Brighton High, Brighton & Hove High, Brighton Girls
Founded in 1876 by the Girls’ Day School Trust, Brighton Girls has provided an education to some remarkable women from the very start. Many of our former pupils have gone on to be pioneers in their fields, and we are proud to be part of their journey.
Dr Bargawi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, SOAS.
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Super-agent in the television series The Champions, who later founded ABC Animal Sanctuary at her home in West Sussex.
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Poet, writer, botanist, occasional teacher, shepherdess and also a campaigner for penal reform and social justice for the poor and disadvantaged.
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One of the first girls at the High to read for the Bar.
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A pioneer of her time, Dr Annette Benson was the Director and Medical Officer at the Cama and Albless Hospital, Bombay.
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Also known as Liza Beresford, author of children’s books, best known for creating The Wombles.
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In November 2022, Rosemary was selected as an ESA career astronaut. The first British female to be selected.
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Beth can often be seen on our TV screens, in addition to her theatre and film appearances.
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Louise was a pioneer in the research of nutrition of the elderly – founding the Geriatric Nutrition Unit (GNU) at Queen Elizabeth College – London University in 1968.
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Her Honour Judge Rosa Dean was appointed to the Sentencing Council in 2018.
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Pioneering translator – the first to translate Checkhov and Dostoevsky from Russian to English.
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One of the world’s leading age advocates and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
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Head of portfolio, strategy and operations, and chief of staff, for the Rare Disease Research Unit, Pfizer.
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Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She is the first woman to hold this professorship and was formerly Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Oxford.
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Judy Ironside is the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film.
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Former Liberal Party and current Liberal Democrat politician and chair of the Women’s Liberal Democrats.
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Best known for her broadcasting work on both television and radio, having hosted a number of documentaries on history, literature, nature and art for the BBC.
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Engineering leader with a broad technical background in distributed systems, games, and AI.
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British historian and epigrapher, focusing particularly on the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire. Barbara is recognised within her field as one of the leading Roman historians of her generation.
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Essayist, poet and novelist, the first Jewish woman to be admitted to Newnham College, Cambridge University in 1879.
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Academic and social campaigner, Rosalie combined her interest in the natural sciences with welfare for the poor.
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Ida Lupino was a movie star, writer, producer, groundbreaking filmmaker, and an all-around character. A brilliant renaissance woman, dubbed by one columnist “the last of Hollywood’s rugged individualists”.
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One of the first female civil servants and sought to improve working conditions, particularly for women, throughout her life.
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With countless honours to her name, Suzy is the world’s most famous fashion journalist.
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Woodgraver and artist, Gwenda’s works can be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum and many other national institutions.
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Maureen Muggeridge spent much of her professional life hunting for diamonds in Australia, where, in 1979, she discovered the now-famous Argyle deposit.
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Dame Fiona Elizabeth Murray DCMG CBE, is the Associate Dean for Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.
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Most famous for her role in the BBC’s Ever Decreasing Circles, in the role of Hilda.
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British academic, Liberal Democrat politician, member of the House of Lords, and former junior government minister.
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Dr Harriet O’Neill enjoyed a rich career in the arts – as Curator of Collections and Interiors (West London) for English Heritage, Assistant Director for the Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the British School at Rome, Exhibitions Curator at Royal Holloway London and Curatorial Assistant at The National Gallery.
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Theodora published a number of pioneering studies on geotropism, although at the time her work was often presented by male colleagues.
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Olympic Swimmer, 4 times World Champion, and 38 National titles.
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Estelle was awarded her MBE for her work promoting careers in engineering and science, and in particular in seeking to address gender balance in technical industries.
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Frances has gathered a number of impressive honours and awards, in her journalistic career. She is currently based in the USA, working for the Washington Post as Senior Writer on the America desk.
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Kalea plays with the Scottish Thistles, the national netball team for Scotland, and achieved her first senior international cap in December 2021.
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Writer and broadcaster and, until her retirement from teaching in 2021, Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Chemical engineer specialising in process automation. Emeritus Professor of Process Automation, Imperial College, University of London (retired 2021).
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Author of five books, including the internationally bestselling Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire.
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A multi-ward winning international director and a BBC Producer of drama and documentaries.
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Teohna works in international development & peacebuilding (United Nations, multilateral regional organisations, donors, NGOs, private sector)
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Dr Bargawi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, SOAS.
After A-Levels Dr Bargawi went to the University of Manchester for a BA in Economics and was awarded the prestigious T.S Ashton Prize for Economics. She followed this with a Masters in Development Economics and in 2009 received her PhD for Economics. She is currently working as a joint department head of Economics at the School of African and Oriental Studies and has been a lecturer in Economics since 2013.
Her recent research focuses on issues of gender and work in the Middle East and in Europe, and co-edited a volume entitled Economics and Austerity in Europe: Gendered Impacts and Sustainable Alternatives, published by Routledge.
Dr. Bargawi also works on East Africa where her research interests span gender, employment, macroeconomic policies and agriculture.
Class of 1998.
Super-agent in the television series The Champions, who later founded ABC Animal Sanctuary at her home in West Sussex.
Most familiar to viewers of 1960s TV as Sharron Macready in The Champions, she was also known for her language skills, speaking Italian, Spanish, French and German. This ability brought her to the attention of 10 Downing Street, where she worked as a translator, and afforded her the role of co-presenter of Miss World competitions with Peter Marshall in the 1980s.
Alexandra enjoyed a successful career in film and television including popular favourites Eastenders and Absolutely Fabulous.
In 1980 she married Patrick Garland, artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre. She set up the Alexandra Bastedo Champions (ABC) animal sanctuary at their home, later moving to West Chiltington, near Arundel. She was also a patron to a number of animal welfare organisations including Compassion in World Farming, Wildlife Aid Foundation, National Animal Welfare Trust, Greyhounds in Need and Naturewatch.
Her autobiography, Beware Dobermanns, Donkeys and Ducks, was published in 1993.
She died in 2014 from breast-cancer, but her charity continues to thrive, and is open to visitors.
Class of 1964.
Poet, writer, botanist, occasional teacher, shepherdess and also a campaigner for penal reform and social justice for the poor and disadvantaged.
Blanche Baughan was one of the first women to attend Royal Holloway College when it opened to students studying for University of London degrees. She left RHC in 1891 having gained the first first-class honours BA degree in Classics. She had already been actively involved in the suffrage movement during her student days and soon after Baughan became involved in social work in the slums of Shoreditch and Hoxton, in East London. Whilst tutoring the Duchess of Bedford, and some of her friends – Blanche’s experience of the slums vividly highlighted the vast gulf between rich and poor in England crystallising her views on social reform. Blanche settled in New Zealand in 1900, going on to found the New Zealand Howard League for Penal Reform in 1924. Her study of male and female prisoners, People in prison, was a controversial indictment of the treatment of prisoners and led to friction with those running prisons. She was especially critical of the treatment of prisoners with psychiatric disorders.
In 1935, she was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
One of the first girls at the High to read for the Bar.
By 1955 just two women had taken silk and only 64 women were practising at the self-employed bar. When Dawn went to university in 1957 to study law, only 528 women were practising as solicitors or barristers. Truly a pioneer of her time Dawn practised at the bar until her retirement, has a degree in Archaeology and works as a volunteer with English Heritage.
Class of 1957.
A pioneer of her time, Dr Annette Benson was the Director and Medical Officer at the Cama and Albless Hospital, Bombay.
She was an able administrator and was deeply concerned about the working conditions of women doctors. With the idea of improving their condition, she formed the “Association of Medical Women in India” in 1907 the first medical association of women in the world. The organisation proposed to advance the interests of medical women in India. Benson, the first President of AMWI, committedly worked towards raising its reputation in international forums. Complaints such as undue requirements of subordination to men, unlawful sudden dismissals, lack of incremental rates of pay and work-related and study-leave rules, provisions for retirement were frequently heard.
On 1st January 1914, the Women’s Medical Service was established by the Government of India and administered and financed by a revised Central Committee of the Dufferin Fund. The new service supplied medical relief to that segment of Indian women who for social or religious prejudice were unable to go to an ordinary hospital.
Annette’s campaigning work made it possible for women doctors to serve in the military hospitals during the 1st World War.
A museum opened at the hospital in 2019 focusing on Indian women doctors and their achievements, including Dr Benson.
“The first few women doctors were brave, dynamic ladies whose life stories are a source of inspiration. With this museum, we would like to motivate our students by showing them the devotion these women had for this hospital,” Dr Amita Joshi, current medical superintendent of the hospital.
Also known as Liza Beresford, author of children’s books, best known for creating The Wombles.
With godparents Walter de la Mare, who dedicated poems to her, the poet Cecil-Day Lewis, and the children’s author Eleanor Farjeon a creative future was perhaps inevitable for young Elisabeth. Born into a literary family, Liza worked as a journalist but found fame with her whimsical creation The Wombles, which along with their recycling theme, became popular with children across the world. The inspiration for the characters sprung from a walk on Boxing Day on Wimbledon Common, when her daughter referred to it as Wombledon Common.
The Beresford Building at school is named after her, and Wombles can occasionally still be seen wandering the corridors looking to “Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish”.
Class of 1944.
TV presenter, author, entrepreneur, money expert
Jasmine is best known as a Money Expert and TV and radio personality who puts the ‘funny’ into ‘money’. The ‘Miss Moneysaver’ columnist for the Daily Mail, Jasmine is also director of three companies, the founder of MoneyMagpie.com and author of 38 books. She is politically outspoken, a techlash exponent and an occasional stand-up comedian.
In November 2022, Rosemary was selected as an ESA career astronaut. The first British female to be selected.
Rosemary holds two master’s degrees from the University of Durham – a Physics degree in 2013 which focused on physics, mathematics, computer programming and astronomy which she then followed with a master’s degree in Astronomy, where she conducted research on gamma-ray emission from black holes.
Her studies then took her to the University of Sussex where she undertook a doctorate in astronomy. As part of this she spent time as a visiting scientist in Paris, a visiting astronomer at a Hawaiian observatory and travelled to further countries to present her findings at several international conferences.
Rosemary was announced as part of the European Space Agency in 2022.
Class of 2009.
Beth can often be seen on our TV screens, in addition to her theatre and film appearances.
After attending Brighton and Hove High School Beth went onto study at Birmingham University leaving with a double first in English and Drama.
Her roles on TV include Netflix series Dead Set by Charlie Brooker, Bafta-nominated series Funland (BBC iPlayer), Suspects, Merlin (BBC iPlayer), Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Eastenders and many more. Beth has most recently appeared in new Paramount+ series The Burning Girls.
Theatre work includes leading roles in the West End with The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Globe, The Almeida, St James’, The Orange Tree and Manchester Royal Exchange.
Film appearances include Learning to Walk Again (selected for 2021 Venice shorts film festival and Chicago indie film awards), Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson with George Mackay, Two Men went to War (with Leo Bill and Kenneth Cranham).
In addition to this, whilst also finding time to write, Beth is an Ambassador for Childline and has been awarded at the House of Commons for her work with the NSPCC.
Beth is our Alumna of the Month, December 2022 – read more here.
Class of 1994.
Founder of the fashion label English Eccentrics.
After attending Brighton & Hove High School Helen went on to study fashion and textiles at Camberwell School of Art, followed by post graduate studies at Central St. Martins. After completing her studies Helen founded English Eccentrics in 1983. By the 1990’s English Eccentrics reached popular and critical acclaim in winning the Glamorous Evening Wear category at the British Fashion Awards in 1999. In addition, Helen’s innovative designs became recognised worldwide after being worn by famous fans of the brand including Mick Jagger and Princess Diana among many others.
In the late nineties Helen decided to focus on other artistic projects, working as an artist from her London studio and focusing on various causes, from arts and education to female human rights.
Class of 1973.
Louise was a pioneer in the research of nutrition of the elderly – founding the Geriatric Nutrition Unit (GNU) at Queen Elizabeth College – London University in 1968.
The department, renamed the Gerontology Nutrition Unit, transferred to the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London in 1984 where she was an Honorary Senior Lecturer. At Brighton and Hove High School her favourite subject was English. In 1941 she won an Exhibition to study dietetics at Kings College of Household and Social Science, London University. The International Prize for Modern Nutrition has been awarded to Dr. Louise Davies. Her cookery book “Easy Cooking For One or Two” sold over a million copies. The book ranked 4 on the Penguin sales for that year. She was also the first woman awarded a prestigious international award for contributions to nutrition.
Class of 1940.
Her Honour Judge Rosa Dean was appointed to the Sentencing Council in 2018.
Rosa Dean was called to the bar in 1993 and practiced mainly criminal law on the Midlands and South Eastern Circuits. In 2006 she was appointed as a Deputy District Judge (crime) and in 2011 became a Circuit Judge. She is the resident judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Class of 1985.
Pioneering translator – the first to translate Checkhov and Dostoevsky from Russian to English.
Constance Garnett (née Black), sister of English writer, feminist and pioneering trade unionist, Clementina Black, had never left Sussex when she joined Newnham College, Cambridge, as a scholar at 17. She read Classics and Mathematics, honing her skills in the art of translation and the expression of precise meanings. She began learning Russian just before she turned 30 when she became friends with a gang of fiery exiles. Constance translated 71 volumes of Russian into English – the first to translate Checkhov and Dostoevsky.
“Her friend D. H. Lawrence described her sitting in the garden accumulating a tottering pillar of sheets on the grass alongside her. Of her Turgenev, Joseph Conrad, another friend, wrote, “She is in that work what a great musician is to a great composer—with something more, something greater. It is as if the interpreter had looked into the very mind of the Master and had a share in his inspiration.”
Sara Wheeler
One of the world’s leading age advocates and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Whilst at Brighton Girls, Sally developed a passion and talent for languages, and having taken her A-levels early by 1963 she was living in Paris as a student at the Sorbonne. Upon returning to England Sally took up language tuition and translation, whilst also importing radios! A committed humanist, she managed to juggle having four children with voluntary work with young offenders, becoming a magistrate, and undertook a degree at the LSE. She continued her teaching as a lecturer in European affairs prior to joining Age Concern England. She became Director General from 1987 until 2000, joint Chair of the Age Concern Institute of Gerontology at King’s College London, and Secretary General of Eurolink Age.
Greengross was made OBE in 1993 and was the recipient of nine honorary degrees.
Class of 1953.
Her obituary can be read here.
Head of portfolio, strategy and operations, and chief of staff, for the Rare Disease Research Unit, Pfizer.
After leaving Brighton & Hove High Sarah undertook a degree in Applied Biology and then a PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Hertfordshire. She oversees the Rare Disease Research Unit at Pfizer and has 27 years of neuroscience drug discovery experience.
She has served on a National Institute of Health Drug Discovery for Aging, Neuropsychiatric and Neurologic Disorders, Small Business Review Panel. She has a passion for mentoring and developing colleagues and leads the Pfizer Kendall Square Women’s Leadership Network.
Accoldes and awards include Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Rising Star, for leadership and significant scientific and business impact across Pfizer and the Leadership Award from Women in the Enterprise of Science & Technology.
Class of 1983.
Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She is the first woman to hold this professorship and was formerly Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Oxford.
In addition to this, Professor Gullifer is an associate member of 3VB, where she practiced for a number of years, and a Bencher of Gray’s Inn.
She teaches and writes extensively in all areas of commercial and financial law, is the editor of Goode and Gullifer on Legal Problems of Credit and Security and has co-authored a number of books on commercial law and debt financing. She is currently co-director of a project on digital assets, and is writing and editing a series of books on secured transactions law and reform around the world.
She was the founding director of the Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College, executive director of the Secured Transaction Law Reform Project, as well as the Oxford academic lead of the Cape Town Convention Academic Project. She is co-chair of the Academic Committee of the International Insolvency Institute and a member of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law.
Class of 1979.
An illustrator with a passion for architecture and landscapes.
After completing a foundation course in art at Brighton, Liz started illustrating professionally while still at art college studying Pure Illustration at Harrow.
She has exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society at Bankside Gallery, at the Mall Galleries (Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours) and also with the Society of Women Artists.
In her spare time she teaches & gives demonstrations to art groups.
Class of 1978.
Judy Ironside is the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film.
Judy started the Brighton Jewish Film Festival in 1997 with films, guests and educational screenings. By 2005 this had become a national organisation, the UK Jewish Film Festival and the major exhibitor of films with Jewish themes in the UK and in Europe. 2011 this re-branded as UK Jewish Film, with programmes of year round excellence and broader educational programmes. Judy has helped to ensure that films focusing on Jewish life, history, culture and experience are offered wide exhibition to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.
Judy is an Ambassador of The Forgiveness Project, a UK-based charitable organisation which explores forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict resolution through real-life human experience.
She was awarded an MBE in 2015, which ‘recognised the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the UK’.
Former Liberal Party and current Liberal Democrat politician and chair of the Women’s Liberal Democrats.
After Brighton and Hove High School Margaret went on to study Geology at St Hugh’s College, Oxford followed by a PhD in Geology (on Pleistocene Entomology – fossil beetles) at the University of Birmingham. She went on to become an IT programme manager, Anglican priest and political campaigner.
She was a member of the executive of the Women’s Liberal Federation, Chair of the Women’s Liberal Democrats 1989 to 1990 and vice-chair 1990 to 1992. In addition to this she was Chair of the Liberal Democrats London Region Candidates’ Committee from 2007 to 2010 and Chair of the Liberal Democrats English Candidates’ Committee from 2011 to 2013.
Having now retired, she combines a long-standing amateur interest in heraldry with a new-found enthusiasm for book history.
Joachim was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to women in politics, which was appropriately awarded to her on International Women’s Day March 2023.
Class of 1967.
Best known for her broadcasting work on both television and radio, having hosted a number of documentaries on history, literature, nature and art for the BBC.
As presenter of Woman’s Hour for nearly a decade, Martha’s interviews ranged widely and included Amy Winehouse, Hilary Mantel, Courtney Love, Arundhati Roy and Jane Fonda.
In 2000 she became Newsnight’s political editor. Since 1987 she has covered every election interviewing every British Prime Minister. She’s also covered every USA election since 1988 – interviewing American politicians including Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi and Bob Dole. While presenting the arts programme Newsnight Review for many years, Martha interviewed the artists Peter Doig, Anthony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Cornelia Parker and Ed Ruscha.
Her awards include Political Commentator of the Year (House Magazine), Radio Presenter of the Year (TRIC) and Best Individual Contribution to Radio (Voice of Listener and Viewer). Martha’s coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland were also BAFTA nominated.
Her television work includes documentaries on Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll and the Bronte sisters, Great Irish Journeys, several series about the honey bee and one about the Painted Lady butterfly.
Martha’s literary prowess and love of storytelling have seen her on the judging panels of the Man Booker Prize and Orange Prize for Fiction, to name just a few.
An avid beekeeper, she has also made several BBC programmes on the subject.
Class of 1976.
Engineering leader with a broad technical background in distributed systems, games, and AI.
Jennie headed off from Brighton to undertake a Computer Science degree at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, where she stayed on to undertake her MPhil in Computer Speech Processing.
Her career has included Microsoft and Google as well as several startups; she has also taught women to code, been a tour guide, and produced comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her technical specialization is in distributed systems and microservices.
After her role as engineering manager at Riot Games, working in research and development she went onto BossAlien as Director of Engineering and is now with the Deep Mind project.
Class of 2000.
British historian and epigrapher, focusing particularly on the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire. Barbara is recognised within her field as one of the leading Roman historians of her generation.
Barbara Levick is Emeritus Fellow and Tutor in Classics at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, UK. An ancient historian, writer and broadcaster, her previous books include biographies of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Vespasian, and of the Empresses Faustina I and II and Julia Domna.
Portrait by: Catriona Jane Cursham (1935–2015)
Class of 1949.
Essayist, poet and novelist, the first Jewish woman to be admitted to Newnham College, Cambridge University in 1879.
Whilst at Brighton she made lifelong friends with Constance and Clementina Black. Her letters show how much she admired Brighton’s first Head, Edith Creak, who was a profound influence for Levy’s model for what her era called the ‘New Woman’ —autonomous and achievement-oriented. Amy was a trail-blazer, who challenged the status quo. She died tragically young at the age of 27, unable to reconcile what Oscar Wilde described as ‘the cravings of her heart’ with the reality of her life. Oscar Wilde wrote an obituary which praised her gifts. A rebel to the end she left instructions to be cremated, contrary to Jewish law, and is therefore also the first Jewish woman to be cremated in England.
Academic and social campaigner, Rosalie combined her interest in the natural sciences with welfare for the poor.
Alumnae of Royal Holloway College and Lecturer at Kings College London. Rosalie Blanche Jermaine Lulham was a lecturer in Natural History from 1900-35, and Vice Principal from 1932-35 at the Froebel Educational Institute. Alongside her academic career Rosalie also took a great interest in the ‘social question’. In 1913 she went to Birmingham and there began to engage in social work. She had previously organised holidays for 5-year-olds and worked with blind children; but in Birmingham she worked at the Settlement in Summer Lane, a welfare centre for the poor when there was no welfare state.
Ida Lupino was a movie star, writer, producer, groundbreaking filmmaker, and an all-around character. A brilliant renaissance woman, dubbed by one columnist “the last of Hollywood’s rugged individualists”.
Ida’s father, Stanley, the king of musical comedy in Britain, further enriched the dynasty when he married Connie O’Shea, “the fastest tap dancer alive.” King Edward VII told Ida’s grandfather George, “You are truly the royal family of greasepaint.” Her sister Nell became a pioneering film artist with her own studio in Brighton.
Throughout her 48-year career, Ida appeared in 59 films and directed eight, working primarily in the USA, where she became a citizen in 1948.
She is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system.
One of the first female civil servants and sought to improve working conditions, particularly for women, throughout her life.
Author of “From One Generation to Another” (with her sibling Louisa). Hilda Martindale (1875-1952) was one of the first female civil servants and sought to improve working conditions, particularly for women, throughout her life. She joined the Home Office as a factory inspector in 1901 and became Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories in 1925. She then moved to the Treasury where she worked until her retirement – latterly in the prestigious role of Director of Women Establishments, with responsibility for 77,000 women civil servants. She founded The Hilda Martindale Trust in 1952 to fund British women attempting to establish themselves in professions dominated by men. The fund is still awarded annually.
In 1918 she was a recipient of one of the 1918 Birthday Honours – as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Alumnae of Royal Holloway College, University of London.
Brighton’s first female GP. Physician, surgeon, and writer.
Louisa also served as magistrate on the Brighton bench, was a prison commissioner and a member of the National Council of Women. She served with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals at Royaumont Abbey in France in World War I, and as a surgeon in London in World War II. Through her writings she promoted medicine as a career for women. Largely responsible for the foundation of the New Sussex Women’s Hospital.
Royal Holloway College, London School of Medicine for Women.
The new building at the Royal Sussex County Hospital was named in her honour in November 2022.
With countless honours to her name, Suzy is the world’s most famous fashion journalist.
After attending Brighton and Hove High School (Class of 1962) Suzy went to study dressmaking in Paris returning to England to study History at Newnham College, University of Cambridge, where she became the first female editor of Varsity, the renowned student newspaper.
In her role as Editor, Vogue International (2014-2020), she reported for 26 print and digital editions of Vogue in 18 languages, reaching an audience of over 74 million.
Class of 1962.
Woodgraver and artist, Gwenda’s works can be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum and many other national institutions.
Morgan was born in Petworth and attended Brighton and Hove High School in the early 1900s, going on to the Goldmiths’ College of Art from 1926. She followed this with attendance at the progressive art school the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in Pimlico, championing wood engraving and linocuts. Morgan was commissioned to illustrate several books including Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and Grimms’ Other Tales. Much of her work was inspired by the South Downs and her hometown of Petworth. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, an Honorary Member of the Society of Wood Engravers, a Member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptor and Engravers, and regularly showed work at their annual exhibitions. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her prints are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum in London, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, among others.
Maureen Muggeridge spent much of her professional life hunting for diamonds in Australia, where, in 1979, she discovered the now-famous Argyle deposit.
After leaving Brighton Girls, Maureen studied Geology at the University of St Andrews and then made her way to Perth, Australia. She became known as both an intrepid British geologist and mining executive – discovering the biggest diamond mine in the world in 1979 in Western Australia. The most significant diamond deposit ever found, the Australian Argyle Diamond Mine was the biggest diamond mine (by volume produced) for much of the time it was in operation. She died of a stroke in 2010 whilst prospecting.
Class of 1966.
Dame Fiona Elizabeth Murray DCMG CBE, is the Associate Dean for Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.
In 2020, Murray showed that women scientists are less likely to score highly on their grant applications because of the words that they use. Specifically, women are 16 % less likely to score highly on their grant proposals, which Murray attributes to different communication styles between men and women. She found that women use fewer of reviewer’s favourite words, and more of the words that are associated with lower scores. She also studied the differences between men and women’s patenting rates, as well as investigating where women inventors are located.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to science, technology and diversity.
Fiona is our Alumna of the Month, February 2023 – read more here.
Class of 1986.
Most famous for her role in the BBC’s Ever Decreasing Circles, in the role of Hilda.
Geraldine had a successful career in television and film appearing in television blockbusters such as Minder, Heartbeat, Keeping Up Appearances, Two’s Company, Mapp & Lucia and many more. Geraldine appeared in 30 film and television series during her career. Her films included Adam Adamant Lives!, Albert! and Six Days of Justice.
British academic, Liberal Democrat politician, member of the House of Lords, and former junior government minister.
Baroness Northover studied at St Anne’s College, Oxford University, later winning scholarships to the USA where she gained her master’s and PhD in the history and philosophy of science in 1981.
Northover was awarded a research fellowship at University College London and St Mark’s Hospital from 1980 to 1983, and a further research fellowship in 1983–84 at St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School in London. She was then appointed Lecturer at University College, London, and the Wellcome Institute. She is a former trustee of UNICEF and the Tropical Health and Education Trust, a council member of the Overseas Development Institute and Vice Chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Baroness Northover entered the House of Lords in 2000 and was appointed Health Spokesperson. In 2002 she became Liberal Democrat Front Bench Spokesperson on International Development. As a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union, she served on the Sub Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence and International Development, and Economic Affairs, Finance and International Trade. She was Chair of Women Liberal Democrats, the Health and Welfare Association and a trustee of the Liberal Democrats.
Class of 1972.
Dr Harriet O’Neill enjoyed a rich career in the arts – as Curator of Collections and Interiors (West London) for English Heritage, Assistant Director for the Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the British School at Rome, Exhibitions Curator at Royal Holloway London and Curatorial Assistant at The National Gallery.
After leaving Brighton & Hove High Harriet undertook her BA in Modern History at the University of Oxford following this with MAs in History of Art (UCL) and Art Museum and Gallery Studies (Newcastle). For her PhD entitled ‘Reframing the Italian Renaissance at the National Gallery’ she was based at UCL and the National Gallery, London. She held curatorial positions at the National Gallery and Royal Holloway, University of London and previously worked as specialist in frames and nineteenth- and twentieth-century art at Christie’s and Bonhams auctioneers. She was an Honorary Research Associate of the School of Modern Languages at Royal Holloway and a Trustee for the Sussex Archaeological Society. Harriet enjoyed a hugely successfully career in the Arts as Assistant Director in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the British School in Rome, and most recently as Curator of Collections and Interiors for English Heritage.
Harriet sadly passed away after a brief illness in May 2023.
Class of 1999.
Theodora published a number of pioneering studies on geotropism, although at the time her work was often presented by male colleagues.
After attending Brighton High School Theodora Lisle Prankerd went on to study botany Royal Holloway, University of London, first supported by a Founders scholarship, and then a Driver Scholarship. She graduated with 1st Class Honours in 1903,and then worked as a school teacher from 1904 to 1911, and was appointed as a lecturer in botany at Bedford College in 1912 to 1917. During this time she was a also a part-time Reader in Botany at Birkbeck College, London. In 1917 came an appointment as lecturer in botany at the University of Reading, where she lectured until her death. She gained her Doctor of Sciences degree from the University of London in 1929. Between 1922 and 1936 she published a series of pioneering studies in the growth of ferns in response to gravity (geotropism). Although she was credited with all the research and authorship of the published papers, her work was presented at various scientific meetings by male colleagues.
Olympic Swimmer, 4 times World Champion, and 38 National titles.
During her 20 year international career Karen won numerous accolades with 35 major championship medals, and 38 National titles despite breaking her back in a car accident in 1996. In addition Karen was 4 times World champion, broke 2 World Records and competed at 4 consecutive Olympic Games.
Since retiring from competitive swimming in 2005 Karen commentates for BBC 5 Live & Channel 4 on swimming (able bodied & disability) diving & open water swimming and also coaches.
She is passionate about giving elite athletes a voice and is a past Chair of the British Athletes Commission as well sitting on the executive boards of the English Institute of Sport & the BOA-Athlete Commission.
Class of 1990.
Estelle was awarded her MBE for her work promoting careers in engineering and science, and in particular in seeking to address gender balance in technical industries.
After leaving Brighton & Hove High School Estelle took up a place at Cambridge University to study Natural Sciences. Following this with a Masters in Metallurgy and Materials Science.
At university she was the first female chair of the Cambridge University Industrial Society and has been an active member of the Women’s Engineering Society for over 20 years, taking a leading voluntary role in the development of the activities of the Verena Holmes Lecture Fund. (Interestingly Verena Holes is an Oxford High alumna.) Throughout her career she campaigned for the development of the engineering workforce for women.
Before retiring Estelle was the Director of the Engineering Development Trust, developing and running the Headstart programme, Insight for girls and Routes into Stem.
She still keeps busy with her handmade jewellery, her love of metals taking her in a new and creative direction. You can see here pieces here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MBEJewellery
Estelle is our Alumna of the Month, November 2022 – read more here.
Class of 1976.
Frances has gathered a number of impressive honours and awards, in her journalistic career. She is currently based in the USA, working for the Washington Post as Senior Writer on the America desk.
As an international journalist Frances Sellers covered the 2016 USA presidential campaign, and was a member of the team that wrote the 2016 best-seller “Trump Revealed”. Sellers’ career as a reporter, editor and moderator has ranged widely from politics to the arts and sciences. She has written extensively about the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s political polarisation and cultural upheaval.
Honours and Awards: Visiting Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, 2017 – ; Visiting Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2017; Press Fellow, UN Foundation, 2015; Press Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge University, 2006; Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, 2003; British Thouron Scholar.
Frances is Alumna of the Month April 2023 – read more here.
Class of 1978.
Kalea plays with the Scottish Thistles, the national netball team for Scotland, and achieved her first senior international cap in December 2021.
Kali was apart of the Netball GDST Select VII team in 2019. In 2019 Kali also went to South Africa for the England Nets U21 world cup squad who came third. At Brunel University she was on the 1st team throughout her physiotherapy undergraduate degree. Whilst completing her degree, she was on the London Pulse U21 team who became NPL champions in 2021 and 2022. She has also been a part of the English University Netball Team in 2021.
Class of 2019.
Writer and broadcaster and, until her retirement from teaching in 2021, Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Rebecca’s fourteen books reflect her curiosity for history, archaeology, feminism, history of science, marine creatures, literature and, sometime ghosts. She is the author of two historical novels, Ghostwalk (2007) and The Coral Thief (2009), a biography of Charles Darwin called Darwin and the Barnacle (2003) and 2,200-year history of Darwin’s predecessors called Darwin’s Ghosts.
Her memoir, called In The Days of Rain: A Daughter, A Father, A Cult (2017), won the 2017 Costa Book Award in the Biography category. It details her childhood – growing up in the Exclusive Brethren, a highly secretive and separatist Christian fundamentalist cult.
She is a regular broadcaster on the Radio Four programme A Point of View.
Class of 1982.
Chemical engineer specialising in process automation. Emeritus Professor of Process Automation, Imperial College, University of London (retired 2021).
After attending Brighton & Hove High School, Thornhill read physics at the University of Oxford, following this with a master’s degree in control systems at the Imperial College London Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and the completing her PhD through part-time study at University College London.
From 1976 to 1984, she worked in industry at Imperial Chemical Industries and British Aerospace. In 1984 she returned to academia as a lecturer in the University College London Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 2007 she returned to Imperial College London to undertake the ABB/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair of Process Automation, retiring as professor emerita in 2021.
Class of 1972.
Joanna Tomlinson is a conductor, singer and vocal coach.
Joanna is the Principal Conductor of National Youth Girls’ Choir and conductor of the Whitehall Choir and Constanza Chorus in London. She is a member of the tutor panel for the Association of British Choral Directors and has conducted at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Notre Dame, Paris and Thomaskirche, Leipzig.
As guest conductor Joanna has worked with the National Youth Choir and Chamber Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, Royal College of Music Chorus, Epiphoni, Joyful Company of Singers and Wimbledon Choral Society. She prepared the National Youth Choir for Brahms’ Requiem at the BBC Proms 2022 with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov.
A highly experienced vocal leader and animateur, she has worked for Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort ROAR outreach programme, National Youth Choir of Poland, National Youth Choir of Wales, and the UK Choir Festival.
Joanna has conducted orchestras including the London Mozart Players and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She recently conducted the London Mozart Players + GDST present: A Summer Evening’s Concert at the Fairfield Halls.
Author of five books, including the internationally bestselling Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire.
Alex von Tunzelmann, Class of 1996, is a historian, columnist and screenwriter. She studied History at University College, University of Oxford. After this Alex worked as a researcher and columnist, including Reel History, a weekly column about historical movies for The Guardian Film Online.
In addition to her screenwriting and journalism, Alex is the author of five books, including the internationally bestselling Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Her most recent book, Fallen Idols, has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2022.
Class of 1996.
Research consultant and founder of the Children’s Book Project.
Liberty Venn founded the London Children’s Book Project, an organisation which distributes ‘gently’ used books to children across the capital, in 2017. By 2019 this unique project had already collected and redistributed 75,000 books, with over 150 organisations, including prisons, hospitals, food banks, women’s shelters and schools, having gifted the books to children with few of their own.
It was through her work as a researcher with literacy-oriented charities and with children’s publishers, that Liberty became aware of the crucial role that early access to books plays in children’s emotional development and in their outcomes. She was also alerted to the massive book gap in the capital, with one in four disadvantaged children in London owning fewer than 8 books, and one in eight having none at all – and she knew she had to do something to help. Her book gifting events are creative, immersive and designed to lift books from their second hand status.
Five London GDST schools are already amongst those that have supported the project with donations of books: Bromley High School, Kensington Prep, Notting Hill & Ealing High School, Streatham and Clapham High School and Wimbledon High School. Liberty has also been awarded a Point of Light award by the Prime Ministers’ office in recognition of the “difference [she is] making to children’s lives”.
Class of 1990.
A multi-ward winning international director and a BBC Producer of drama and documentaries.
In addition to producing programmes for the BBC on Joan Littlewood, Pina Bausch, Theatre in the Round, and the Moscow Art Theatre Faynia also worked with Tadeusz Kantor, Jozef Beuys, and Roger Graef in Russia for Channel 4. She has been Artistic Director of four theatres including the Tron, Glasgow, and Fellow in Theatre and Artist in Residence at Universities in the US and UK.
Actors, musicians, playwrights she has worked with include Alan Rickman, Mick Jagger, Harold Pinter, Liz Lochhead, Clarke Peters, Tom Courtenay, John Hurt, Wole Soyinka, Sian Phillips. Roles include Hon. President International Theatre Institute Dramatic Theatre Committee, and Former Chair Directors Guild GB, and finalist for the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award 2021.
Faynia is our Alumna of the Month January 2023 – read more here.
Class of 1957.
Teohna works in international development & peacebuilding (United Nations, multilateral regional organisations, donors, NGOs, private sector)
Teohna advises senior officials and develops programmes focused on improving security, stability, and governance in fragile and conflict-affected states.
She has first-hand experience in preventive diplomacy, investigating active violent conflict, and in development and humanitarian assistance. She spent 5 years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and has worked for a number of donor governments, international NGOs, and private contractors.
Teohna is an experienced trainer and facilitator and spent the first ten years of her professional life as an actor. She believes strongly in the power of the arts in peacebuilding and is committed to supporting individuals realise their potential.
Class of 1984.
British philanthropist and mental health reformer.
One of the earliest students at GDST Brighton High, Grace followed up her ground-breaking education with a place at Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), a newly established women’s college at the University of Oxford.
In 1898, following visits to London Mental Asylums and ‘Special Schools’ and feeling strongly that institutional care of this kind was completely inappropriate, she began organising country holidays in for under-privileged and disabled children from London. This eventually grew into a service that placed children permanently with families. The service was regulated and supervised by visiting officers and in 1913 the Guardianship Society was formed.
The Guardianship Society, is now known as the Grace Eyre Foundation. Grace looked after people all her life – she believed that people with disabilities should be cared for in the community, and she spent her life campaigning for this.
Her vision can be summed up: “The Society endeavours to provide bright and healthy surroundings and to try to inculcate a feeling of happiness and a sense of usefulness and confidence in all clients; thus giving them a place in the sun”.
Grace Eyre Woodhead died on 5 April 1936 but the charity she founded continues to flourish.
The Grace Eyre Foundation is now an inclusive, person centred service offering a diverse range of services in London, Brighton & Hove and across West Sussex: The successor to the ‘guardianship’ model continues in ‘Shared Lives’, with people living and sharing their lives with family carers.
The Grace Eyre Foundation is one of the oldest charities in Brighton.
Brighton & Hove named a bus for her, which can be seen on the 1A route, 636 Grace Eyre Woodhead. It passes close by the school, with many of our own students taking it back and forth across the city.
