Cherry Potts, Writer

Category: feminist

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 4th February

    Fourth February and another no show. So off we go back into the seventeenth century nd meet Mary Davys, 1674-1732. Irish/English playwright and novelist, when it was still pretty hard for a woman to get taken seriously. Here is a collection of delicious quotes: Is there such  a thing as Justice in Man? No Faith…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 2nd February

    I’ve not been able to find anyone with the 2nd of February as their birthday but I have two for tomorrow,  so let’s celebrate Elizabeth Blackwell, 3 February 1821 – 31 May 1910 the first woman to be awarded a degree in medicine in the USA. Blackwell was actually British, born in Bristol; when she…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 1st February

    Here we are at the first day of LGBT history month and I don’t has a lesbian with a birthday to celebrate with you. How Annoying! So here’s another remarkable woman whose date of birth I do not know.  Katherine Chidley, was married in 1616 an last heard of in 1653, but neither her birth…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 29th January

    Today’s birthday belongs to Robin Morgan, who is my first living invitee to the party. I did consider keeping it strictly historical, but she had and has such a big impact it seemed unreasonable to leave her out. Robin is the editor of Sisterhood is Powerful, (1970) one of those books that change the world,…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 28th January

    Here’s a woman not afraid to call a spade a bleeding shovel. Born in 1695, Anne Stainton went to Virginia (famous as a hunting ground for women in search of a husband) with her sister who was married to William Gooch, the colonial governor. She described herself as Two and thirty  years of Age, Ugly…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 25th January

    Well my dears, unless you don’t look at twitter etc at all, I suppose it might have escaped your notice that today’s birthday is celebrated on behalf of the magnificent Virginia Woolf. I hope she needs no introduction? I’ve had her picture on my wall for about thirty years. If you don’t know who she…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 23rd January

    Yes, I know, it’s a day late. I was singing all right? My and A’s first night at Orpheus & Eurydice, and a fun time we had, threatening the audience as furies. Hissed myself hoarse. Now in bed with a cold, but determined to throw it off by tomorrow lunchtime and the next performance. Anyway,…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 22nd January

    Once more, dear friends, there is no one specific for whom to bake a cake. Therefore, I delve again into the seventeenth century in search of someone to celebrate: Please give a warm welcome to Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle 1623 – 15 December 1673. Mad Madge, as she was known to people emphatically…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 21st January

    Today’s birthday girl is Sophia Jex Blake. 1840-1912. Sophia was one of the first women to qualify as a medical doctor in the UK, despite every attempt to prevent her. She was an ardent feminist who lived with and became a life long friend of Lucy Sewell. I am so impressed with Sophia that I…

  • The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 14th January

    Today’s birthday belongs to Jane Welsh Carlyle, 1801-1869. The only thing that makes one place more attractive to me than another is the quantity of heart I find in it. So, if you look Jane up on the web, you might wonder what she’s doing here, one of those archetypal good wives, you might think,…