The UN’s 2025 theme for International Women’s Day is For All Women and Girls: Rights, Equality, Empowerment. It calls for “action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation—youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls—as catalysts for lasting change.”
As part of our action this year, we are shining a light on local women who have transformed and shaped the communities in which they live and work, creating a legacy that continues to inspire and transform future generations.
These twelve women are being recognised in a ‘blue plaque’ display at Godalming Library, curated by Surrey Hills Soroptimists and running in March.
| Clara Mary Lambert (1874 – 1969), Suffragette and social reformer
In 1903, Clara became a founding member of the Women’s Social and Political Union which campaigned for women’s suffrage in the UK. The Union became known as the “Suffragettes” from 1906 onwards. Clara committed many offences in pursuit of the Suffragettes’ campaign, including smashing windows of the Strand post office and destroying porcelain exhibits in the British Museum. She was imprisoned three times and force fed, receiving the Hunger Strike Medal (held at the Godalming Museum) for her dedication to the cause. Clara later joined the Women’s Police Service and, with her partner Violet Croxford, set up a refuge for former sex workers. They moved to Farncombe where they lived for 18 years before Clara’s death. Clara worshipped at St John’s Church and joined the Women’s Club there. |
| Edith Sichel (1862 – 1917), Writer and philanthropist
Edith Sichel was remembered by her contemporaries as a woman of great charm, witty, cultivated and cheerful. In 1890, with Emily Marion Ritchie, she established a home in Chiddingfold for orphan girls, many of them from the Whitechapel Workhouse. The 1891 census recorded a matron and 5 children (the youngest 4 months old and “name unknown”) at the home, which later that year moved to Hambledon. Edith Sichel and Emily Ritchie, who had met in London working for the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, moved to Hambledon themselves and continued to run the home until Edith’s death. Girls from the home were often given the surname Hope and were trained for domestic service as a way out of poverty. |
| Lyn Cornick (1945-present), Wildlife and Environmental Conservationist
With her partner, Graham, Lyn Cornick set up the Hydestile Wildlife Hospital (now known as Hydestile Resident Animals) after taking in their first animal, an injured deer, in 1978. Lyn had worked as a veterinary nurse for nine years and has used her experience and knowledge to devote her life to caring for and rehabilitating wildlife in the Godalming area. Lyn and Graham were awarded a lifetime achievement award at the International Fund for Animal Welfare 2021 Animal Action Awards for a lifetime of dedication to rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing sick, injured or orphaned wildlife. Thanks to Lyn and Graham’s work at Hydestile we have the education and facilities available for us in Godalming to be active participants and do the best we can for preserving the wildlife that surrounds us. |
| Mary Jane Brabazon, Countess of Meath (1847-1918), Founder of the Meath Home in Godalming
Lady Meath dedicated her life to helping others, particularly children. In 1885 she set up the Ministering Children’s League which helped children at the margins of society. It was in the workhouses that Lady Meath first saw children and adults with epilepsy. Lady Meath was not just a philanthropist but a very early pioneer in the care of people living with various challenging conditions. She travelled widely and observed how other countries cared for people. In 1892 Lady Meath opened the Meath Home of Comfort for Epileptics at Westbrook Place in Godalming for women living with epilepsy. Today the Meath Home still cares for people aged 18 to 80 plus living with epilepsy and her legacy lives on. |
| Isobel Clark (1924 – 2016), Social Vision – Practical Action
Most notably in 1978 in Godalming, Isobel set about, single handed, to set up the Citizen’s Advice Bureau which she ran until she retired in 1985. By this time the CAB was well established and has since grown from strength to strength. Working with great energy, humanity, integrity and determination Isobel turned her ideas into reality. |
| Mary Seton Watts (1849 – 1938), Painter, designer, ceramicist and social reformer
Mary Seton Watts was a central figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, living and working for many years in Compton, close to Godalming. With her husband, painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts, Mary created the extraordinary Watts Chapel in Compton, employing and training local people to make the intricate terracotta mouldings. She thought graveyards should not be ugly places and encouraged people to design their own gravestones to go in the chapel’s grounds. In 1904 she formed the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild, which promoted traditional crafts and created jobs for the local community. As president of the Godalming branch of the Woman’s Suffrage Society, she advocated tirelessly for social reform, particularly in the areas of women’s rights and education. |
| Gertrude Mary Tuckwell (1861-1951), Trade Unionist and social reformer
Gertrude was a passionate advocate for women’s rights, championing better protection for working women in particular. In 1909 Gertrude became President of the National Federation of Working Women, striving to protect women from industrial injuries. She highlighted the awful conditions in sweatshops, which predominantly employed women, and pressed for better pay and industrial conditions. In 1928 Gertrude formed the Maternal Mortality Committee to campaign for better conditions for working women during pregnancy and childbirth and later became the first woman Justice of the Peace for London. She continued to champion women’s health, training and employment rights until her death at home in Wormley, Surrey, at the age of 90. |
| Helen Allingham (1848-1924), Water colourist and Illustrator
Helen Allingham is regarded as one of the finest watercolour artists of Victorian times. She was born in Derbyshire and studied art, painting illustrations for periodicals and books, including for Thomas Hardy’s novel, Far From the Madding Crowd. In 1874 she married the poet William Allingham and the couple moved to Sandhills near Witley, from where Helen painted the images of rural life in Surrey for which she became famous, with her work being recognised as an important record of village life In 1886 Helen held an exhibition of 62 paintings of “Surrey Cottages” at the Fine Art Society and in 1890, she became the first woman to be admitted as a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society. The Allinghams’ illustrious friends included Alfred Lord Tennyson and Gertrude Jekyll, one of whose gardens Helen painted – this painting is displayed in Godalming Museum. |
| Julia Frances Huxley (1862-1908), Founder, Prior’s Field School, Godalming
In 1889, Julia Huxley and family moved to Farncombe Hill (now Huxley Close) with her husband Leonard, a teacher at Charterhouse. A legacy gave her the chance to open her own school and in 1901 she bought Priors Garth at Hurtmore and five plots of land, formally of Newark Priory in Ripley. The school opened in January 1902 with six girls and one boy, Julia’s son Aldous. The school grew with an extra wing in 1904 and a gym in 1906. Prior’s Field School now caters exclusively for girls aged 11-18 and currently has over 400 pupils. Julia died of cancer in 1908 aged only 46 and she is buried in the Watts Chapel Cemetery in Compton. |
| Enid Algerine Bagnold (‘Lady Jones’) (1889-1981), Novelist and Playwright
The daughter of an Army officer, Enid attended Prior’s Field School near Godalming. After completing her education in Paris, she became a journalist and during the First World War, a nurse with the British Women’s Services. In 1920 she married Sir Roderick Jones (1877-1962) Chairman of Reuters, the international news agency. Enid wrote a number of acclaimed plays including Lottie Dundass (1941), The Chalk Garden (1955) and The Chinese Prime Minister (1964), performed both in London and New York with well known actors of the day including Gladys Cooper, Siobhan McKenna and Margaret Leighton. The latter two plays were also made into films. She also wrote acclaimed novels. National Velvet (1935) is her most famous. Made into an Oscar winning film in 1944, 14 year old Velvet Brown, played by Elizabeth Taylor, trains and rides her horse, The Piebald to victory in the Grand National. In 2021 Rachel Blackmore became the first female jockey to win this race turning Enid’s forward-thinking vision into a reality. |
| Mary Wondrausch (1923 – 2016), Trail blazing potter
Mary Wondrausch was a potter, painter and writer and was particularly well known for her slip-decorated earthenware, commemorative plates being her speciality. After training at Farnham School of Art, Mary set up her own pottery, first in Godalming and later in Farncombe. In 1955 she bought ‘Brickfields’ in Compton and in 1984 moved her pottery there. Mary received the OBE in 2000 for services to the arts and wore a papier-mâché hat based on one of her slipware plates to receive the honour, a demonstration of her eccentricity and exuberant personality. Godalming Museum has on display the Compton Triptych, three terracotta heads created by sculptor Jon Edgar. Mary is one of the three selected to represent Compton and the diverse figures who contributed to this Community. |
| Octavia Hill (1838-1912), Social reformer and a founder of the National Trust
Octavia Hill grew up with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty. Her main concern was the welfare of city dwellers and her campaign work focused on housing, women’s education and poverty. She also was a pioneer of the Army Cadets. Another of Octavia’s concerns was the availability of open spaces for poor people. She campaigned to save sites in London from being built on and was a founder member of the National Trust. Hydon’s Ball and Heath in Godalming is one of the earliest acquisitions of the National Trust. It has a memorial to Octavia Hill. It’s one of the highest points in Surrey with magnificent views towards Sussex. Although she did not live in the Surrey Hills, Octavia’s work still benefits everyone here to this day. |
