Janet Looker, Lawyer and Politician

Janet moved to York in 1965, when her husband joined the, then very new, York University. She was pregnant, and looking after a two-year old. She became aware of the limited childcare provision in the city at that time, and decided to try and change this. She recalls that getting involved in the voluntary sector was also […]

Sarah Fraser, Medical Officer, Doctor

Sarah Louise Fraser was born in Inverness in 1874. Her father was an iron founder manager, and she was educated at Bedford College, London. Sarah studied medicine at the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women, qualified in 1901 and gained her M.D. in 1908, but was not allowed to work in a […]

Christian Howard, Ordination of Women

Christian Howard was the eldest daughter of Gerald Howden of Castle Howard, a Liberal politician and his wife Ethel Christian Methuen. Both her parents died in the 1930s. Christian felt that she never had a proper youth because two of her brothers were killed in WW2. As a very young woman, therefore, she was responsible […]

Nellie Hewitt, Workhouse Nurse

In 1914, when war was about to engulf Europe, a young parlour maid in domestic service applied to become a probationer nurse at the York Union Workhouse on Huntingdon Road. Nellie Hewitt (1892- 1943) was born in Sheffield and the 1911 census shows that she was a patient in York County Hospital at the age of 18. She had […]

Janet Walker, Social Worker

Janet Walker (1935-2017) was a remarkable woman; a nurse, social worker, scholar, teacher, bibliophile, craftswoman and singer. Janet was born Janet Taylor, on 27 October 1935, to Robert and Marjorie and was brought up in Barmby Moor in the East Riding of Yorkshire. She was a bookish child, who at the age of eleven, excelled […]

Marilyn Crawshaw, York Human Rights City

Marilyn (born 24 December 1949) was a social worker for many years, later coupled with her work as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of York where she is now an Honorary Fellow.  She was a founder member of the British Infertility Counselling Association and has for many years chaired PROGAR, the UK […]

Karen Stanton, Vice Chancellor

After a significant career in higher education, Professor Karen Stanton joined York St John University as Vice Chancellor in September 2015, one of the few female Vice Chancellors in the UK. In 2017 still only 1/5th of universities were led by a woman. As the head of one of York’s key anchor institutions, Karen Stanton […]

Esme Madill, Refugee Action York

Esme Madill, born in 1966, lived in York for nineteen years (1999-2018). A passionate campaigner on behalf of refugees she co- founded Refugee Action York in 2002. RAY has had a huge impact on the lives of asylum seekers in the city. Esme said: “I was drawn to working with refugees and asylum seekers because […]

Violet Rodgers Wloch, Curator, York Castle Museum

Violet Rodgers Wloch (1914-1978) was born in Bradford and began working for Dr John Lamplugh Kirk in 1938, age 24. Dr Kirk, of Pickering was an avid collector of ‘bygones’, and whose vision was to show objects in their original context. His collection, opened as York Castle Museum in 1938, has since been visited by […]

Yvonne Copley, Founder of Kyra

Yvonne Copley is the Executive Director and founder of Kyra, an organisation run for women by women in York which provides a safe, supportive haven without judgement or expectations. Yvonne led the establishment of Kyra in 2015. Working in a high-profile role in the prison rehabilitation service and as a volunteer with Samaritans in York, […]