Historical Heroines Read online

  Historical Heroines

  To Jez, Lola and Madison: you are my everything. For Mum, Dad and Jamie and as always, for Grandma and Nana Lola

  Michelle Rosenberg

  This book is, of course, dedicated to the women in my life especially my mum, Hilda, and amazing daughter, Poppy. It is also dedicated to the fabulous men, my gorgeous sons, Cole and Kai, and the most intrinsically feminist man you could ever meet, my husband, Mitchell

  Sonia Picker

  Authors’ Note

  Whilst reviewing the various sources for this book it is clear there is much contradiction in the available facts. Sifting through these to determine the truth is not without its challenges. We have made our own subjective judgements as to what is interesting or worthy of inclusion. We hope people continue to investigate these fascinating women’s lives and that together we root out the truths that make our history.

  Historical Heroines

  100 Women You Should Know About

  Michelle Rosenberg and Sonia D. Picker

  First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

  PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

  an imprint of

  Pen and Sword Books Ltd

  47 Church Street

  Barnsley

  South Yorkshire S70 2AS

  Copyright © Michelle Rosenberg and Sonia D. Picker, 2018

  ISBN 978 1 52671 533 3

  eISBN 978 1 52671 535 7

  Mobi ISBN 978 1 52671 534 0

  The right of Michelle Rosenberg and Sonia D. Picker to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

  Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword

  Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery,

  Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways,

  Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime, Claymore Press,

  Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Remember When,

  Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.

  For a complete list of Pen and Sword titles please contact

  Pen and Sword Books Limited

  47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

  E-mail: [email protected]

  Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

  Contents

  Preface

  Introduction – Sonia D. Picker

  Introduction – Michelle Rosenberg

  Ada Blackjack (1898–29 May 1983)

  Agent 355

  Agostina Domenech (4 March 1786–29 May 1857)

  Anne of Cleves (22 September 1515–16 July 1557)

  Aspasia of Miletus (c. 470–c. 400 BC)

  Aud/Unn or Audunn the Deep-minded (AD 834–900)

  Audrey Hepburn (4 May 1929–20 January 1993)

  Azucena Villaflor (7 April 1924–10 December 1977)

  Calamity Jane (1 May 1852–1903)

  Cartimandua (c. AD 43–c. 70)

  Catherine the Great (2 May 1729–17 November 1796)

  Ching Shih (1775–1844)

  Christina of Sweden (18 December 1626–19 April 1689)

  Cixi (29 November 1835–15 November 1908)

  Cleopatra (c. 69 BC–12 August 30 BC)

  Coco Chanel (19 August 1883–10 January 1971)

  Edith Cavell (4 December 1865–12 October 1915)

  Eliza Josolyne (1833–1907)

  Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (14 October 1856–3 November 1928)

  Dame Emma Hamilton (26 April 1765–15 January 1815)

  Empress Theodora (c. 500–48)

  Empress Wu Zetian (624–705)

  Flora Sandes (22 January 1876–24 November 1956)

  Golda Meir (3 May 1898–8 December 1978)

  Gorgo (AD 508/518?–?)

  Grace Humiston (17 September 1867–16 July 1948)

  Gráinne Ní Mháille, aka Grace O’Malley, Queen of Umail and the Pirate Queen of Ireland (c. 1530–1603)

  Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510–69)

  Harriet Beecher Stowe (14 June 1811–1 July 1896)

  Hatshepsut (1508–1458 BC)

  Hedy Lamarr (9 November 1914–19 January 2000)

  Hester Stanhope (12 March 1776–23 June 1839)

  Huda Shaarawi (23 June 1879–12 December 1947)

  Hypatia (c. 350/370–415/416)

  Ida (24 August 1904–22 December 1986) and Louise Cook (19 June 1901–27 March 1991)

  Isabel Godin des Odonais (1728–92)

  Isabella of France, Queen of England (1295–1358)

  Dr James Barry (1790s–25 July 1865)

  Jeanie Cameron of Glendessary, West Highlands (1695?–1773? or 1724?–1786?)

  Jezebel, Queen of Israel (9th Century BC)

  Kalpana Chawla (1 July 1961–1 February 2003)

  La Malinche, aka Mallinali, aka Dona Marina (1502–29)

  Lili Elbe (1882–1931) and Gerda Gottlieb (1885–1940)

  Lilith (A Long Time Ago In a Garden Far, Far Away)

  Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480–24 June 1519)

  Lucy, or AL 288-1

  Luisa Casati (1881–1957)

  Madame du Barry (19 August 1743–8 December 1793)

  Madam Sacho (18th Century)

  Madam Stephanie Queen St Clair (1880s?–1969)

  Madeleine de Verchères (1678–1747)

  Marie Antoinette (1755–93)

  Marie Marvingt (1875–1963)

  Mariya Oktyabrskaya (1905–44)

  Mary Anning (1799–1847)

  Mary Edmonia Lewis (c. 1844–1907 or 1843–1911)

  Mary Frith, aka Moll Cutpurse (1584–1659)

  Mary Seacole (c. 1805–81)

  Mary Shelley (30 August 1797–1 February 1851) and the Ghosts of Fanny Imlay and Harriet Shelley

  Mary Willcocks, aka Princess Caraboo (1791–1864)

  Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759–10 September 1797)

  Mata Hari, or Margaretha Zelle (7 August 1876–15 October 1917)

  Maw Broon (Created 1936)

  Maxine Elliot (5 February 1873–5 March 1940)

  Messalina (AD 17–48)

  Mileva Maric (19 December 1875–4 August 1948)

  Mirabal Sisters

  Moremi Ajaso (Twelfth Century)

  Nanny and the Maroons (1686–1733)

  Neerja Bhanot (1963–86)

  Nur Jahan or Mehr-un-Nisa (1577–1645)

  Queen Nzinga (1581–17 December 1663)

  Pauline Bonaparte Borghese (20 October 1780–9 June 1825)

  Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons

  Phoolan Devi (1963–2001)

  Pocahontas (1596–1617)

  Policarpa ‘La Pola’ Salavarrieta (c. 1791–14 November 1817)

  Princess Olga (c. 890–969)

  Ruby Bridges (1954–)

  Sacajawea (c. 1788–1812)

  Sappho (620–550 BC)

  Shirin Ebadi (21 June 1947–)

  Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86)

  Queen Sondok or Seondeouk (606–47)

  Sophie Morigeau (c. 1836/7–1916)

  Soujourner Truth (c. 1797–1883)

  Susan B. Anthony (15 February 1820–13 March 1906)

  Truganini (1812–76)

  The Trung Sisters (d. AD 43)

  Veronica Franco (1546–91)

  Vivian
Bullwinkel (18 December 1915–3 July 2000)

  Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1840–1921)

  The Unknown Woman

  Photo Sources

  Preface

  I am so glad that there is finally a book specifically addressing the issue of women who have been sidelined from history via slandering, being demeaned or simply ignored.

  I am a direct descendant of both Dame Emma Hamilton (yes, her correct title is Dame and equal to Nelson’s) and Nelson’s sister, Kitty Matcham, through the cousins’ marriage of their grandchildren William George Ward and Catherine Blanckley.

  The extent to which Emma herself has been slandered, demeaned and ignored is staggering. She was the first English woman to be awarded the Maltese Cross for bravery. She played a huge role in supporting Britain in its war efforts against France and invented an entirely new art form, and yet she has largely been remembered as ‘that harlot who seduced Nelson’.

  Many people can’t even let mention of her name pass without berating the injustice served to Nelson’s wife, Fanny, by their affair – although these same people never bring the issue of Fanny up when Nelson is mentioned.

  I founded the Emma Hamilton Society to champion her cause. However, even Kitty Matcham, my lesser known fourth great-grandmother, has lately been subjected to slander albeit along with her husband, George. Bountiful evidence shows the couple to have been unwaveringly loyal to Emma throughout her long and fatal decline, supporting her financially and even fostering her teenaged daughter after Emma’s death in 1815. However, the Matchams have recently been portrayed as penniless scroungers who unscrupulously preyed on Emma’s gullibility. I feel a protective sense of duty towards the Matchams and all those people, many of whom are women, unjustly sidelined from history.

  I welcome this book as a long awaited voice for them.

  Lily Style

  April 2018

  Introduction – Sonia D. Picker

  Writing and cooking at the same time.

  My mum cooked from memory, gorgeous meals that were an absolute treat. And then she got ill and then she died. Her recipes are lost forever as I never wrote them down and was too interested in hanging out with my friends when I had the chance to learn from her. They are gone and a part of her is gone. Sad is too inadequate a word.

  And this is how we and all future generations should feel about all our ancestors and the oceans of information lost to time: medicines, art, fiction, inventions, tales of heroism, inspiration. All gone because half the human race decided the other half were inconsequential and none of this was ever written down – again sad is inadequate.

  And look at what little we do have recorded …

  Nowadays we talk about spectrums. We used to talk about shades of grey before its associations made us giggle about red rooms and spanking. The point is we know, and always have, that the human character is complex. Very few, if any, people are completely evil or 100 per cent good. So why, for the love of god, have women been written about in history like a bad bi-polar cliché – the virgin Madonna vs the sexually deviant demon. It’s just so boring

  Anyone who has studied history and been lectured about the importance of primary sources ad nauseum can only wonder at the liberties our ye olde historians took. Writing years after the lives of their subjects (victims), much of the documented detail seemed to owe more to their sordid imaginations than to old fashioned evidence.

  Few women in history have been credited with actually being a real human with all the complexities and shades that brings. In every era of history, they have been polarised: the benevolent, self-sacrificing angel mother or sexually perverse, power grabbing, demon baby eater. Their lives reduced to the type of black and white thinking that belongs to tantruming toddlers.

  The purpose of this book is not just to celebrate the female heroines missing, misunderstood or hidden in the footnotes of history books. We want to bask in all the layers a woman has, from the remarkable to the despicable.

  This is a lighthearted glimpse at some of these women, many of whom will be familiar in their native countries and celebrated in folklore legend but who deserve a wider audience.

  It may seem an arbitrary mix that we have chosen but we delved into the growing pile of women’s history and selected those gals we felt were missing from most lists or had been miscast and misunderstood. Above all, we hope our brief dalliances with their lives are interesting, compelling and fun. I suspect we will suffer the same fate as every other top 100 list you see in the media from films to sex toys – these lists are ubiquitous and of course, totally, subjective. We know there are thousands more that could have been included but it’s a short book and we could only pick 100. What unites our cast of characters is that they have all suffered being miscast, typecast or simply cast aside.

  Introduction – Michelle Rosenberg

  The premise of this book is simple. We wanted to serve up 100 women that you absolutely need to know about.

  Sure, there’s bound to be the few women you always learn about at school. But there’s a hell of a lot more out there that deserve their place in the spotlight.

  We’ve got quite a global cast for you; there are those whose lives are missing from traditional history books (that would be around 95 per cent then). Those whose lives and legacies have been misunderstood. Overlooked. Defined purely by the men in their lives. Taken a back seat to their husbands’ achievements. Unjustly maligned. And had their lives unfairly edited by ancient (and not-so ancient) historians (probably men).

  You can understand that keeping this book to just 100 profiles was a struggle. But we figured that any more miscast, missing and misunderstood women in one sitting might push you over the edge in your righteous, indignant fury. So actually, we’re thinking of you. (You’re welcome.)

  It may seem we’ve chosen an arbitrary mix but we just delved into our growing pile of women’s history and selected those gals we felt were interesting, compelling or just fun. These lists are ubiquitous and, of course, totally subjective. We know there are thousands more that could have been included. What unites our cast of characters is that they have all suffered being miscast, typecast or simply cast aside.

  So, sit back. Read. Enjoy. And kick some butt in solidarity.

  Ada Blackjack (1898–29 May 1983)

  Ada Blackjack was labelled the female Robinson Crusoe but whilst he was a work of fiction, Ada was the real deal. Yet, whilst his name remains famous worldwide, Ada’s memory is still being salvaged from the wastelands of the Arctic.

  Ada was an Inuit from Alaska but because she was sent to a Methodist school at the age of 8, she never learnt crucial skills from the Inuits, such as fishing, shooting and building shelter in freezing conditions. All skills she would desperately need after being marooned on Wrangel, a desolate ice island north of Siberia.

  Ada had married at 16 but her husband Jack Blackjack was abusive, starved and beat her. After two of her children died, she finally found the strength to leave him, taking her little boy Bennett with her. Unfortunately Bennet contracted tuberculosis, which was rife in Alaska at the time and required expensive treatment. Ada was broke and work was hard to find. She had to place her son in an orphanage whilst she struggled to raise money.

  When she discovered a team of explorers were looking for native Inuit to accompany them on an Arctic expedition, although she was terrified of polar bears and guns, both in ample supply on this trip, the money offered was too good to refuse.

  The expedition was organised by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a famous and charming explorer, although he claimed the Arctic could be just as lovely to live in as Hawaii and all you needed was some common sense. (A patently ridiculous sentiment that would come back and frostbite him on the bum.)

  Stefansson believed that Wrangel was habitable and would make a great air base for planes en route across the Arctic. Never mind that the Russians had already claimed Wrangel and that Stefansson himself had never been there. (Cue: Mission Impossible theme tune.)

 
However, Stefansson was very convincing and the men set out on their adventure buoyant and enthusiastic. They included the nominal leader Allan Crawford. Second-in-command was the big, burly Lorne Knight, followed by the unassuming Fred Maurer. Their assistant Milton Gale was only 19. Finally there was Ada, whose skills as a seamstress were vital to people living off the frozen lands.

  Only two of those going had any experience, for the rest it would be a virgin trip. To add to this folly, the men only took enough supplies for six months, believing Stefansson’s declaration that they would easily find food in the icy wilds. The most sensible advice Stefansson gave was to buy an umiak, a special boat that could be navigated through the frozen waters. This recommendation was ignored by the men, who decided the umiak was not worth the extortionate cost. They bought a tiny boat instead which was lost at sea after a vicious storm on the way to Wrangel.

  They arrived in the summer season when there was plenty of game. However, as the winter set in, the animals became scarce and Wrangel became hell frozen over. The expedition cat Vic was the only one that didn’t go hungry. Finally Crawford and Knight set out on a dangerous journey to get help. The treacherous conditions had them beat and they returned a couple of weeks later. By now Knight was suffering from scurvy. Leaving Ada behind with a very ill Knight, the men set off again in a different direction to seek assistance. They would never be seen again.