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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…
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The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 31st January
Lets have a big hand and a whoop or two for Miss Tallulah Bankhead 1903-1968. Tallulah (her real name!) was a good actor who played a lot of bad women and I found this hilarious quote from Carl Elliot I fear Tallulah has suffered from the sometimes swashbuckling, sometimes naughty characters she played on stage…
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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…
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The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 27th January
Another day another no show – no birthday and I’m late posting the birthday card too. So standing in for 27th January is Mary Ann Talbot 1778-1803 also known as John Taylor, a famous cross dresser – so famous someone tried to impersonate her and was arrested for it! Mary Ann was raped and forced…
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The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 26th January
Today’s birthday belongs to Elizabeth Percy (26 January 1667 – 24 November 1722) the last of Queen Anne’s intimate lady friends. Elizabeth was one of the richest heiresses of her time and as such was the centre of many intrigues. She was married at 12 to Henry Cavendish, widowed at 13 and married again aged…
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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…
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The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 24th January
Once more, no candidate for the 24th January, so here is Catalina de Erauso 1585 – 1650ish – cross-dresser, soldier, adventurer, aka Antonio de Arauso, Alonzo Dias, the nun lieutenant. A word of warning: Catalina’s ‘memoirs’ weren’t published until the 19th Century. I’ve read two translations of what seem to be the same passage that…
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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…
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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…
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The Historical Birthday-Tea Party 20th January
late again! In my defense, an over-long dress rehearsal for Orpheus followed by a rehearsal for Vocal Chords put a bit of a dent in the day. So the 20th of January: not exactly a vintage day for lesbians, at least that I have found dates for – so lets meet Cicely Cornwallis, 1656 – 1723,…
Cherry Potts, Writer 