This is a list of notable women, living and dead, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the United Kingdom. Notability is based on achievements that have had a verifiable impact or public output or participation in a significant event, in the fields of art, literature, business, industry, science, culture, sport, education, politics, war, philanthropy, medicine and a range of other topics.
Notable women from Cornwall are also listed in the article List of people from Cornwall.
A edit
- Constance Agar-Robartes, First World War nurse[1][2][3]
- Victoria Amran, founder of the Cornish Food Box Company, business woman[4][5]
- Candy Atherton, ex-MP for Falmouth and Camborne
B edit
- Morwenna Banks, actor
- Antonia Barber, writer of fiction
- Frances Basset, 2nd Baroness Basset
- Maria Branwell, mother of English writers Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë and Charlotte Brontë
- Michaela Breeze, Commonwealth champion weightlifter
- Dame Alida Brittain, harpist[6]
- Mary Bryant, famous prisoner who escaped Australian penal colony
- Katharine Burdekin, novelist, feminist, sister of Rowena Cade
C edit
- Rowena Cade, creator, builder and founder of the Minack Theatre
- Elizabeth Carne, scientist and banker
- Vera Carne, First World War Women's Land Army[7][8]
- Helena Charles, Cornish nationalist
- Evelyn Clements, munitions worker[9]
- Ithell Colquhoun, artist and writer
- Myrna Combellack, researcher and translator of Beunans Meriasek
- Judith Cook, journalist and campaigner
- Selina Cooper, suffragist
- Margaret Ann Courtney, folklorist and poet
D edit
- Phyllis Doherty, folk singer, First World War commandant of Women's Volunteer Motor Corps[10][11][12]
- Anne Dowriche, poet
- Daphne du Maurier, novelist and writer
F edit
- Liz Fenwick, writer, novelist[13][14]
- Elizabeth Forbes, artist and storyteller
- Anna Maria Fox, a promoter of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society
- Caroline Fox, writer
G edit
- Susan Elizabeth Gay, writer
- Ann Glanville, 19th-century champion rower
- Helen Glover, rower, Olympic gold medallist 2012
- Julia Goldsworthy, politician
- Queen Gwendolin, medieval legendary figure
H edit
- Melissa Hardie-Budden, writer, founder of the Hypatia Trust, philanthropist[15][16]
- Faith Harris, sailor, secretary to Railway Purchasing Mission[17]
- Barbara Hepworth, sculptor and artist
- Alice Hext, gardener and philanthropist
- Corona Hicks, women's rights campaigner[18]
- Rose Hilton, artist
- Emily Hobhouse, peace activist and human rights campaigner
- Salome Hocking, novelist[19]
- Barbara Hosking, civil servant and broadcaster
I edit
- Iseult, figure in Arthurian legend
J edit
- Loveday Jenkin, Cornish nationalist politician; councillor for Crowan and Wendron
- F. Tennyson Jesse, writer
- Jane Johnson, writer[20]
K edit
- Ann Kelley, writer and photographer
- Marguerite Kesteloot, Belgian refugee, strawberry grower[21]
- Laura Knight, artist
L edit
- Mary Lang, writer, photographer, sailor, diarist[22][23][24]
- Cassandra Latham, white witch
- Janet Leach, artist
- Katharine Lee (Kitty Lee Jenner; 1853–1936), writer[25]
- Margaret Lidgey, bal captain, First World War mine manager[26][27]
- Alice de Lisle, Lord of Alverton, founder of Penzance market[28]
- Moura Lympany, musician, concert pianist
M edit
- Margo Maeckelberghe, artist
- Jessica Mann, novelist and journalist
- Charlotte Mary Matheson, writer
- Margaret Mellis, St Ives school artist
- Chesten Marchant, last monoglot Cornish-speaker (died 1676)
- Anna Maria Murphy, writer, playwright, poet, storyteller[29][30]
- Sherryl Murray, MP for South East Cornwall
N edit
- Sarah Newton, MP for Truro and Falmouth
- Thandie Newton, actor
P edit
- Gertrude Parsons, novelist
- Cassie Patten, British Olympic swimmer
- Susan Penhaligon, actor
- Dolly Pentreath, last Cornish speaker according to tradition
- Thomasine, Lady Percival, benefactress and founder of a school
- Annie Phillips, autograph collector[31]
- Elizabeth Philp, singer, music educator and composer
- Rosamunde Pilcher, novelist
- Litz Pisk, movement pioneer and instructor
- Beatrice Pole-Carew, First World War host for convalescent soldiers[32][33] (portrait)[34]
- Margaret Steuart Pollard (Peggy), Cornish language poet
- Agnes Prest, Protestant martyr
Q edit
- Mabel Quiller-Couch, editor, compiler and children's writer
R edit
- Joan Rendell, historian
- Jean Rhys, writer
- Mary Richards (prisoner of war), First World War prisoner of war in Germany[35]
- Edith Jane Rouncefield, First World War nurse in First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and co-founder of Mevagissey Museum[36][37]
- Jenny Rowe, lawyer and civil servant
- Hilda Runciman, MP for St Ives
- Mary Snell Rundle, nursing educator
S edit
- Angie Sage, writer, novelist
- Sweet Saraya, professional wrestler
- Kristin Scott Thomas, actor
- Penelope Shuttle, poet
- Jemma Simpson, 800m runner
- Emma Smith, writer
- Hannah Stacey, free-diver
- Emily Stackhouse, scientist
T edit
- Mary Ann Tocker, early radical who exposed corruption in the Stannary Courts, 1818
- Sheila Tracy, writer, broadcaster, musician, trombonist, singer
- Enys Tregarthen, children's writer
- Sharon Tregenza, writer, novelist
- Kate Tremayne, writer, novelist
V edit
- Annabel Vernon, champion rower (2008 Olympics)
- Clara Coltman Vyvyan, née Rogers, an author and the wife of the 10th Vyvyan baronet
W edit
- Serena Wadham, feminist activist and photographer[38][39]
- Frances Wall, professor of applied mineralogy, first female Head of Camborne School of Mines,University of Exeter[40]
- Mary Wesley, writer, novelist
- Mary Williams (nurse), First World War Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital organiser[41]
- Venetia Williams, racehorse trainer
- Mary Wolverston aka Lady Killigrew, alleged pirate
- Brenda Wootton, Cornish poet and singer
- Lilian Wyles, First female police detective in Scotland Yard
References edit
- ^ "Constance Agar-Robartes". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "The Hon. Constance Margaret Agar-Robartes (1890-1936)". National Trust Collections. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "The First World War at Lanhydrock". National Trust. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Hypatia Trust: Women". The Hypatia Trust. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Victoria Frances Amran, director at The Cornish Food Box Company Limited, Truro". www.directorstats.co.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Lady Brittain". The Times. 7 January 1943. p. 7.
- ^ "Vera Carne". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Truro, Cornwall: Women's Land Army, World War One At Home". BBC. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Evelyn Clements". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Phyllis Doherty". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Have you tales to tell of the great migration?". Cornwall Live. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Search results". British Red Cross. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Liz Fenwick, Writer, Wife, Mother Of Three". The Hypatia Trust. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Author Interview: Liz Fenwick". Cornwall Today. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Melissa Hardie-Budden MBE". The Hypatia Trust. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Holledge, Richard (24 February 2009). "In England, Some Deals in the Cornish Market". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Faith Harris". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Corona Hicks". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Salome Hocking - Oxford Reference".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Jane Johnson: Author of the Month". Scholastic. Archived from the original on 5 December 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2010. [page needed]
- ^ "Marguerite Kesteloot". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Scott, Frank (2 January 2015). "To Sea in a Sailing Ship: A celebration of the Golden Age of Sail from the diaries and photographs of Mary Lang, girl sailor of the 1930s". The Mariner's Mirror. 101 (1): 107–108. doi:10.1080/00253359.2015.993901. ISSN 0025-3359. S2CID 163770247.
- ^ "Mermaids: Women at Sea, Maritime Museum uncovers the hidden histories of seafaring heroines". Culture24. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Mermaids: Women at Sea". Art Fund. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Jenner, Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/75066. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Margaret Lidgey". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Lynne., Mayers (2008). Bal maidens : [women and girls of the Cornwall and Devon mines]. Blaize Bailey Books. ISBN 9780955689611. OCLC 663435621.
- ^ Goskar, Tehmina (19 July 2013). "A short history of Alice de Lisle, Patroness of Penzance 1332".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Anna's Favourite Cornish Walks: Walk With Me". Good Cornwall Guide. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Kneehigh Associate Artists". Kneehigh. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Annie Phillips". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Beatrice Pole-Carew". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Portrait - National Portrait Gallery". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Lafayette, James (1890s), English: Lady Beatrice Frances Elizabeth Pole-Carew (née Butler) (1876–1952), retrieved 26 June 2017
- ^ "Mary Richards". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ 100 Faces - 100 Stories ¿title=Edith Jane Rouncefield http://www.100firstworldwarstories.co.uk/Edith-Jane-Rouncefield/story/ ¿title=Edith Jane Rouncefield. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Parsons, Rick. "West Penwith Resources - St. Ives Baptisms 1868-1901 (6)". west-penwith.org.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Person - National Portrait Gallery". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Serena Wadham Archive · Morrab Library Photographic Archive". photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Frances Wall". Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "Mary Williams". 100 Faces - 100 Stories. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
