In 2020 we published a series of blog posts celebrating the achievement of 100 pioneering women in Sussex.
Written to accompany our Anita Corbin: 100 First Women Portraits exhibition in Brighton Museum, we’ve focused on notable local women throughout history.
With the help of writers such as Louise Peskett, Amy Zamarripa Solis and Alexandra Loske, we look at the stories of female actors, writers, lawyers, medical practitioners, suffragettes and others with a Sussex connection.
100 women
Eliza Acton, writer of first cook book aimed at the home cook
Nazish Adil, first British Asian female Mayor (Seaford)
Peggy Angus, innovative artist
Jane Austen, Regency writer
Violet ‘Betty’ Baxter, soup kitchen pioneer
Laura Bayley, early film pioneer
Elspeth Beard, first woman to motorcycle around the world
Clementina Black, social reformer and trade unionist
Barbara Bodichon, artist and women’s rights campaigner
Margaret Bondfield, Britain’s first female cabinet minister
Helen Boyle, Hove’s first female GP and mental health pioneer
Val Brown, researcher and writer of women’s histories
Fanny Burney, one of Britain’s first female novelists
Margaret Busby OBE, Britain’s youngest and first black female book publisher
Dame Clara Butt, singer and early star of recorded music
Mary Jane Clark, suffragette
Shirley Collins, the ‘first lady’ of folk music
Clare Connor, Sussex cricketer
Sophie Cook, activist, writer and speaker
Dame Catherine Cookson DBE, writer
Joyce Cooper, champion swimmer
Margaret Damer Dawson, police pioneer
Elizabeth David, cookery writer
Lady Denman, President of the Women’s Institute
Katie-George Dunlevy, Paralympic cyclist
Millicent Fawcett, suffragette and social reformer
Cat Fletcher, co-founder of Freecycle
Sarah Forbes Bonetta, African slave princess
Marian Frost, pioneering Victorian librarian
Constance Garnett, translator of ‘War and Peace’
Tirzah Garwood, artist
‘Gert and Daisy’, performers and radio stars
Nus Ghani, politician and first female Muslim minister to speak in the House of Commons
Mary Ann Gilbert, philanthropist and allotment pioneer
Mercedes Gleitze,first British woman to swim the English Channel
Clarissa Goff, travel writer
Jacquetta Gomes, Buddhist and Multifaith chaplain for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
Natalie Greenhough, Paralympic Judo star
Martha Gunn, Entrepreneur, ‘Queen of the Sea Dippers’
Sally Gunnell, record-breaking track and field athlete
Margaret Hardy MBE, Brighton’s first female mayor
Mary Hare, suffragette, first ‘policewoman’ and pioneering educator for deaf children
Pauline Henriques, first black actress to appear on British tv and pioneering social worker
Avis Joan Hearn, Acting Corporal in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
Phoebe Hessel, soldier
Georgette Heyer, one of the 20th century’s most successful authors
Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins and stars of the stage and film
Florence Holdgate, First World War nurse
Barbara Hulanicki, fashion and design entrepreneur
Sophia Jex-Blake, one of Britain’s first ever registered female doctors
Catherine Johnson, author and screen writer
Angelica Kauffman, artist
Sally and Sarah Kettle, first mother and daughter team to row the Atlantic ocean
Mary Joy Langdon, first female retained fire fighter
Alison Lapper MBE, artist
The Lawrence Sisters, Penelope, Dorothy and Millicent), founders of Roedean School for Girls
Patrice Lawrence, author and journalist
Dorothy Levitt, record breaking race car driver
Lewes Women’s Football Club, first football club to pay their men’s and women’s team equally
Dorothea von Lieven, Influencer at George’s IV’s Court
Mary Lloyd, the first woman to publish a book about Brighton
Caroline Lucas, Britain’s first ever Green Party Member of Parliament
Ida Lupino, film director
Dame Vera Lynn, singer
Meghan Markle, trailblazer for the Royal Family
Margaret Marriott, social reformer and philanthropist
Louisa Martindale, Brighton’s first female GP
Odaline de la Martinez, first woman to conduct the BBC Proms
Millie and Christine McCoy, 19th century conjoined twins and music hall performers
Mary Merrifield, artist, scientist and writer
Lee Miller, photographer
Gwen Moffat, first female mountain guide
Kate Mosse, author and founder of the Women’s Prize for Fiction
Grace Nichols, Guyanese poet and children’s novelist
Annie Nightingale, first female presenter on Radio One
Priscilla Noble-Mathews, paramedic and founding member of the South East Coast Immediate Care Scheme
Helena Normanton, first woman to practice as a barrister in England
Ellen Nye Chart, pioneering manager of Theatre Royal Brighton
Sharon Dodua Otoo, Ghanian-British author and activist
Nalini Patel, founder of Brighton & Hove’s Hindu Women’s Group
Ingrid Pollard, photographer, artist and reseacher
Hope Powell, first woman to achieve the UEFA Pro Licence and first woman and non white person to manage an English national football team
Margaret Powell, writer
Miss M Raymonde-Hawkins, founder of Raystede Centre for Animals
Tessie Reynolds, record breaking cyclist
Elizabeth Robins, activist, writer and performer
Dame Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and animal rights activist
Flora Sassoon, philanthropist, business-woman and Jewish scholar
Umi Sinha, British-Indian author and teacher
Marilyn Stafford, photographer
Rebecca Stephens, first British woman to summit Mount Everest
Elizabeth Taylor, co-founder of the National Deafblind Helpers League
Vesta Tilley, trailblazing entertainer
Jayne Torvill, iceskating Olympian
Doreen Valiente, Mother of witchcraft
Rachel Whiteread, artist and first female winner of the Turner Prize
Helena Wojtczak, first female train guard in 1978
Grace Eyre Woodhead, pioneer of disability rights and mental health care
Commander Margaret ‘Margot’ Wyndham Gore, pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during the Second World War
Whitehawk Woman, one of Brighton & Hove’s earliest known residents
