ERO Presents: Essex Women’s Commemoration Project

Speaker: Dr James Bettley

The Essex Women’s Commemoration Project (EWCP) was set up in 2021 by the Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst, following an approach from Essex theatre director Graham Watts who wanted to mark the quatercentenary of the birth of playwright and philosopher Margaret Cavendish, born in Colchester in 1623. Mrs Tolhurst asked Graham and four others to form the EWCP team to identity distinguished Essex women who had not received the public recognition it was felt they deserved, and to work with local councils, societies and other partners to erect blue plaques in their memory. By the end of 2024 33 blue plaques to Essex women had been erected across the county, with a few more in the pipeline due to be unveiled before the EWCP officially winds up at the end of 2025.

James Bettley, one of the members of the EWCP team, is an architectural historian whose publications include the 2007 edition of the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Essex.

Captions

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1. The Lord-Lieutenant and the EWCP team at the unveiling of the blue plaque to Margaret Cavendish, Colchester, 22 September 2021 (l to r: Roy Clare, Juliet Townsend, Graham Watts, Jennifer Tolhurst, James Bettley and Julia Abel Smith, with artwork by Juliet Townsend).
2. Family members at the unveiling of the plaque to Myra Sadd-Brown, Maldon, 14 November 2022.

Above: The Lord-Lieutenant with the plaque to Katherine Mina Courtauld, Colne Engaine village hall, unveiled 11 March 2022, with artwork by Juliet Townsend.