Eleanor Frewen Turner

Author Karima Shirfield, published by Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society in The Leicestershire Historian 59. Vol 59. pp. 56-62.

The lives of women of the past, when they have been recorded, have often been written because they were different from that of their contemporaries. Such women have been hailed as ‘pioneers’, ‘ahead of their time’ or ‘revolutionaries’ and, as a result, attract the interest of historians seeking to understand what set them apart and why. Whilst it is important that such women become known, there is however a risk that their more exceptional lives may eclipse those who did not break the mould per se but were more conventional. They may not have been trailblazers or spearheaded new movements like, for example, the suffragettes, yet such women deserve to be known too. Greatness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and this article argues Eleanor Frewen Turner was a great woman.

The article was awarded the runner-up prize in the BALH ‘long article’ category. and the award will be presented at the BALH AGM, to be held on 22 May 2025.

Please join us in congratulating both Karima and the long-standing Editor of the Leicestershire Historian, Joyce Lee, on this achievement.

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