Joan Maw, Air Raid Warden
On the 28th October 1940 the Luftwaffe bombed the city of York. The A.R.P. report of this raid states that Miss Joan Maw of No.41 Elmfield Avenue was commended for ‘special comment’. Census records of 1939 show that Joan Maw was only 19 years old at the time of this raid. She was living with […]
Haleh Afshar, Crossbench Peer
Haleh Afshar (BA York, PhD University of Cambridge) teaches Politics and Women’s Studies at the University of York and serves as a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. In 2005 she was awarded an OBE for services to equal opportunities. She was born and raised in Iran where she worked as a journalist and […]
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 […]