Towns

Colchester

Essex

Who's exploring?

You can change this any time in Settings.
Old records mostly wrote about men: kings, lords and priests. That doesn't mean women weren't here! These are women connected to Colchester that we know about. Can you find out about more?
B

Boudica

Her rebellion destroyed the Roman town
A queen of the Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the Romans in AD 60 or 61. Her rebels destroyed Camulodunum, then a Roman capital of Britain. A life-sized statue of her, sculpted in 1902, stands on Colchester Town Hall.
JH

Joanna Hille

Cast a church bell
In 1411 she cast one of the two bells in St Nicholas church: the first recorded example of a woman casting a church bell.
RT

Rose Thurgood

born 1602
From Colchester
A religious writer and Nonconformist Protestant.
SS

Susan Smythies

born 1720
From Colchester
A writer of stories.
JT

Jane Taylor

1783–1824
Lived here
A poet and novelist. She lived in West Stockwell Street, in the Dutch Quarter, from 1796 to 1810, and her poem 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' was published in 1806.
MT

Margaret Thatcher

1925–2013
Worked here
Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, the first woman to hold the office. After university she moved to Colchester to work as a research chemist.
SS

Sue Son

born 1985
Grew up here
A classical and crossover violinist. She moved to Colchester with her family when she was 9.
👭
In 2024, a statue of the writers Jane and Ann Taylor, sculpted by Mandy Pratt, was unveiled in Colchester High Street.