Many of the women who made a big impact on the world as a whole were connected to London in some way. You can pay your respects to them visiting various landmarks associated with them during your next trip to the city. This will definitely freshen up the standard tourist routine, although some of the places you’ll visit are among the top London attractions.
Top 5 London Landmarks Associated with Great Women
1. Florence Nightingale Museum
The best place to start your personal tour is the Florence Nightingale Museum. The woman it is dedicated to was truly extraordinary and her contribution to the movement for equality and women’s rights is immeasurable.
Florence Nightingale was not only a great nurse who worked relentlessly to improve the UK healthcare system. She also played a major part in abolishing prostitution laws and improving women’s treatment at workplaces. Until this day, all nurses have to take the Nightingale Pledge when they graduate schools.
2. 10 Downing Street
Your next stop should be 10 Downing Street, which is the residence of the UK Prime Minister. You should be able to see it when taking the most popular walking tours in London because this place is definitely one of the most important landmarks in the city. It might not be as beautiful as palaces and cathedrals. However, the sheer magnitude of its role is the reason to walk these halls.
When you take this tour on your quest to visit places touched by the most powerful women in London, think of Margaret Thatcher. Not only was she the first female Prime Minister, which means she faced more opposition and had to struggle in the conservative British society. However, she was so good at her job that she stayed in the office for 11 years. This means that she served the longest term out of all Prime Ministers in the 20th century.
3. Emmeline Pankhurst Monument
The unprecedented political feat achieved by Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t have been possible if only a few decades prior, at the beginning of the 20th century, London didn’t have Emmeline Pankhurst. Her major role as an activist in the suffragette movement played a major part in women being granted the right to vote.
In a way, every woman today has something to thank Pankhurst for. London has many places where you can pay your respects to her and other activists who worked alongside this strong and admirable woman. Start with her memorial, but you can also visit her home on Clarendon Road, her grave at Brompton Cemetery, and her daughter’s (Sylvia) home at Cheyne Walk.
4. Marie Stopes House
Marie Stopes House is a modern-day birth control centre located in London. It might not look special in any way, but it’s the history of the place that inspires awe for many a woman. This centre is a ‘spiritual successor’ to the Marie Stopes clinic, which was the first ever birth control clinic in the UK.
Marie Stopes, who also was a women’s rights movement activist, was the first person who actually provided the women of London to get assistance and education in birth control. If that alone wasn’t enough, she made a great contribution to the field of paleontology and was the first woman who taught at the University of Manchester.
5. Agatha Christie Memorial
There is hardly a person who read a detective novel in their life who doesn’t know Agatha Christies. This woman proved to the world that women can be insanely successful by becoming the number one among best-selling novelists of all time.
Visiting Agatha Christies Memorial is a must for everyone who admires her not only as an author but also as an accomplished woman who managed to become successful at the time when few women had the chance to shine.