Electrical engineer and suffragist. Born Phoebe Sarah Marks in Portsmouth. Aged 16 began teaching in London. Studied maths at Girton College Cambridge. Married William Ayrton in 1885. Elected a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1899 and was the only woman member until 1958 (shame on them). In 1902 she was proposed for the Royal Society but this was blocked because a married woman had no standing in law and so was ineligible. Not surprisingly Hertha supported the militant suffragists and marched in all the suffrage protests, in academic gown, which, of course, she was not entitled to wear. Mrs Pankhurst and other hunger strikers were nursed in her home and Hertha declared herself "proud" when her daughter Barbara was imprisoned. Barbara went on to become an MP and to produce Michael Ayrton, the artist. Hertha died in Sussex.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Hertha Ayrton
Commemorated ati
Hertha Ayrton
Hertha Ayrton, 1854 - 1923, physicist, lived here, 1903 - 1923. English Herit...
Other Subjects
Sir Noel Coward
Actor, playwright, composer, film director, author, singer. Born Helmsdale, 5 Waldegrave Road, Teddington. Died at home in Jamaica, where he was buried. Obsessed with the theatre, he was a child a...
Person, Cinema, Gender Issues, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Theatre, Jamaica
Moncure Daniel Conway
Born Stafford County, Virginia, USA. Social reformer and ethical preacher. He abandoned his Methodist ministry because of what he saw as its repression of free thought and became a Unitarian. He ca...
Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Social Welfare, France, USA
Emma Goldman
Political activist and writer. Born in what is now Lithuania. Emigrated to US 1885. Her first husband was impotent. Lover and life-long friend of Alexander Berkman. Imprisoned and then deported fro...
Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Canada, Lithuania, USA
Priscilla Bright McLaren
Anti-slavery movement and women’s suffrage. Executive member of NUWSS. Priscilla Bright McLaren was an activist who served and linked the anti-slavery movement with the women's suffrage movement i...
Brixton Black Women's Group
Started by Olive Morris and other women who had been active in the Black Panther Movement. It was formed to address the specific issues faced by black women, and to offer advice and support to thos...
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them