8 Statues of Courageous Women in History

Less than 10% of statues in the UK depict historical women, and most of those are royalty. A number of campaign groups are working to change that.

Here are 8 statues of women who made history: 

1. Violette Szabo, Albert Embankment, London

Set up in secret during the Second World War, the Special Operations Executive conducted espionage and sabotage in occupied Europe. Recruits put themselves in grave danger in a bid to aid local resistance.

Violette Szabo (1921- 1945)  was a French British agent who, on her second mission to France, was captured, tortured and subsequently executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. She was 23 years old. Szabo features on the SOE memorial in London, and was posthumously awarded the George Cross by Britain, and the Croix de Guerre by France.

2. Noor Inayat Khan, Gordon Square, London

Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944) became the first female radio operator to be sent from Britain into occupied France by the Special Operations Executive. Of Indian and American descent, she was recruited by the SOE in 1942, and in June 1943 was flown to France to work with the resistance network. Many members of the network were arrested shortly after, but she stayed on, attempting to send messages back to London while avoiding capture. In October 1943 she was arrested by the Gestapo, detained and tortured for 10 months. She refused to reveal any information, and was executed at the Dachau concentration camp.

Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the French Croix de Guerre in 1949. The memorial to Noor Inayat Khan was unveiled by HRH The Princess Royal on 8 November 2012.

3. The Bronte Sisters,  Haworth, West Yorkshire

The Bronte’s historical home of Howarth makes it a literary tourist hot spot, redolent of a quintessential English countryside that inspired so many of their novels. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte are memorialised in bronze in the gardens of their home from  1820 to 1861, now the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

4. Amy Johnson, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire

Amy Johnson was born in Hull in 1903, the daughter of a fish merchant. Her passion for flying started in 1928 when she joined the London Aeroplane club, and in 1929 became the first woman to qualify as a ground engineer – licensed to certify aircraft safe for flying.

In May 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo to Australia, a 19 day feat. In 1931 she became the first pilot to fly from London to Moscow in one day. Amy was a star – it was unheard of for a woman to fly, let alone fly solo. During wartime, Amy delivered Royal Air Force planes around the country as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary.

On 5^th January 1941, Amy got into trouble while flying an aircraft from Prestwick to Oxford, and went drastically of course. Out of fuel, she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary. Unfortunately, Amy drowned before she could be rescued from the water. Her body was never recovered.

A memorial statue to Amy was unveiled in her home town of Hull in 2016, on the site of a former primary School named after the aviator.

5. Cilla Black, Liverpool

Born Priscilla White, singer and entertainer Cilla Black (1943 – 2015) started out as a cloakroom attendant at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The club was at the centre of Liverpool’s swinging 60s rock and roll scene, seeing early performances from The Beatles. Cilla became a regular feature on the stage, guest singing with local bands.

Black had a string of pop hits, including ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’, which was the biggest selling single in the UK by a female artist in the 1960s. Black went on to have a successful TV career, presenting her own variety show Cilla between 1968 and 1976, and household favourites Blind Date and Surprise Surprise from the mid-80s to the early 00s.

A bronze statue of Cilla (unveiled on 16^th January 2017) was gifted by her sons to her home town of Liverpool, standing outside the original entrance to the Cavern Club.

6. Mary Seacole,  London

Once named the Greatest Black Briton, Mary Seacole is remembered for her selfless work in caring for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Crimean War (1853- 1856).

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805, the daughter of a Scottish soldier, Seacole developed her interest in medicine from her mother, who was a traditional healer. When the Crimean War broke out in 1853, Seacole travelled at her own expense, setting up a field hospital to treat the wounded.

Seacole’s memorial statue, believed to be the UK’s first in honour of a named Black woman, was unveiled in June 2016 in the garden of St Thomas Hospital in London.

7. Edith Cavell, Norfolk and London

Born in Norfolk in 1865, Edith Cavell was matron of a nursing school in Brussels when the First World War broke out. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, Brussels was under very strict German military rule.

Cavell used her place in the hospital to aid British servicemen who were left behind by the Allied forces in Brussels, hiding them in safe houses around Belgium. With her help, some 200 British servicemen were able to escape to Holland. At the same time, Cavell continued to treat wounded soldiers from both sides, despite threat from the German army for ‘aiding and abetting the enemy’

In 1915, Cavell was arrested under suspicion of helping allied servicemen escape. She was found guilty of treason and was executed by firing squad.

Her last words were ‘Patriotism is not enough’

Further Reading

• Women in the Workforce During the Second World War: Taking on Men’s Roles
• The First Woman in Parliament Square
• A History of Feminism through 5 Finds