Islington

A philanthropist, born in 1547 to an Islington landowner. In 1608 she got a licence to buy land at Islington and Clerkenwell for a hospital for ten poor widows, and she built a school, chapel and almshouses there. She was buried at St Mary's Church, Islington.

A poet and literary critic, born in Islington in 1782. With her sister Jane and others she wrote Original Poems for Infant Minds, first published in 1804.

A Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. Her family moved to Islington, where her mother opened a children's dress shop. In 1858, aged 12, she began night classes at the nearby Finsbury School.

A humanitarian known mostly for helping women and families who emigrated to Australia. In 1849 she founded the Family Colonisation Loan Society from her home in Charlton Crescent, Islington. A blue plaque at 32 Charlton Place marks where she lived.

An explorer, travel writer and observer of African societies, born in Islington in 1862. She travelled to the west coast of Africa from 1893, and wrote two widely read books, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899).

A music hall singer, comedian and actress. In October 1885, aged 15, she sang at Collins's Music Hall in Islington, at a special performance to celebrate the theatre's refurbishment. It was the first time she had performed outside Hoxton.

Born Mary Thomas, an educator and author who wrote as M. V. Hughes. She spent most of her childhood at 1 Canonbury Park North, and described life there in her memoir A London Child of the 1870s.

Born in Holloway in 1871, she became the first qualified woman dentist in Britain and the first woman president of the British Dental Association. An English Heritage blue plaque is on 3 Hungerford Road, Holloway, where she lived for her first twenty years.