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REVIEW OF NOTABLE SUSSEX WOMEN
By Alexandra Semyonova, June 2008
Helena Wojtczak has done it again, another brilliant piece of work! While the title of this work suggests that it will be mostly of interest to local residents and historians, and while this may be true to some extent, the book is much more than that. The book begins by commenting on the artificial absence of women in most writing of history, and then puts notable Sussex women into context. This introduction gives a nutshell analysis of what was (and in many ways still is) going on with women, straight and clear to the heart of the matter. Besides a short review of our social position in the past two centuries, this section touches on core political, social, psychological and philosophical points behind the lives of the women the book lists. It doesn't just name percentages of women in various professions, but analyses the reasons for the proportions, giving insight into why the 580 notable women made the choices they did. Because we are still confronted with many of the same obstacles in more subtle ways, it would be a wonderful and helpful thing if all girls were to read the first 13 pages of this book before finishing school. In just 13 pages, written in a voice that is a pleasure to read, they would be given historical context for understanding some of the struggles they are, even in this century, going to meet as they take part in adult life.
The book then goes on to lift 580 women's lives out of the obscurity male historians have left them in. They are all interesting lives, many suggesting a whole novel or extensive biography that needs to be written. There are surprising lives - the woman who proved the world was flat, the one who pioneered beauty without cruelty (we all thought it was The Body Shop, right?), women who opened schools and hospitals, wrote best-selling books, pioneered in social reform, women who were in touch with and part of, and sometimes originators of, some of the most important events in the past two centuries - but almost all ignored and forgotten up to now. I was amazed to find it was a woman (Phyllis Pearsall) who had invented the book-format street plan we all now know and cherish as the A-Z street guides. One of the most striking things (to me) is how many of these women had and realized many sided talents. Joyce Cooper, who worked as a seamstress and ballroom dancing teacher to finance a career as a champion swimmer. Women who drove cars and ambulances or flew planes, but also wrote books or painted, won horticulture prizes, designed buildings, or who not only appeared on the stage but also wrote and produced plays (and sometimes films) and managed theatres.
Helena Wojtczak writes in a cheerful and matter-of-fact style, nevertheless indignation overtakes me as I read. There are so many stories of excellence, of academic achievement (exams passed with first class honours) that was denied the crown of a degree because women simply were not granted degrees, the inventions or innovations many of these women came up with, the role they played in not only in the suffrage movement, but in the fight for minimum wage and other important social reforms. Why don't we already share this as common knowledge? How could it happen that most of us still believe that only men were the movers and shakers in history, aside from Madame Curie? And one other striking thing: how very many of these women used their money, be it inherited, earned or won as prizes for excellence, to help others in their communities. Why is it that we all know the names of Carnegie and Rockefeller (robber barons who shamelessly exploited the poor, masquerading only later as philanthropists), but have never heard of the huge contribution many, many women made to bettering our society - without exploiting anyone else first? I'm left amazed at (and encouraged by) the energy, the creativity, the resourcefulness, and the persistent generosity of many of the women sketched in this book.
In a nutshell, this book is more than just a collection of sketches of interest to locals and local historians. As you graze through the short biographies (after reading the truly brilliant introductory sections), a picture of the times emerges, of the terrible and less terrible obstacles women met, of the ways they nevertheless participated and contributed importantly to the age they lived in. Though the book only deals with the interesting women in a tiny part of the world, it makes a major contribution to dismissing the myth that women have been unimportant in history and in shaping the best, most humane and/or interesting aspects of the world we live in now.
Alexandra Semyonova
Psychologist, behavioral biologist
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REVIEW OF NOTABLE SUSSEX WOMEN
By Peter Leyel, June 2008
Notable Sussex Women is truly amazing, a tribute to the indefatigable energy of Helena Wojtczak. I particularly like the ample cross-referencing. The 580 notable women, over 90% of who were born between 1801 and 1900, are sorted alphabetically by village or town within three major areas - West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and East Sussex. There is an index by name and an index by place. Sixty-three of the women are illustrated by high quality photographs, with a further 40 illustrated on a page of "thumbnail" photos.
Over 30 of the Sussex houses of the notable women are also illustrated. There are several pages of pertinent interesting snippets culled from contemporary newspapers and magazines.
The first thirteen pages of the book have a clearly written and immensely readable précis of the difficulties faced by women in their long struggle for emancipation in a hostile masculine world and this section has over two dozen well chosen marginal quotations from well known figures; for example, from Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), "Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little", or, from Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Man to command and women to obey - all else confusion".
In short, this book contains something of interest for everyone, and should grace the bookshelves of not only those interested in social history, or of Sussex, or of women's fight for emancipation, but also of those interested in exploration, or any of the myriad occupations and hobbies of these notable women.
Peter Leyel
REVIEW OF NOTABLE SUSSEX WOMEN
By Connie Evans, June 2008
Helena Wojtczak is a notable Sussex woman in her own right, the only reason she's not in this book herself is because she's still, to our good fortune, still alive and writing.
Notable Sussex Women is both interesting and informative. Some entries I knew about, so many more I didn't. A very well researched book which contains a fascinating mine of information. An excellent publication and a must-have for local interest and anyone interested in the social development of women in Britain.
REVIEW OF NOTABLE SUSSEX WOMEN
By Val Brown, June 2008
You might not know that Worthing Borough Council's website lists not one late famous woman inhabitant. Helena Wojtczak knows better, depositing a great deal of writer's egg on
its digital pages she can come up with an astounding total of 31 notable women who lived in that dusty town on the salty coast of West Sussex.
Notable? A regiment of women from Sussex have graced the stages and silver screens of their time, clocked up astronomic academic distinction, tossed off novels and paintings, at the flick of a widely brimmed hat, founded dissenting churches and served prominently the uniformed forces. With Eastbourne coming in at 28 and Hastings a little lower at 18 (don't even think about Brighton and Hove with 101) a grand total of over five hundred mini biographies of assorted women of Sussex are deliciously laid before the reader in this classy and easily digestible book. I particularly liked Daisy and Violet Hilton, (1908 - 1968) twins conjoined at the hip and was delighted to read about radio stars Elsie and Doris Waters (Gert and Daisy), Anthea Askey and Alma Cogan. Sheila van Damn - remember her from the 1960s ? Dame Jean Rivett-Drake DBE, DL, JP, (1909-1999) director of the WRAC and Mayor of Hove. Margaret Mary Dawson OBE (1873-1920) founder of the women's police force. Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan GBE head of the WAAC and WRAF in WW1. Stuffed with sumptuous plates of faces and places, there cannot be a single village or town in Sussex without a notable woman having once lived there, this book is a must for armchair feminist archaeologists to feast upon the forgotten pages of women's history. Lesbians ? Oh yes ! Not-lesbians ? Oh yes ! Dark horses - Plenty! The author also serves us a succinct history of the 60 years that it took to get women the parliamentary vote, an illuminating table of the decorations that sat so chunkily upon so many firm bosoms, and a basketful of fascinating snippets carved from newspapers long recycled.
Notable Women of Sussex is the missing volume that our county has been waiting for.
Don't live in Sussex? Read this and get digging at home!
 Back to Notable Sussex Women page
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