Cherry Potts, Writer

Category: feminist

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 16th

    And today, let’s put on our glad rags and celebrate Rosa Bonheur March 16th 1822 – May 25, 1899 Oh my dear sir, if you knew how little I care for your sex you wouldn’t get any ideas in your head. the fact is, in the way of males, I like only the bulls I…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 15th

    No official candidate for today so lets skip ahead a day and celebrate with Caroline Herschel 16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848. Caroline was born in Germany and moved to England at the age of 22 to keep house for her older brother William, having been brought up by her mother to effectively be…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 13th

    Today we raise a glass to Janet Flanner, March 13 1892 – November 7 1978. Janet was a journalist, writing for the New Yorker, and as a war correspondent. She lived in Greenwich Village and there met and fell in love with Solita Solano (Sarah Wilkinson). Janet and Solita featured as Nip and Tuck, a pair…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 12th

    If not a fellow traveller,  today’s birthday belongs to someone who was definitely and definitively a traveller . Hester Stanhope 12 March 1776 – 23 June 1839. Hester was delightfully eccentric. She moved from being hostess for her uncle, Prime Minister William Pitt the younger, via a dramatic shipwreck at Rhodes, to become an archaeologist,…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 10th

    We’re going back to one of our birthday girls for the 8th March today: Louisa M Hubbard 8 March 1836 – 5 November 1906. Louisa was a tireless and practical woman who put her back into creating opportunities for women. She did not do so for political reasons, and made a lot of effort not to…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 8th

    International Women’s Day, and I have three birthday girls to choose from. So I’m going with the oldest, and we can catch up with the others later. Anne Bonny, 8 March 1702 – 22 April 1782 born in Ireland, emigrated to America at a young age, where her father did very well for himself. Anne…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 7th

    Today’s birthday girl is Lorena Hickok March 7, 1893 – May 1, 1968 known as ‘Hick’. Hick was a journalist, working in the 1920s on the Minneapolis Tribune when she met and lived with fellow reporter Ella Morse for six years. The combination of Hick’s diabetes and Ella’s elopement with an ex-boyfriend lead to Hick’s…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 5th

    Today’s celebrations are in honour of Dr Louise Pearce, 5th March 1885– 9th August 1959. Louise was an American research scientist who found a cure for sleeping sickness, doing tests on her own in the field in Zaire (Belgian Congo at the time) during a major outbreak in 1920, for which she was awarded medals…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 4th

    An actual Birthday! Hurrah, quick, light the candles before I find it’s a mistake. Emma Cons 4 March 1838 – 24 July 1912 Feminist, educator and stage entrepreneur, Emma ran what is now the Old Vic, in London. At the time it was a coffeehouse-come-music-hall, and she put on operas and Shakespeare. She was an…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party March 3rd

    Edith Lees Ellis, 1861-1916 socialist, feminist and writer, was the wife of Havelock Ellis, the sexologist. Her birthday is not recorded anywhere I can find it, so today is a random and arbitrary attribution. Edith was a member of the Fabian society and wrote regularly for The Freewoman. Havelock  characterised her relationships with women as…