Florence Umpleby, Teacher

Florence was the spinster daughter of Thomas, a Railway Porter, and Ann Umpleby of 214 Burton Stone Lane, York. She was an Assistant Mistress at Shipton Street Council School where she had been employed for nearly twenty years and had gained a reputation as a very capable and painstaking teacher. Her sister, Mabel, was a […]

Plummer Sisters, Milliners

The two Plummer daughters bearing the business name, Emma, born 1856 and Alexandra Annie, born 1864 were set up in their millinery business by their family. They had two millinery shops in York, one in Church Street and one in Feasegate. Plummer Sisters Millinery is featured in Kirkgate, the victorian street in the Castle Museum. […]

Rana Nasr, Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon

When meeting Miss Nasr, as a patient or interviewer, you are immediately struck by her amazing smile and the calmness about her. You feel safe. As I told her at our interview, this is very important when you know that soon you will be lying unconscious and she will have something very sharp in her […]

Kath Gent, Psychiatric Nurse

Kath Gent (1930 – 2017)  Kath Gent worked her way up the ladder in Nursing and became a pioneer in dementia. She was a bright and intelligent woman with a determined and positive character; Kath was highly principled and generous.  Her family was the centre of Kath’s life. Those close to her respected her and […]

Florence Wright, Education Officer, Castle Museum

Florence Wright (1917 – 1991) was education officer at the Castle Museum and used to give informative, historical talks to groups of schoolchildren about 45 years ago.  She always dressed in grey, had her grey hair in a bun and “was a lovely woman who will always be remembered”.  The former Queen Anne prefect was […]

Margaret Barnet, Doctor, York Public Health Service

Margaret Campbell Barnet (1917 – 2008) was born in Sunderland, daughter of Peter Campbell Barnet and his wife Margaret Bell. Educated first at Sunderland Church High School, she went on to study medicine at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland and was awarded her MB and ChB in 1941.  Margaret began her career in Birmingham working […]

Lisa Winward, Police Officer, Commander for the City of York

Lisa started her police career in North Yorkshire Police in 1993 as a Special Constable in York. She joined as a regular officer in 1994 and, working in Hull and Grimsby, was promoted to the rank of Inspector. She transferred back to North Yorkshire Police in 2008 and worked within the York and Selby senior […]

Nellie Nelson, Railway Porter

Nellie Nelson joined LNER York as a porter in 1940. In the second World War the Government needed to replace railwaymen who had joined the Forces. They asked women. Within a year there were over 80,000 women working on the railways as porters, guards, ticket collectors, van drivers, and mechanics, and in maintenance, signals and […]

Gina Huntington, Tennis Coach

Gina was born in 1938 in Hillsborough, Sheffield. She showed an early talent for tennis and on leaving school went to London to work for Fred Perry as an administrator, which financed her playing in tournaments,  equipment and travel etc.  She then turned professional as a player and got sponsorship from Dunlop/Slazenger in the 1950s. […]

Mona Armitage, Lord Mayor of York

Mona Armitage was the youngest of eleven children and her father was a furnace man. Born in Wallsend, Tyneside, she recalled that a day trip to York as a child left her with a lasting impression of a ‘fairy-tale city’. When she left commercial college in Newcastle she came to live with a sister in […]