What's On

Here are some events that the A Few Forgotten Women Team are involved in, collectively or individually. Follow the links for further details, or to contact the organisation running the event. Some events may be restricted to members of the hosting society only.

25 September 2026 Forgotten Women Friday Looking East: Women from Herringfleet

7-16 October 2026 All About That Place. A Few Forgotten Women are sponsoring this event and several of the team are giving ten minute talks talks.

Day 1: 7th October - Getting Started

Reflecting and Directing Your Genealogy Journey: Helen Shields

Do you remember your first tentative family tree? Take some time to celebrate how far you have come and recognise where you are today. Intentionally create the future researcher you want to be.

Day 2: 8th October - Health and Medicine

Public Health in Practice: Dr Keer of Plomesgate: Liz Craig

John Cordy Keer was Medical Officer of Health for the Plomesgate district of Suffolk for 54 years. In this talk, we explore the vital public health work of the Medical Officer of Health throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We uncover how these local Medical Officers of Health battled infectious diseases, poor sanitation, and rural housing issues. We will also discover practical strategies for researching historical public health records using local archives, council minutes, and local newspapers to reconstruct this fascinating history.

Plagues, Agues and Noxious Wind: Mistress Agnes’ guide to effective cures: Janet Few

You will be transported back to the seventeenth century, where all kinds of pestilences and ills abound and NHS stands for No Hope Surgery. Suffering from plague, pestilence or noxious wind? Wounded in battle or feeling melancholy? Forget the physician and apothecary who will deprive you of many groats. Avoid the barber surgeon, with his sharp tools and his propensity to indiscriminately remove body parts. Instead, consult Mistress Agnes, a goodwife who will cure you of all ills. All that is requested is that you do not invite the witchfinder.

Day 3: 9th October – Tools

Reflecting on Your Place Research: Helen Shields

Do you have a place of interest that you are researching? Take some time to consider your achievements and explore future possibilities

Day 4: 10th October – Military and War

Don’t Be Fooled by the Cardigan: Margaret Roberts

Not all grandmothers were quiet, compliant or particularly good at following orders. A single family photograph opens the door to an unexpected First World War story. This talk explores how official records can quietly, and sometimes cheekily, rewrite everything we think we know about the people we loved.

Wither Thou Goest: Ann Simcock

My 4x Gt Grandmother, Ann Shingler, accompanied her husband, John Upton, when he went to fight in the Peninsular War. The presentation uses Ann’s story to highlight the lives of women who were present in the theatre of war itself

Day 5: 11th October – Work and Fun

Galloping Without a Horse: Margaret Roberts

Beginning with a wonderfully optimistic Victorian invention, this talk explores a contraption that promised health, vigour and fresh air, all without leaving the drawing room. Part exercise machine, part escapist fantasy, the Horse-Action Saddle offers a charming glimpse into a world where ingenuity, confidence and faint ridiculousness went hand in hand.

Day 6: 12th October – Collections and Archives

Day 7: 13th October – Changing Places

Day 8: 14th October – Innovation

Day 9: 15th October – Politics and Rights

The Importance of being Harriet: Margaret Roberts

When a respected educator found herself at the centre of a legal confrontation, the tidy narrative of her career became far more complicated. This talk reveals how one courtroom episode reshapes our understanding of a seemingly conventional Victorian life.

John Codd: A Forgotten Man: Janice Brinley Codd

In the aftermath of the 1839 Chartist’s march on Newport, it suited the authorities to forget the names of the men who died at the Westgate Hotel in Newport, but its time that their stories were told. This is the story of one of the forgotten Newport Martyrs - John Codd from his birth in Nolton, Pembrokeshire, his working life as a blacksmith in the dockyard at Pater (Pembroke Dock) to his death at the hands of the army in Newport.

Day 10: 16th October – Sharing Stories

Sudbourne Village Life Through the Lens of the School Log Books: Liz Craig

“Village Life Through the Lens of the Log Books” explores the history of Sudbourne School from its 1875 opening to its dramatic 1942 closure. Far from being dry records, these logs offer a vivid window into a rural Suffolk community. We will discover the constant battle between compulsory education and the agricultural harvest, the devastating impact of Victorian epidemics, the strict gaze of the school nurse, and the generous patronage of local gentry, culminating in the poignant WW2 evacuation of the village.

The Other Half of the Story: giving women a place in the family narrative: Janet Few

An introduction to the course Putting Your Female Ancestors into Context Women often get overlooked by history. In a patriarchal society, it is the men who spring most readily from the historical record. Discover why breaking through these barriers to share their unique narratives is vital for a complete family history. You will learn practical strategies to start writing immediately, alongside creative techniques for using social context to transform fragmented facts into powerful, engaging stories.

9 October 2026 Launch of the A Few Forgotten Women book Once Hidden Now Heard: remembering women's lives More details to follow, the launch period will end on 18 October.

9-11 October 2026 Devon Family History Society 50th Birthday Residential Conference. The Sunday, which is International Day of the Girl, will be devoted to presentations with a female focus, including those from Forgotten Women team members Helen Shields and Margaret Roberts

7 November 2026 Marginalised Devon Women a presentation by Janet Few for the Devonshire Association's Proper Maids: More Remarkable Women of Devon Conference

18 January 2027 The Ill, the Impoverished, the Illegitimate and the Insane: researching our marginalised ancestors an online talk by Janet Few for Sheffield Family History Society

22 January 2027 Forgotten Women Friday

10 May 2027 Putting your Female Ancestors into Context start of a 5 week online course from Janet Few for Pharos Tutors

22 June 2027 Doxies, Dolly-mops and Dressmakers: the history of prostitution 1780-1930 a presentation by Janet Few for Pharos Tutors webinar online

17 November 2027 The People who Families Forgot: stories of asylum inmates a presentation by Janet Few for Rydale Family History Group online