Since Edward Colston came crashing down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol in June 2020, there has been widespread discussion about statues. There has been a lot said of Colston's fall on either side of the debate but few have acknowledged the fact that up until five months ago, there was only one prominent historical sculpture of a woman in Bristol.
A sculpture of Queen Victoria, which has been subjected to vandalism in the past, still remains in College Green 124 years after it was first erected. Despite the achievements of countless women in Bristol throughout history, up until 2021, Queen Victoria - who was personally in opposition to women being granted the right to vote - was the only woman to gain recognition in the form of a life-size statue.
There has been a long campaign in Bristol to have more statues of women in the city, and in the last few years we have begun to see some. The first was in July 2020 when a temporary statue of Black Lives Matter activist Jen Reid, designed by Marc Quinn, was placed on the empty plinth where Colston once stood, only to be removed by Bristol City Council less than 24 hours later.
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Other than Queen Victoria, there are now only two other statues of women among many more of men in the city. Both of these are less than a year old. The first mysteriously appeared in August 2021 of Victoria Hughes, who had previously worked as a toilet attendant on Durdham Down was sculpted by Bristol artist Getting Up to Stuff.
The toilet attendant became famous after publishing a book detailing her work shortly before her death, and her statue depicts her sitting and comforting another woman. Victoria, who worked at the public toilets for 33 years, looked after and comforted sex workers who would regularly visit due to the proximity of the location to 'Ladies Mile' which was also the name she gave to her book, published in 1977 when she was aged 80.
The second statue is one of Henrietta Lacks, which was erected just over five months ago at Royal Fort House. Henrietta was born in Bristol but died of cervical cancer in Baltimore in 1951. She is known as the “mother of modern medicine” due to her cells contributing to the creation of the Polio vaccine, gene mapping and IVF.
Her Statue, commissioned by The University of Bristol and sculpted by Helen Wilson-Roe, is the very first in the UK that is both of a Black woman and created by a Black woman. Despite the recent additions, neither are in prominent public places or yet included as part of any walking tours of the city.
When Bristol Live asked readers on Facebook on International Women's Day which Bristolian women deserve a statue, the late Joyce Williams seemed to be a popular choice as did Elizabeth Blackwell. Joyce was a Southmead legend who earned the nickname 'Queen of the Mead', who died last year at the age of 96.
Bristol-born Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council, who died in 1910. She played an important role in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a social and moral reformer.
Among the other response to the Facebook post, several people jibed that Edward Colston's wife should be given a statue - which would not even be an option given that the slave trader never married. However, there are plenty of other inspirational women from Bristol who would be deserving of a statue.
Notable historical figures include reformists and educators such as Hannah More, Elizabeth Blackwell and more recently, Hilda Cashmore. Hannah More who was born in Fishponds in 1745 taught at the Trinity Street boarding school that her father founded until her early adulthood when she became engaged. After her fiancé called off the marriage she had a nervous breakdown before becoming a playwright in London for several years.
Although active in the abolitionist movement and a close friend of William Wilberforce, she was politically conservative and strongly opposed to the French Revolution and moves towards equal rights for women. She was a philanthropist whose wealth of £30,000 was donated to charities and religious societies upon her death. She taught the poor Christianity but did not believe that they should learn to write.
Like Hannah More, Elizabeth Blackwell was also an abolitionist and moral evangelist. Unlike Hannah More who was against feminism, Elizabeth campaigned for women’s rights but was against contraception. Elizabeth was born in 1821, 12 years before Hannah More’s death.
Despite her moral purity around sex, her belief that women had equal sexual passions to men was seen as controversial to some at the time who believed women had no sexual passions and were therefore solely responsible for the uncontrollable sexual passions of men.
Although Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol she spent many years in the United states where she became the first woman to be entered into the General Medical Council’s medical register in 1859. She later founded the London School of Medicine for Women.
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Hilda Cashmore, who was born in the late 19th century and died in 1943, was the founder of what was called then The University Settlement. Although Hilda is recognised locally in Barton Hill her activities in social work, education and feminism lack wider recognition.
Another suggestion was Fleur Lombard, who was from Watford but died in a Staple Hill fire in 1977 at the age of 21. She was the first female firefighter to die on duty in peacetime Britain.
Also put forward for a statue is Carmen Beckford, who is seen as a figurehead for race relations in Bristol. After moving from Jamaica to Bristol at 17 she became one of the founding organisers of St Pauls Carnival and then was later the first black woman in the South West to be awarded an MBE.
Another potential candidate is Sarah Guppy, who was born in Birmingham but died in Clifton. Her significance is that she was the first woman to patent a bridge - but was incorrectly credited with the design of Clifton Suspension bridge, after the discovery that her design was not used.
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