If we were putting up a statue to a notable woman, who might that woman be? Let us say that we should have to confine our choice to the past tense. That would allow in Vera Lynn as well as Gracie Fields. Nellie Melba and Joan Sutherland have already been memorialised in this way.
So have notable women aviation pioneers – Amy Johnson at Herne Bay and Amelia Earhart in more than one place in the USA. For literary giants there are also statues – of George Eliot in Nuneaton and the Bronte sisters in Haworth.
Overall the number of women commemorated by statues is pitifully small. This opens our eyes to the fact that for centuries women in the UK have consistently been excluded from those pursuits and responsibilities that were reckoned to be the domain of men.
One conspicuous absentee from the parade is Octavia Hill. A founder of the National Trust, a dogged campaigner to provide decent housing for London workers and for open spaces for them to enjoy, she was born in Wisbech and was taught art by John Ruskin. She wrote books, recruited allies and also found time to start the army cadets. She died in 1912. The Octavia Housing trust is just one factor in her legacy. An impressive building in Wisbech houses a museum and an activity centre for her nationwide following.
Wisbech is conscious of its eminent connections. Surprisingly, it has a handsome memorial to Thomas Clarkson by Gilbert Scott but no more than a blue plaque commemorating its other notable citizen Octavia Hill. Octavia also has a toehold in the list of the great and good at the beginning of ‘Common Worship’.
Octavia Hill lived at a time when fortunes were being made in London. George Peabody, an American banker, was, like Octavia, seriously concerned about the plight of the poor in England’s capital city. He is regarded as the father of modern philanthropy. His Peabody Trust is today responsible for 66,000 homes in London and the South-East. He is commemorated by a statue. Octavia Hill is not. I think she is due for one.
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