Welcome to a Few Forgotten Women

We are very excited to reveal A Few Forgotten Women to the world. The aim of the project is to preserve the memory of some women who have, until now, been hiding in the shadows, forgotten by history. The women that you will meet here are those that we have discovered during our investigations into our own ancestry, as part of a one-name study, a one-place study, or when undertaking a wider project. Then there are the women that had no link to our own work but who cried out to us as we researched in the documents of the past. We hope that you will want to learn about the women whose stories we share.

Some woman are further on the margins than others and this project focusses on those whose lives were touched by issues such as poverty, illegitimacy, criminality, disability, alcoholism, prostitution, abandonment or mental ill-health. Often, several of these conditions go hand in hand, impacting on the lives of the women whose stories we seek to tell. Other women were less marginalised but lack descendants who can preserve their memory; they too find a place amongst our biographies. The nature of our site means that many of the stories we tell do not make easy reading. Please be aware that some of the biographies will contain material that some readers might find distressing.

We have been working on the project for several months and there is much more to come. We wanted to bring these ladies lives out from the shadows as soon as possible, so we are launching today with the first few biographies. Stand by for plenty more stories, updates to these accounts and much more. We can be found on several social media platforms and there you will learn when we add a new story or a new feature. We hope that meeting our no longer forgotten women will encourage you to tell the stories of your own.

If you enjoy visiting our site, please tell your friends.