Railway Women

The history of the railways is often seen as dominated by men, and it is true that women started to drive the trains only recently: the first female train driver was Karen Harrison in 1978. But there is a lot more to running the railways than just driving the trains, and women have participated in

Racing Women

In the second of our series for Women’s History Month 2023 in parallel with our current exhibition “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, we focus on the last of these: cars, and the women who drove them to spectacular successes. The MG Car Company was famous not only for the successful cars it made, but also for

Flying Women

It’s Women’s History Month during March, and it is also the last month of our current exhibition “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, so we thought we would bring the two together in three blogposts, focussing on women in aviation, racing and the railways. In this first blogpost we are focussing on flying women. One of the

Mrs Reynolds – a remarkable woman

In our post on women in local government, we said that the history of women on Abingdon’s Town Council started in 1950 with Agnes Leonora Challenor. However, that is not the whole story. In this post we present the remarkable life of Edith Reynolds and her role on the Borough Council and in the public

Creative Women of Abingdon

Abingdon has been the home of a number of writers and artists. It is noticeable however that many of them spent most of their careers elsewhere, and that Abingdon is not really reflected in their work. The painter Agnes Tatham, for example, was born in Abingdon and grew up in Northcourt House. Her father, Meaburn

Abingdon Women in Local Government

Many women have contributed to the civic life of the town, be it as Councillors, in the role of Mayor, or by being active in one of Abingdon’s civic societies. The story of Abingdon’s female Mayors starts surprisingly recently, in 1950. That was the year in which Agnes Leonora Challenor was elected to the role,

Abingdon Women in World War 2

During times of war, there are always extra duties to be performed even by those who are not on the front line. Those who stay at home have to keep the citizens safe. Supplies have to be distributed, and refugees have to be housed. More strain is put on places like hospitals, and extra help

Women at Abingdon Museum

To celebrate Women’s History Month, there will be a series of blogposts throughout March, each talking about a particular group of women with a connection to Abingdon. Today it is about the women who have been curators of the museum. Abingdon Museum is perhaps unusual in having been led by female curators for many decades.