge where she stayed after graduating as a research fellow. For the next 10 years she worked in various labs honing her skill as an X-ray crystallographer. X-ray crystallography is a technique used to determine the molecular and structures of complex compounds. It has also been invaluable in the determination of the fundamental aspects of chemistry; the structure of atoms and the nature of chemical bonds.
In 1951, Rosalind Franklin moved to King’s College London to work alongside Maurice Wilkins on the structure of DNA. She spent hours laboriously extracting, crystallising and photographing DNA under different levels of hydrations until she gained images, in particular Photo 51, that showed the shape and size of the DNA helix. The interpretation of these images would eventually allow James Watson and Francis Crick to build their now famous model of DNA. As an experimental scientist she was not impressed by the model and believed that evidence and data were needed to prove the structure of DNA not just a model.
Rosalind Franklin is possibly one of the most famous people not to win the Nobel Prize. This was not, as many believe, because she was a woman but because the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously and sadly she died in 1958 at the age of 37, before the prize was awarded in 1962. Having said that the atmosphere and the attitude towards women in science must have worked against her and she must have struggled to be taken seriously and to gain the recognition that she deserved.
5. Florence Nightingale, 10 South Street, W1K 1DE
Florence Nightingale is, of course most famous as ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ for her role as a nurse during the Crimean War but her contribution to nursing was much greater than this as she founded the first nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital. She was born in Florence in 1820 and was educated at home by her father. She decided to dedicate her life to helping others and to pursue a career in nursing from an early age and despite objections from her family, as this was not the role expected from a woman of her upbringing, she worked hard to teach learn about nursing. She travelled extensively around Europe and in Germany visited care homes for the poor where she learnt the skill of nursing. In 1854, after reports of the horrific injuries being sustained in the Crimean War, she was asked to train a number of nurses to support the doctors working out there. The care for the wounded was completely inadequate and the hygiene was appalling. Florence Nightingale worked hard both in campaigning the government for more equipment (including a new prefabricated hospital designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel), to clean up the hospital and to improve healthcare practices. Her nickname came from an article written in the Times about her work reporting that she walked the wards at night checking up on the patients by the light of her lamp. It has been estimated that she reduced the death rate from more than 40% to about 2%.
When she returned to the UK, she worked on campaigning for improved conditions in hospitals and in homes. She collected huge amounts of data and invented novel ways of presenting them including a variation on the pie chart. She is considered to be the founder of modern nursing as she set out a practice based on care, commitment and compassion as well as practical hospital organisation and operation.
6. Ada Lovelace, 12 St James Square, SW1Y 4RB
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Ada Lovelace, or Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace to give her full name, was born in 1815, the sole legitimate child of the poet, Lord Byron. Almost immediately after Ada’s birth Byron abandoned her and left her mother to raise her alone. Her mother, understandably, was angry with Byron and so encouraged Ada to study maths and science and actively discouraged her from studying the arts. As a teenager she was introduce to Charles Babbage who recognised her mathematical skills and discussed his work on the Difference and Analytical Engines with her. Unlike Babbage who saw these machines as advanced calculators, Ada recognised the potential to programme them to solve complex problems. She wrote an algorithm that would calculate numbers in the Bernoulli Sequence, the very first computer programme. Tragically Ada died at the age of 36 in 1852 from uterine cancer.
Next door to Ada Lovelace is Chatham House with a blue plaque commemorating ‘Three Prime Ministers’ who lived here: William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham (after whom it is named) , Edward Geoffrey Stanley and William Gladstone.
At number 5 St James Square there is a blue plaque for Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament from 1919 to 1945.
And in the square behind, is a tribute to WPC Yvonne Fletcher, a policewoman who was shot and killed in 1984 during a demonstration by five Libyan protestors in the Libyan Embassy in St James Square.
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7. Mary Seacole, 14 Soho Square, W1D 3QG
Mary Seacole was born in 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Although she had no formal training, she learnt her nursing skills from her mother. Her mother was nicknamed ‘The Doctress’ as she was a healer using traditional African and Caribbean herbal remedies to treat the sick. In 1853 with the outbreak of war in the Crimea, Mary applied to the War Office to join the second group of nurses working in the hospitals. Her application was denied and so she decided to make her own way there against the wished of the establishment including Florence Nightingale. Outside Balaclava she built ‘The Hotel’ out of driftwood and other salvaged materials. The Hotel served officers and tourists and she quickly became established. She worked tirelessly on and off the battlefields to care for the officers, feeding them, tending to their wounds and raising morale. She is often considered to be the first practising nurse and was in 2004 voted the greatest black Briton.
Bethlem Hospital
As you travel down London Wall you will pass a plaque on the left noting the location of the second Bethlem Hospital. This was the second asylum of its name having been rebuilt after the Great Fire. Many women were locked up for what was then termed ‘mania’. This could encompass almost anything including depression, alcoholism, post-natal depression and even infidelity. It would take only two doctors’ signatures to have someone committed and as women had very few rights or funds many found themselves being taken away. The Bethlem Hospital was kept in a shocking state of cleanliness and they employed horrific methods of ‘treatment’ including rotational therapy, cold therapy and shock therapy. As such it had fearsome reputation, gained the nickname Bedlam which is now used to refer to chaos and confusion etc.
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8. Edith Cavell, London Hospital, E1 1BB
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Edith Cavell was born in 1865 and was shot for treason by the German authorities in Belgium during the First World War. In about 1890 she had to return home from travelling around Europe, to care for her sick father. It was then that she realised that she had a calling to be a nurse and to look after the sick and the injured. When her father was better she joined the London Hospital to train as a nurse. Once qualified she worked as a ‘travelling nurse’ Treating the sick all over London. Her skill and compassion was duly noticed and she was hired in 1907 to become the Matron at a hospital in Belgium.
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When the First World War broke out and Germany invaded Belgium, Edith found herself treating the casualties of war. But she made no distinction between the injured and treated British, French and German casualties without discrimination. However, during this time she was also helping British and French soldiers to escape from Belgium into Holland. This, according to German law was treason and carried the death penalty. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. Appeals from the UK and the US were rejected and she was shot on the 12th October 1915. Edith Cavell’s tragic death was publicised widely in the UK and she was used as a propaganda tool as she was portrayed as a victim of German brutality.
(Note: at the time of writing the blue plaque for Edith Cavell is hidden behind scaffolding as work is being carried out on the front of the London Hospital.)
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9. Amelia Edwards, 19 Wharton Street, WC1X 9PT
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Amelia Edwards was an author and a poet but she is best remembered now as an Egyptologist. She was born in London in 1831and educated at home by her mother. She was a skilled artist but she was prevented from pursuing a career as an artist, by her parents, as this was considered to be a scandalous profession. So, she turned to writing and to poetry. In 1873 she visited Egypt and was captivated by its history and its magnificent monuments. She also noticed, however, that these ancient monuments were at risk of being damaged or destroyed due to the development of the land around. She campaigned for the rest of her life to protect them by advocating research, public awareness and preservation.
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10. Lilian Lindsay, 23 Russell Square, WC1B 5EA
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Not only was Lilian Lindsay the first woman in the UK to qualify as a dentist but she created and grew the British Dental Association (BDA) to become one of the finest in the world and she was also the first woman to be elected as the President of the BDA. In 1892 she sat the entrance exams for the National Dental Hospital in London and despite passing, the dean refused to admit her as she was a woman. In fact, he was so worried that her presence in the building would distract the male students that he interviewed her in the street. She therefore applied to Edinburgh Dental School and was accepted. When she graduated in 1895, she became the first woman to qualify as a dentist and also the first to join the BDA. As her husband, whom she met in Edinburgh, was also a dentist and was made Secretary of the BDA they moved into this property in Russell Square which was above the BDA. Lilian was made given the task of creating the library and over the next few years worked hard to build it up to one of the finest dental libraries in the world, which still carries her name. In 1946, she was elected as the President of the BDA, becoming the first woman to hold this post.
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Opposite, on the corner of Russell Square is one of the few remaining Cabmen’s Shelters. This one, though was originally in Leicester Square. Here hansom cab and later hackney cab drivers could stop to get a hot meal and a drink. Alcohol and swearing though were strictly prohibited!
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11. Agnes Arber, 9 Elsworthy Terrace, NW3 3DR
The blue plaque commemorating Agnes Arber is located at her childhood home on the very edge of Primrose Hill. She was born in 1879 and showed an interest in botany from a very early age. This lead her, as a teenager to publish her first piece of research in the school magazine in 1894. In 1897 she enrolled in a degree programme at UCL. And after graduating she went to Cambridge to do another. Needless to say, she achieved First Class Degrees in both. After graduation she stayed in Cambridge and worked in various research labs focussing on plant anatomy, morphology and evolution. During her life she published a number of books and research articles on plants and was rewarded in 1946 by being made a Fellow of the Royal Society, the first female botanist and only the third woman ever. A few years later she was also awarded the Linnaean Societies’ Gold Medal, again the first woman ever to be awarded this extremely prestigious award. She also has a range of botanical gins named in her honour!