B

Baard, Francina
South African activist, leader of the African National Congress (ANC). Banished (1969)
(b. 1920, Port Elizabeth, South Africa)

Baarova, Lida
Bohemian actress
(b. Nov 16, 1914, Prague, Bohemia – d. Oct 27, 2000, Salzburg, Austria)

Babanova, Maria Ivanovna
Russian actress, Popov’s Romeo and Juliet, the heroine of Arbusov’s Tanya.
(b. 1900)

Babcock, Edwina Stanton
American poet, Greek Wayfarers, and Other Poems (1916) : The Flying Parliament, and Other Poems (1918)
: Nantucket Windows (1924).
(fl. c1895 – after 1924, b. Nyack, New York)

Baber, Alice
American abstract painter
(b. 1928, Charleston, Illinois – d. Oct 7, 1982)

Bacall, Lauren
American actress, Key Largo (1948) : Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
(b. 1924, New York)

Bacewicz, Grazyna
Polish composer, violinist, and novelist, Muzyka (1958) : Znak szczegolny (Outstanding feature) (1970).
(b. 1909 – d. 1969)

Bach, Anna Magdalena
German musician and vocalist, the Anna Magdalena Notebook (1722 – 1725)
(b. 1701 – d. 1760)

Bache, Constance
British composer, translator, and librettist, sister of Walter and Edward Bache.
(b. 1846 – d. June 30, 1903)

Bacheracht, Therese von
German traveller and novelist, author of Briefe aus dem Suden (1841) : Lydia (1844). She resided in Java, Indonesia from 1849.
(b. July 4, 1804, Wurttemburg – d. Sept 16, 1852, Cilacap, Java)

Bachmann, Charlotte Caroline Wilhelmine
German vocalist and musician, a talented pianist and Lieder composer, she was admitted as a member of the Berlin Academy of Singers (1791)
(b. Nov 2, 1757, Berlin, Prussia – d. Aug 19, 1817, Berlin)

Bachmann, Ingeborge
Austrian writer and poet, Die gestundete Zeit (1963) : Der gute Gott von Manhattan (1958).
(b. 1926 – d. 1973, Rome, Italy)

Bachofen von Echt, Claudia (originally Johanna Bernhardine)
German Catholic religieuse, she was a nursing and theatre sister, Mother Superior of the Sisters of Clemency, Munster 1911 – 1922
(b. Jan 21, 1863, Munster, Westphalia – d. Oct 6, 1922, Munster)

Backhouse, Margaret Holden
British portrait miniaturist and sketcher
(fl. 1846 – 1882)
 
Baclanova, Olga
Russian actress
(b. 1900 – d. Sept 6, 1974)

Bacon, Alice Mabel
American educator, lecturer and author, specialist in Japanese culture, Japanese Girls and Women (1891) : In the Land of the Gods, Some Stories of Japan (1905).
(b. Feb 6, 1858, New Haven, Connecticut – d. May 1, 1918)

Bacon, Josephine Dodge Daskam
American poet and author, Middle-Aged Love Stories (1903) : The Inheritance (1912) : Medusa’s Head (1926) : The World in His Heart (1941).
(b. Feb 17, 1876, Stamford, Connecticut – d. July 29, 1961)

Bacon, Mary Schell
American author, used the pseudonym ‘Dolores Marburg,’ I Will Ne’er Consent (1888) : The Soul of a Woman (1897), compiler of Songs That Every Child Should Know (1906).
(b. Nov 20, 1870, Atchison, Kansas – d. June 2, 1934)

Baddeley, Angela
British actress, best remembered as the cook, Mrs Bridges in Upstairs, Downstairs.
(b. 1904 – d. Feb 22, 1976, London)

Baden-Durlach, Franziska Sibylla of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of
German regent and architectural patron.
(b. 1675 – d. 1737)

Baden-Powell, Olave St Clair Soames, Lady
British Girl guide organizer, Chief Guide of the World 1930 – 1970. DBE (1932)
(b. 1889, Dorset – d. 1977)

Badruddin, Gitaujali
Indian child poet, Poems of Gitaujali (1982)
(b. 1961, Meerut – d. 1977, Bombay)

Baez, Joan
American folk and political protest singer, Joan Baez (1960) : Diamonds and Rust (1973).
(b. 1941, Staten Island, New York)

Bage, Jessie Eleanor
Australian community activist, assistant comptroller VAD’s, Victoria (1928)
(b. 1890, Melbourne, Victoria – d. 1980, Melbourne)

Baghdad Khatun
Jalayirid queen, wife (1323) Shaykh Hasan Buzung.
(b. c1306 – beaten to death, 1335)

Bagration-Moukhransky, Princess Nino Alexandrovna
Georgian princess, lady-in-waiting to Alexandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas II.
(b. Sept 14, 1882, Tiflis, Georgia – d. Nov 10, 1972, Nice, France)

Bagryana, Elisaveta
Bulgarian poet, Savremenna misal (1915) : Seismograph of the Heart.
(b. 1893 – d. 1991)

Bailey, Abigail Abbot
American journal writer, an abused wife who successfully sued for divorce (1793).
(b. 1746 – d. 1815)

Bailey, Frankie (Frankie Walters)
American actress, dramatist, and vocalist, ‘The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs’.
(b. 1859 – d. July 8, 1953)

Bailey, Mary Westenra, Lady
British aviatrix, first woman to fly across the Irish Sea (1927).
(b. 1890 – d. 1960)

Baillie, Frances Anne Bruce, Lady
British courtier, she was lady-in-waiting to Marie Alexandrovna, Duchess of edinburgh, the daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria.
(b. 1831 - d. Aug 16, 1894)

Baillie, Grizel Home, Lady
Scottish traveller, poet, and memoirist, Memoirs (1822).
(b. Dec 25, 1665, Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire – d. Dec 6, 1746)

Baillie, Joanna
Scottish poet, Fugitive Verses (1790) : Plays on the Passions (1798 – 1812).
(b. 1762, Lanarkshire – d. 1851)

Bain, Barbara
American actress, Mission Impossible (1966) : Space 1999 (1975) : American Gun (2002).
(b. Sept 13, 1931, Chicago, Illinois)

Bajer, Matilde
Danish feminist, founder of the Danish Women’s Progress Association (1886).
(b. 1840 – d. 1934)

Baker, Anne Elizabeth
British philologist, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases (1854).
(b. June 16, 1786, Northamton – d. April 22, 1861, Northampton)

Baker, Augusta Braxston
American educator and children’s librarian, Storytelling : Art and Technique.
(b. 1911, Baltimore, Maryland – d. Feb 23, 1998, Columbia, South Carolina)

Baker, Dorothy
American writer, Young Man With a Horn (1938).
(b. April 21, 1907, Missoula, Montana – d. June 17, 1968, Springfield, California)

Baker, Fay
American actress
(b. 1894 – d. Nov 13, 1954)

Baker, Dame Janet Abbott
British mezzo-soprano, Owen Wingrave : Alceste (1981) : Dream of Gerontius, DBE (1976).
(b. 1933)

Baker, Josephine (1) (Sara Josephine)
American physician and public health worker, overseer of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ for twenty-five years.
(b. 1873 – d. 1945)

Baker, Josephine (2)
Black American revue dancer, and actress, Princesse Tam-Tam/Moulin Rouge (1935).
(b. 1906, St Louis – d. 1975)

Baker, Sarah
British theatre proprietor and company director, patron of Edmund Kean.
(b. 1736 – d. 1816)

Baketaten
Egyptian princess, daughter of Amenhotep III, sister of Akhenaton.
(b. c1367 – d. c1348 B.C.E.)

Balabakki, Layla
Lebanese Shi’ite novelist, I Live (1958) : A Spaceship of Tenderness to the Moon.
(b. 1936)

Balabanoff, Angelika
Russian-Italian socialist, Traitor or Fascist (1942) : Conquest of Power (1943) : Tears (1943).
(b. 1878, Milan, Italy – d. d. 1965, Rome)

Balas, Iolanda
Romanian athlete, Olympic gold medals (1960)and (1964) for high jump.
(b. 1936)

Balbi, Rosina
Italian dancer, performed with Frantzel in London.
(fl. c1730 – 1760)

Balbina
Roman Christian martyr, drowned with her parents. Patron of sufferers of scrofula.
(b. c110 – d. March 31, 130 C.E.)

Balfour, Lady Ruth
British community activist, CBE (1941).
(b. 1888 - d. Aug 30, 1967)

Ballasko, Viktoria von
German stage and film actress, Luise in Schiller’s Kabale und Liebe, Trenker’s Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (1936) and Georg Tressler’s Die Halbstarken (1956)
( b. Jan 24, 1909, Vienna, Austria – d. May 10, 1976, Berlin, Prussia)

Ball-Hennings, Emmy (Emmy Hennings)
German writer, her letters to Hermann Hesse, Briefe an Hermann Hesse (1950), She also wrote expressionist poetry, Die letzte Freude (1913), fairy tales and legends, Marchen am Kamin (1943)
(b. Jan 17, 1885, Flensburg – d. Aug 10, 1948, Soregno, Tessin Canton, Switzerland)

Ballin, Ada S.
British educator, journalist, and writer, Baby : The Mother’s Magazine (1887)
(b. c1844, London – d. May 28, 1906)

Ballinger, Violet Margaret Livingstone
South African politician, From Union to Apartheid : a Trek to Isolation (1968)
(b. 1894, Scotland – d. 1980)

Balliol, Clemence de
English letter writer and litigant, abbess of Elstow, Bedfordshire.
(fl. c1300 – 1306)

Balsamia
Gallo-Roman foster mother, nurse to St Remigius (Remi), Bishop of Rheims.
(fl. c450 C.E.)

Balthasar, Anna Christina Ehrenfried von
German orator, writer and academic, author of the speech, Rede bey ihrer Aufnahame in died Konigliche Deutsche Gesellschaft zu Greifswald (1752)
(b. Jan 24, 1737, Greifswald – d. July 5, 1808, Richtenberg)

Balthilde
Merovingian queen and regent for Clotaire III (657 – 665)
originally a captive Anglo-Saxon, reputedly of high birth. Revered as a saint.
(b. c630, England – d. 678, nun at Abbey of St Marie, Chelles, near Paris)

Baltischwiler, Anna
Swiss physician, surgeon and radiologist. Chief physician of the Swiss Nursing School, zurich 1923 – 1945.
(b. March 11, 1876, Rheinsulz, Aargau Canton, Switzerland – d. Feb 23, 1952, Zurich)

Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias
Sri Lankan politician, the world’s first female prime minister 1959 – 1965 : 1970 – 1977.
(b. 1916 – d. 2001)

Bang, Nina
Danish politician and economist, minister of Education and Commerce, author of Trade Relations between Denmark and Britain.
(b. 1866 – d. 1929)

Bangalore Nagaratnammal
Indian vocalist, dancer, and writer, Madya Paanam.
(b. c1880, Mysore – d. May 19, 1952)

Ban Jieyu
Chinese poet and Imperial concubine, author of the famous, Resentful Song.
(b. c48 – d. c6 B.C.E.)

Bankhead, Tallulah
American actress, Little Foxes (1939) : The Skin of our Teeth (1943) : Lifeboat (1944).
(b. 1903, Huntsville, Alabama – d. 1968)

Banks, Isabella
British novelist and poet, wife of poet George Linnaeus Banks (1821 – 1881)
(b. March 25, 1821, Manchester – d. May 4, 1897)

Bannerman, Jane
New Zealand Presbyterian church leader and philanthropist
(b. Feb 24, 1835, Monkton, Ayr, Scotland – d. Oct 9, 1923, Dunedin, New Zealand)

Banti, Brigitta
Italian soprano, Semiramide (1749), Haydn composed Scena di Berenice (1795) for her.
(b. 1756 – d. 1806)

Banti, Felicia
Italian dancer, performed in London and Milan.
(fl. 1770 – 1788)

Bantu, Dorah
Tanzanian economist, political scientist, and United Nations official.
(b. 1941)

Ban Zhao
Chinese historian and writer, author of Admonitions to Women.
(b. c48 – d. after 114 C.E.)

Bara, Theda
American femme fatale vamp actress, A Fool There Was (1915) : Madame Mystery (1926)
(b. 1890, Cincinnati, Ohio – d. 1955)

Baranamtara
Sumerian queen, wife of Lugalanda, King of Lugash. Chief priestess of the royal cult.
(b. c2440 – d. c2375 B.C.E.)

Barbara (1)
Greek virgin Christian martyr, killed by her father at Heliopolis, Egypt.
(b. c287 – d. c306 C.E.)

Barbara (2) (Monique Serf)
French popular vocalist
(b. 1930, Paris – d. 1997)

Barbara of Cilly
Holy Roman empress 1433 – 1437, seond wife (1408) emperor Sigismund I.
(b. 1390, Croatia, Dalmatia – d. July 11, 1451, Melnik)

Barbauld, Anne Letitia Aikin
British poet, essaysit, and critic, Poetical Works (1797) : The British Novelists (1810).
(b. 1743, Kibworth, Northamptonshire – d. 1825)

Barbier, Louise
French Revolutionary memoirist, Les souvenirs de Louise Barbier sur l’insurrection vendeenne (1937).
(fl. 1789 – 1794)

Barbieri, Clelia
Italian virgin saint, founded the Minims of Our Lady of Sorrows.
(b. 1847, Emilia, nr Bologna – d. 1870)

Barbosa de Rosario, Pilar
Puerto-Rican historian and political specialist
(b. 1897, San Juan, Puerto Rico – d. Jan 22, 1997, San Juan)

Barclay, Caroline
British actress and vocalist, Dido, Queen of Carthage (1792)
(fl. c1780 – 1794)

Barclay, Florence
British novelist, Through the Postern Gate (1912) : Returned Empty (1920).
(b. Dec 2, 1862 – d. May 10, 1920)

Bardot, Brigitte
French film actress, And God Created Woman (1956) : A Very Private Affair (1962).
(b. 1934, Paris)

Barff, Jane Foss
Australian educator and civic activist
(b. 1864, Sydney, NSW – d. June 11, 1937)

Bari, Judi
American environmentalist, leader of the Earth First protest on Redwoods (1990)
(b. 1949, Baltimore, Maryland – d. March 2, 1997, Willits, California)

Barkany, Marie
German actress, joined the Royal Play House, Berlin (1881), Toured Europe and America. Produced German classical works in the original language.
(b. March 2, 1862, Kaschau (Kosice)
– d. July 26, 1928, Berlin, Prussia)

Barlow, Mary Kate
Australian Catholic activist, editor of the Catholic Women’s Review 1930 – 1934.
(b. 1865, Limerick, Ireland – d. May 27, 1934)

Barnell, Nora Ely
American actress and casting director
(b. 1881 – d. July 10, 1938)

Barnes, Annie Marie
American author, Children of the Kalahari (1890) : The Ferry Maid (1899) : Lass of Dorchester (1904) : Lost Treasures of Umdilla (1925).
(b. 1857, Columbia, South Carolina – d. after 1925)

Barnes, Binnie
Anglo-American actress, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
(b. May 25, 1903, Islington, London)
(d. July 27, 1998, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California)

Barnes, Carman Dee
American author, Schoolgirl (1929) : Beau Lover (1930) : Mother, Be Careful (1932) : Young Woman (1934) : Time Lay Asleep (1946).
(b. Nov 20, 1912, Chattanooga, Tennessee)

Barnes, Charlotte Mary Sanford
American actress and dramatist, Octavia Bragaldi; or The Confession (prod. 1837) : The Forest Princess; or, Two Centuries (prod. 1848) : Plays, Prose and Poetry (1848).
(b. 1818, New York – d. April 14, 1863)

Barnes, Djuana
American poet, novelist, and dramatist, Ladies’ Almanack (1928)
(b. June 12, 1892, Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York
d. June 18, 1982, Greenwich Village)

Barnes, Margaret Ayer
American author, Prevailing Winds (1928) : Years of Grace (1930) for which she won the Pulitzer prize (1931)
: Westward Passage (1931) : Wisdom’s Gate (1938).
(b. April 8, 1886, Chicago, Illinois – d. Oct 25, 1967)

Barnett, Catherine
British actress and vocalist, Love in a Village (1793)
(fl. c1770 – after 1800)

Barney, Natalie Clifford
American salon hostess and poet, Quelques portraits-sonnets des femmes (1900)
(b. 1876, Dayton, Ohio – d. 1972)

Barolo, Julia Victoire Colbert, Marchesa di
French-Italian philanthropist and social reformer
(b. 1785 – d. Jan 21, 1864)

Baroni, Leonora
Italian vocalist and instrumentalist
(b. c1611 – d. 1670)

Barraine, Elsa
French composer, Pogromes (1933) : Claudine a l’ecole (1950).
(b. 1910)

Barret, Claudia
American film and television actress, The Happy Years (1950) : Robot Monster (1953).
(fl. 1949 – after 1964)

Barrows, Marjorie (Ruth Marjorie)
American children’s writer and poet, author of Muggins Mouse series 1932 – 1968.
(b. 1892, Chicago, Illinois – d. March 29, 1983, Evanston, Illinois)

Barry, Mary Gonzaga
Irish-Australian Catholic religieuse, established Loreto Abbey, Ballarat, Victoria.
(b. July 24, 1834, Wexford Town, Ireland – d. March 5, 1915, Ballarat)

Barstow, Carrie Hawkes
American actress
(b. 1853 – d. June 20, 1931)

Barstow, Edith
American choreographer
(b. 1906 – d. Jan 6, 1960)

Barthelemon, Cecilia Maria
British soprano, her letters survive.
(b. 1770 – d. after 1827)

Bartholomew, Anne Charlotte
British miniaturist and still-life painter, dramatist and poet.
(b. 1800, Lodden, Norfolk – d. 1862)

Bartolini-Badelli, Giustina, Marchesa
Italian mistress and morganatic wife of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia
(b. 1811 – d. 1903)

Barton, Clara Harlowe (Clarissa)
American nurse, founder of the American Red Cross and president 1881 – 1904.
(b. 1821, North Oxford, Massachusetts – d. 1912)

Barton, Olive Roberts
American writer, author ofCloud Boat Stories (1916) : Story Riddles in Rime and Prose (1928) : Bramble Bush Riddles (1930).
(b. July 26, 1880, Allegheny, Pennsylvania – d. Aug 14, 1957)

Barton Smith, Kathleen Kavanagh
British miniature and landscape painter who continued working until afflicted with blindness.
(b. 1878 – d. 1970, Harrogate)

Barwick, Valerie Maud Skelton, Lady
British society figure in Kenya, wife 1940 – 1947 of Sir Richard Barwick (1916 – 1979)
(b. 1915, Kenya, Africa – d. 1989)

Bashkirtseff, Marie Konstantinovna
Russian painter, The Meeting, and diarist, Journal (1887)
(b. 1860, Poltava, Russia – d. 1884)

Bassermann, Else (Elisabeth Schiff)
German actress, member of the Lessingtheater, Berlin, performing under Max Reinhardt and Otto Brahm, m. actor Albert Bassermann (1867 – 1952)
(b. Jan 14, 1878, Leipzig – d. May 29, 1961, Baden-Baden)

Basset, Lady Frances
British peeress, last holder of the barony of Basset of Stratton 1835 – 1855.
(b. April 30, 1781 – d. Jan 22, 1855)

Bassewitz, Countess Sabine Elisabeth von
German writer, corresponded with Voltaire, Leibniz and Christian Wolff. Author of Frauezimmergeschwatze nach Durchlesung des Phadon von Moses Mendelssohn.
(b. Dec 15, 1717, Mecklenburg – d. Feb 7, 1790, Dalwitz, Mecklenburg)

Bassi, Laura Maria Caterina
Italian physicist, the first officially appointed female professor (Bologna University)
(b. 1711, Bologna, Italy – d. 1778)

Batchelor, Joy
British film animator and producer, Animal Farm (1954) : Is there Intelligent Life on Earth ? (1963).
(b. 1914, Watford, England)

Batcheller, Tryphosa Bates
American vocalist and author, Glimpses of Italian Court Life (1906) : Royal Spain of Today (1913) : The Soul of a Queen (1942).
(b. 1878, North Brookfield, Massachusetts – d. Sept 9, 1952)

Batchelor, Ruth
American lyricist, radio and television journalist, Reviving a Dream (1971)
(b. 1933 – d. July 23, 1992, South Miami, Florida)

Bateman, Hester
British silversmith, produced elegant domestic silver, ran the company 1761 – 1790.
(b. 1709 – d. 1794)

Bates, Barbara
American actress
(b. 1925 – d. March 18, 1969)

Bates, Charlotte Fiske
American poet and compiler, Risk, and Other Poems (1879), editor of The Cambridge Book of Poetry and Song (1882), assisted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow compile his Poems and Places (1876 – 1879)
(b. Nov 30, 1838, New York – d. Sept 1, 1916)

Bates, Daisy May
Australian welfare worker with aborigines, ‘Kabbarli’ (Grandmother), The Passing of the Aborigines (1939)
(b. 1861, London – d. 1951)

Bateson, Mary
British medieval sociologist and author, Syon Monastery Library Catalogue.
(b. 1865, Robin Hood’s Bay, nr Whitby, North Riding – d. Nov 30, 1906)

Bath, Virginia Penelope Parsons, Marchioness of
British society figure, second wife (1953) Henry Thynne, 6^th Marquess of Bath.
(b. April 9, 1917 – d. Sept 18, 2003)

Bathory, Countess Erszebet (Elizabeth)
Hungarian mass murderess, kept under house arrest from 1610 till her death.
(b. 1560 – d. 1614)

Batten, Jean Gardner
New Zealand aviatrix, the first woman to fly the south Atlantic from England to Brazil (1935)
(b. 1909, Rotorua, New Zealand)

Bauchens, Anne
American film editor, executive and scriptwriter
(b. 1881 – d. May 7, 1967)

Baum, Doris Doscher
American model for Miss Liberty 25 cent coin (1916)
(b. 1881 – d. 1970, Farmingdale, Long Island, New York)

Baum, Vicki
Austrian novelist, Grand Hotel (1929) : Falling Star (1934) :Hotel Berlin, 1943 (1944) : Hotel Shanghai (1953) : Written on Water (1956) : Ballerina (1958).
(b. Jan 24, 1896, Vienna, Austria – d. Aug 29, 1960)

Baumer, Gertrude
German feminist and writer, president of the German League 1910 – 1919.
(b. 1873, Hohenlimburg, Westphalia, Germany – d. 1954)

Baverstock, Florence
Australian journalist and feminist, Daily Telegraph : Sydney Morning Herald.
(b. 1861, Melbourne, Victoria – d. Sept, 1937, Sydney, NSW)

Baxter, Jane
British actress
(b. 1909 – d. Sept 13, 1996)

Baxter, Lydia
American hymnist and poet, best remembered for the hymn, The Gates Ajar. Author of Gems By the Wayside (1855, poems)
(b. Sept 2, 1809, Petersburg, New York – d. Jan 23, 1874)

Baylis, Lilian
British theatre manager, founder of the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells companies.
(b. 1874 – d. 1937)

Baylor, Frances Courtenay
American novelist, poet and writer, Behind the Blue Ridge (1887) : Claudia Hyde (1894) : The Ladder of Fortune (1899) : A Georgian Bungalow (1900).
(b. Jan 20, 1848, fort Smith, Arkansas – d. Oct 19, 1920)

Bazan, Emilia Pardo, Contessa de
Spanish novelist, The Son of a Bondswoman (1886)
(b. 1851, La Coruna, Galicia – d. 1921)

Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney
American composer and pianist, the first woman to have a work, the concert aria Eilende Wolken, performed by the New York Philharmonic Society (1892).
(b. 1867 – d. 1944)

Beach, Sylvia
American publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922), author of Shakespeare and Company (1959).
(b. 1887, Baltimore, Maryland – d. 1962)

Beadle, Jean
Australian labour activist, campaigner for unionisation in women’s industry.
(b. 1868 – d. 1942)

Beale, Dorothea
British educator, Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College (1858)
(b. 1831, London – d. Nov 9, 1906)

Beale, Mary
English oil and water colour portraitist, and author, Discourse of Friendship.
(b. 1632, Barrow, Suffolk – d. 1699, London)

Beard, Mary Ritter
American historian, editor, and feminist, author of On Understanding Women (1931) : Women as a Force in History (1946).
(b. Aug 5, 1876, Indianapolis, Indiana – d. Aug 14, 1958)

Beardslee, Irene
American film editor
(b. 1887 – d. Nov 1, 1974)

Beardsley, Dorothy
American actress and executive
(b. 1893 – d. Nov 23, 1948)

Bearn, Pauline de Sourches de Tourzel, Comtesse de
French royalist and memoirist, the daughter of the Duchesse de Tourzel, she accompanied the royal family on their flight to Varennes (1791), Author of Souvenirs de quarante ans (1789 – 1830, recits d’une dame de la Dauphine (1861).
(b. 1771 – d. 1838)

Beatrice Capet
French princess, sister to King Hugh Capet, m. (954) Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine (912 - 978). Ruled as regent for their son Duke Theodore I (c963 – 1027).
(b. 938 – d. c1005)

Beatrice of Amesbury
Norman nun, abbess of Amesbury, Wiltshire, deposed by Henry II (1177).
(b. c1120 – d. c1184)

Beatrice of Burgundy
Holy Roman empress 1156 – 1184, m. (1156) emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (122 – 1190). Only child and heiress of Rainald III, Count of Burgundy. Mother of emperor Henry VI (1165 – 1197) and Philip of Hohenstaufen, king of Germany (1177 – 1208).
(b. 1143 – d. Nov 15, 1184)

Beatrice of Edinburgh
British princess, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, sister of Queen Marie of Romania, m. the Spanish Infante Alfonso, Duque di Galliera (1886 – 1975).
(b. April 20, 1884, Eastwell Park, Kent, England
d. July 13, 1966, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain)

Beatrice of Great Britain
Princess, daughter of Queen Victoria, m. (1885) Prince Henry of Battenberg (1857 – 1896). Her mother’s private secretary, she edited the queen’s considerable correspondence for publication. Mother of Victoria Eugenie, m. Alfonso XIII of Spain.
(b. April 14, 1857, Buckingham Palace, London
d. Oct 26, 1944, Brantridge Park, Balcombe, Sussex)

Beatrice of Lorraine
Duchess of Louvain, m. Duke Godfrey II the Bearded (c997 – 1069). Mother of Countess Matilda of Tuscany. A woman of considerable political influence, she was a supporter of the papacy against the emperor Henry IV.
(b. c1022 – d. April 18, 1076)

Beatrice of Savoy
Countess of Provence, m. (1219) Count Raymond Berengar V (1198 – 1245). Her four daughters all married kings. She commissioned a treatise on pediatrics from Aldobrandino of Siena, Regime du corps (1256)
(b. 1198 – d. Dec, 1266, Aix, Provence)

Beatrice of Vermandois
Queen of France 923, second wife of King Robert I (865 – 923)
(b. 880 – d. after March, 931)

Beatrix of Hohenstaufen (Blanche)
Holy Roman empress July - Aug, 1212, daughter of Philip of Hohenstaufen, King of Germany and Irene Angela, m. emperor Otto IV (1177 – 1218) but died six weeks later.Her tomb and epitaph survived in the Church of St Blasius, Brunswick.
(b. 1198 – d. Aug 11, 1212, Nordhausen, Saxony)

Beatrix of the Netherlands
Queen Regnant from 1980, the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, m. Claus von Amberg, styled Prince (1936 – 2003). Three sons.
(b. 1938)

Beatriz of Castile (Beatrice)
Queen consort of Portugal 1325 - 1357, the daughter of Sancho I 'el Bravo', King of Castile and Maria de Molina.She m. (1309) King Alfonso IV ' the Bold' (1291 - 1357) and was the mother of King Pedro I ' the Cruel' (1320 - 1367). She vainly attempted to warn her son of his father's plan to have his mistress Inez de Castro assasinated in 1355. Queen mother 1357 - 1359.
(b. 1293, Toro, near Valladolid, Castile - d. Oct 25, 1359, Lisbon, Estramadura, Portugal)

Beatty, Bessie
American editor of McCall’s Magazine 1918 – 1921, author of The Red Heart of Russia (1918), Co-author of the play Jamboree (prod. 1932).
(b. Jan 27, 1886, Los Angeles, California – d. April 6, 1947)

Beauchet, Marie Josephe
French society figure, friend of Adrienne, Marquise de La Fayette, she married Nicolas Beauchet (1757 – 1816).
(b. 1750 – d. 1833)

Beaufort, Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond
English matriarch, mother of Henry VII, and patron of William Caxton.
(b. May 31, 1443, Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire
d. June 29, 1509, Abbot’s House, Cheyney Gates, London)

Beauharnais, Fanny Mouchard, Comtesse de see Mouchard, Fanny

Beaumont, Albreda de
Norman religious, prioress of Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
(b. c1110 – d. c1170)

Beaumont, Germaine
French poet and novelist
(b. 1890 – d. 1983)

Beaumont, Jeanne Marie Le Prince de
French novelist and didactic writer
(b. 1711 – d. 1780)

Beaumont, Pauline de Montmorin de Saint Herem, Comtesse de
French revolutionary reformer, the mistress of the Vicomte de Chateaubriand.
(b. 1768 – d. Nov 4, 1803)

Beauval, Jeanne Bourignon
French actress
(b. 1647 – d. 1720)

Beauvau-Craon, Marie Charlotte Sylvie de Rohan-Chabot, Princesse de
French diplomatic wife and salonniere, second wife Prince Charles Juste (1720 – 1793).
(b. Dec 12, 1729 – d. March 26, 1807, Paris)

Becker, Lydia Ernestine
British feminist campaigner and editor, Women’s Suffrage Journal 1870 – 1890.
(b. 1827 – d. 1890)

Bedacier, Durand, Catherine
French novelist and poet
(b. c1650 – d. 1714)

Bedford, Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of
French-Anglo princess, daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, first wife (1423)
John, Duke of Bedford (1389 – 1435), the brother of King Henry V. No issue.
(b. 1404, Arras, Burgundy – d. Nov 14, 1432, Hotel de Bourgogne, Paris)

Bedford, Diana Spencer, Duchess of
British Hanoverian courtier of George II, granddau. of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Frederick, Prince of Wales had wished to marry her.
(b. 1710 – d. 1735)

Bedford, Gertrude Leveson-Gower, Duchess of
Brititsh Hanoverian society figure, she resided at Woburn House unhappily during her reirement, forced to share the house with her grandson’s mistress, Nancy Maynard.
(b. 1714 – d. 1794)

Bedford, Georgiana Gordon, Duchess of
British society leader, m. (1803) John Russell, sixth Duke (1766 – 1839)
(b. July 18, 1781, Gordon Castle, Banffshire, Scotland – d. Feb 24, 1853, Nice, France)

Bedford, Jacquetta of Luxemburg, Duchess of
French-Anglo princess, m (1) John, Duke of Bedford (2)Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers. Mother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. Maternal grandmothert of Edward V and Elizabeth of York, the mother of Henry VIII. Accused of witchcraft.
(b. 1416 – d. May 30, 1472)

Beech, Joan
English Protestant martyr, a widow, she was condemned with John Harpole during the Marian persecutions.
(b. c1505, Tonbridge – burnt alive, April 1, 1556, Rochester, near London)

Beech, Olive Anne Mellor
American aircraft manufacturer, president of Beech Aircraft Corporation 1950 – 1968.
(b. 1903, Waverley, Kansas – d. 1990)

Beecher, Catharine Esther
American educator and writer, Woman’s Suffrage and Woman’s Profession (1871).
(b. 1800 – d. 1878)

Beers, Ethel Lynn (Ethelinda)
American children’s author and poet, General Frankie : A Story For the Little Folks (1863), Best known for her poem, All Quiet Along the Potomac (1879).
(b. Jan 13, 1827, Goshen, New York – d. Oct 11, 1879)

Beeton, Isabella
British cookery writer, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861).
(b. 1837, Cheapside, London – d. 1865)

Begum Akhtar (Akhtari Bai)
Indian musician and vocalist, celebrated as the ‘Queen of Ghazal’.
(b. Oct 7, 1914, Faizabad – d. Oct 30, 1974, Ahmedabad)

Behn, Aphra
English dramatist and novelist, Oroonoko (1688) : The Rover (1677).
(b. 1640 – d. 1689)

Beier, Dorothea
Polish mystic and writer
(fl. 1457 – 1464)

Bejart, Madeleine (Marie Madeleine)
French actress, mistress of Moliere from 1643, Le docteur amouroux (1658).
(b. 1618 – d. 1672)

Bekenwerel
Queen of Egypt
(fl. c1200 B.C.E.)

Belceva, Mar Ivanovna
Bulgarian poet, translator and memoirist
(b. 1868 – d. 1937)

Belfort, May
Irish actress
(b. 1872 – d. March 29, 1929)

Belgrave, Cynthia
American actress and director, The Blacks (1961).
(b. 1920, Manhattan, New York – d. Feb 1, 1997, Brooklyn, New York)

Bell, Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe, Lady
British editor of The Letters of Gertrude Bell (1927) her stepdaughter.
(b. 1850 – d. May 16, 1930)

Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
British traveller, and political figure in the East, The Arab of Mesopotamia (1917).
(b. 1868, Washington Hall, Durham – d. 1926)

Bell, Laura Eliza Jane Seymour
Irish courtesan and social reformer amongst the London prostitutes.
(b. 1829, Antrim, Ireland – d. 1894, Hampshire)

Bell, Maria Hamilton, Lady
British painter and sculptor, copied Rubens’ Holy Family.
(b. c1763 – d. March 9, 1825, Soho, London)

Bell, Marion
American vocalist and actress, best remembered for her performance in the role of Fiona McLaren in the musical Brigadoon (1947)
(b. 1919, St Louis – d. Dec 14, 1997, Culver City, California)

Bell, Monta
American film director, producer, and writer
(b. 1890 – d. Feb 4, 1958)

Bell, Vanessa
British painter, sister of Virginia Woolf, member of the talented ‘Bloomsbury set’.
(b. 1876, London – d. 1961)

Bellamy, Elizabeth Whitfield Croom
American author, used the pseudonym, ‘Kamba Thorpe’, Four Oaks (1870) : The Little Joanna (1876) : Penny Lancaster (1889).
(b. April 17, 1837, near Quincy, Florida – d. April 13, 1900)

Bellamy, Jeanne
American journalist, attached to the Miami Herald from 1937, author of, Taming the Everglades (1947)
: Communism : What It Means to You (1961).
(b. Nov 15, 1911, Brooklyn, New York)

Beloff, Nora
British author, journalist and novelist, The General Says No. Britain’s Exclusion from Europe (1963).
(b. Jan 24, 1919, London – d. Feb 12, 1997)

Belousova, Lyudmila Yevgenevna
Russian champion ice-skater, Olympic gold medal winner (1964) and (1968).
(b. 1935, Ulyanovsk)

Belpaire, Maria Elisa
Dutch essayist, memoirist and writer
(b. 1863 – d. 1948)

Bem, Sandra
American psychologist, maintained that traditional sex roles restricted behaviour.
(b. 1944, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Bembo, Illuminata
Italian hagiographer
(b. c1410 – d. 1496)

Benedict, Ruth Fulton
American anthropologist, The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in North America (1923) : The Chrysanthemum and the Sword : Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946).
(b. June 5, 1887, New York – d. Sept 17, 1948)

Benet, Guillemette
French Cathar heretic at Montaillou. Imprisoned for life.
(fl. c1320 – c1322)

Benesova, Bozena
Czech novelist, Don Pablo, don Pedro a Vera Lukaseva (1936).
(b. 1873 – d. 1936)

Benislawska, Konstancja
Polish hymn writer
(b. 1747 – d. 1806)

Benitez, Alejandrina
Puerto-Rican minor poet, niece of Maria Bibiana-Benitez.
(fl. c1850 – c1870)

Benjamin, Hilde
German lawyer and politician, Minister of Justice 1953 – 1967.
(b. 1902)

Bennet, Leonora Vierendeels, Lady
Dutch-Anglo diplomatic figure at the court of Archduke Albert in Brussels (1617), m. English amabassador Sir John Bennet (c1560 – 1627), Her eccentric behaviour caused her husband some embarrassment.
(b. c1579, Antwerp, Holland – d. 1638, Uxbridge, Middlesex, near London)

Bennett, Amelia (Amy Haines)
Anglo-Indian captive and memoirist of the Indian Mutiny (1857)
(b. 1840 – d. after 1914, Calcutta)

Bennett, Josephine Waters
American Renaissance scholar and writer, Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville (1954)
(b. 1900 – d. Dec 31, 1975, Washington)

Bennett, Louie
Irish trade unionist, General Secretary of the Irish Women’s Worker’s Union till 1955.
(b. 1870, Dublin, Ireland – d. 1956)

Bennie, Eda Anita
Australian operatic soprano
(b. c1889, Melbourne, Victoria – d. 1932, Melbourne)

Benois, Nadia
Russian writer, painter, and costume designer, The Sleeping Princess (1939).
(b. 1895, near St Petersburg – d. Dec 8, 1975)

Benoist, Marie Guilhelmine Leroulx de la Ville, Comtesse
French painter, her portrait, The Negress was a pictorial representation of the 1794 decree abolishing slavery.
(b. 1768, Paris – d. 1826)

Benson, Trish (Patricia Ruth)
Australian consumer advocate
(b. 1956, Armidale, NSW – d. 2004, Sydney, NSW)

Bentinck de Varel, Charlotte Sophia von Ahldenburg, Countess von
German heiress and letter writer, the mistress of Voltaire.
(b. Aug 4, 1715 – d. Feb 5, 1800)

Bentley, Catherine
English Catholic translator, Clarissan nun at Aire, France.
(fl. 1635)

Berengaria of Navarre
Queen of England 1191 – 1199, m. (1191) King Richard I (1157 – 1199), No children, it took many years for the problems arousing from her dower settlement to be resolved. Retired to France and became a nun. Never visited England during her time as queen.
(b. 1163, Pampeluna, Navarre – d. after 1230, Abbey of L’Espan, Le Mans, Anjou)

Berenguela of Castile
Spanish Infanta, the daughter of King Alfonso X 'the Wise' 1252 - 1284, and his wife Violante, daughter of Jaime I, King of Aragon 1213 - 1276. Unmarried, Cistercian abbess of Las Huelgas, Burgos.
(b. before Dec 6, 1253, Seville, Andalusia - d. before Dec 31, 1300, Guadalajara)

Berenice I
Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, third wife of Ptolemy I (367 – 281 B.C.E.)
, mother of Ptolemy II (308 – 246 B.C.E.), Deified.
(b. c345 – d. 279 B.C.E.)

Berenice II (Berenice of Cyrene)
Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, wife of Ptolemy III (282 – 221 B.C.E.), regent for Ptolemy IV (244 – 205 B.C.E.)
who killed her.
(b. 273, Cyrene – murd. 221 B.C.E. Alexandria, Egypt)

Berenice III, Cleopatra
Ptolemiac queen of Egypt 80 B.C.E, murdered by her second husband, who was then killed by the enraged mob with whom she had been a popular figure.
(b. 121 – d. 80 B.C.E., Alexandria, Egypt)

Berenice IV, Cleopatra
Ptolemaic queen, took the throne of her father, Ptolemy XI Auletes, m. Cappodocia prince Archelaus. Ptolemy regained the throne and Berenice and Archelaus were killed.
(b. c79, Alexandria, Egypt – d. 55 B.C.E., Alexandria)

Berenice of Chios
Greek concubine of Mithridates VI of Pontus, forced to suicide to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Roman forces of Lucullus.
(b. c95 – d. 71 B.C.E.)

Berenice, Julia
Queen of Chalcis and Cilicia, sister of Agrippa II. Mistress of the emperor Titus 66 – 79 C.E. Forced to separate at the insistence of the Roman senate. She retired to Palestine.
(b. 28 – d. 110 C.E., Palestine)

Berenice Syra
Ptolemaic-Seleucid queen, dau. of Ptolemy I of Egypt, m. Seleucid ruler Antiochus II (253 B.C.E.), Murdered by his former wife Laodice I, together with her infant son.
(b. c280 – d. 247 B.C.E., Antioch, Asia Minor)

Berenson, Marisa
American actress, Barry Lyndon (1977).
(b. Feb 15, 1946, New York)

Bergen, Charlotte
American amateur musician and conductor
(b. Feb 3, 1898 – d. 1982, Bernardsville, New Jersey)

Bergman, Ingrid
Swedish actress, Inermezzo (1936) : Gaslight (1944) : Anastasia (1956) : Autumn Sonata (1978).
(b. Aug 29, 1915, Stockholm, Sweden – d. 1982)

Bergroth, Kersti
Finnish novelist and critic, Kiirashnli (1922) : Balaisuntemme (1955).
(b. 1886)

Beriosova, Svetlana Nikolaievna
Lithuanian-Anglo ballerina, Les sylphides : Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty.
(b. 1932, Birzai, Lithuania – d. 1998)

Berkeley, Louisa Lennox, Countess of
British courtier, lady-in-waiting 1714 – 1716 to Caroline of Ansbach, Princess of Wales. Granddaughter of Charles II, m. James, 3^rd Earl of Berkeley (c1684 – 1736). Died of smallpox.
(b. Dec 24, 1694 – d. Jan 15, 1716)

Berkeley, Mary Emlen Lloyd Lowell, Countess of (Molly)
British society hostess, second wife of Randal Thomas, 8^th and last Earl of Berkeley (1865 – 1942), Retired to Italy during widowhood and held her own salon.
(b. 1886 – d. 1975)

Berkeley, Mary Lalle Foley, Lady
British peeress, seventeenth holder of the barony of Berkeley 1967 – 1992.
(b. Oct 9, 1905 – d. 1992)

Berlepsch, Emilie
German poet, essayist and travel writer
(b. 1755 – d. 1830)

Bernal, Emilia
Cuban novelist, poet, translator and author, Alma errante (1916) : Mallorca (1933).
(b. 1884, Cuba – d. after 1934)

Bernard, Jessie Ravitch
American sociologist, The Sex Game (1968) : Women, Wives, Mothers (1975).
(b. 1903, Minneapolis)

Bernadette of Lourdes (Marie Bernarde Soubirous)
French visionary saint, made Lourdes a place of Christian pilgrimage. Canonized 1933.
(b. 1844 – d. 1879)

Bernardino, Minervina
Dominican feminist and UN delegate (1946)
(b. 1907, Seibo, Dominican Republic – d. Aug 29, 1998)

Bernelle, Agnes
German actress, vocalist, and memoirist, The Fun Palace (1996).
(b. 1923, Berlin – d. 1999)

Berners, Dame Juliana (Julyan)
English writer of prose and verse, prioress of Sopwell, near St Albans.
(b. c1388 – d. c1450, Abbey of Sopwell, Hertfordshire)

Bernhardt, Sarah
French actress, famous for the role of Margeurite in La dame aux camelias.
(b. 1844 – d. 1923)

Bernstein, Blanche
American social reformer, economist, and writer
(b. 1912, New York – d. Jan 27, 1993, New York)

Berny, Laure Hinner de
French letter writer, corresponded with Honore de Balzac.
(b. 1777 – d. 1836)

Berry, Dame Alice Miriam
Australian CWA activist and world president 1953 – 1962.
(b. April 28, 1900, Sydney, NSW – d. Sept 18, 1978, Brisbane, QLD)

Berry, Caroline of Naples, Duchesse de
Italian-French princess and dynastic political activist, she vainly fought for the rights of her son, the last Bourbon king Henry V (1819 - 1883) fathered by her first husband Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Berry (1778 - 1820) the younger son of Charles X 1824 - 1830.
(b. Nov 5, 1798, Naples, Italy - d. April 17, 1870, Brunnsee, Austria).

Berry, Agnes
British literary figure, sister of Mary, friend of Horace Walpole.
(b. 1764, Yorkshire – d. 1852)

Berry, Marie Louise Elisabeth d’Orleans, Duchesse de
French princess, granddaughter of Louis XIV, daughter of the Prince Regent Philippe d’Orleans, m. (1)
Charles, Duc de Berry (1688 – 1714) m. (2) Comte de Rion (d. 1741). Renowned for her debauched she was suspected of having an incestuous relationship with her father, she was certainly his favourite child.
(b. Aug 20, 1695, Palace of Versailles, near Paris
d. July 21, 1719, Luxembourg Palace, Paris)

Berry, Mary
British writer, sister of Agnes, and friend of Horace Walpole, Social Life of England and France, from Charles II to 1830 (1828 – 1831).
(b. 1763, Yorkshire – d. 1852)

Bertha
Carolingian princess, daughter of Charlemagne, wife or mistress of Angilbert (c748 – 814), sister of emperor Louis I, she organized the burial of her father, then retired to a convent, probably Sainte Marie, at Chelles. Mother of the historian Nithard (c795 – 844).
(b. 775 – d. Jan 14, 823)

Bertha of Bavaria
Carolingian princess, daughter of Louis the German, King of Bavaria, and Emma of Altdorf, she was Abbess of Schwarzach 856 – 877.
(b. 831 – d. March 26, 877, Abbey of Schwarzach, Zurich, Switzerland)

Bertha of Friuli
Carolingian princess, daughter of the emperor Berengar I and his second wife, Bertilla of Spoleto. Abbess of San Sisto, Piacenza.
(b. c885 – d. after 952)

Bertha of Lorraine
Carolingian ruler, daughter of Lothair II, king of Lorraine and Waldrada of Nordgau, m. (1) Theobald of Arles (d. 887), m. (2) Adalbert II, Duke of Tuscany (d. 916).
(b. c863 – d. March 8, 925)

Bertha of Maurienne
Holy Roman empress 1084 – 1087, first wife (1066) emperor Henry IV, daughter of otto I, count of Maurienne and Adelaide of Turin. Mother of emperor Henry V (1081 – 1125).
(b. Sept 21, 1051, Turin, Piedmont, Italy – d. Dec 27, 1087)

Bertha of Paris
Merovingian-Anglo-Saxon queen, daughter of Charibert I, king of Paris, m. (c578) Ethelbert I of Kent, helped establish Christianity in Kent.
(b. c556, France – d. 612, Kent, England)

Bertha of Sulzbach
Byzantine Augusta 1146 – 1160, sister-in-law of German king Conrad II, first wife of emperor Manuel I Komnenus (1120 – 1180), Her daughter Maria Komnena m. Rainer, marquis of Montferrat.
(b. 1124 – d. 1160, Constantinople, Asia Minor)

Bertha of Swabia
Queen of Burgundy, daughter of Burchard I, Duke of Swabia and Reginlinda of Nellenburg, m (1)
King Rudolf II (889 – 937), m. (2) (div.) Hugh of Arles, King of Italy (c880 - 947).
(b. 909 – d. Jan 2, 966, Abbey of St Marie, Peterlingen, Burgundy)

Bertha of Willich
German hagiographer
(fl. 1056 – 1057)

Berti, Marina
British actress, the slave Eunice in Quo Vadis ? (1951).
(b. Sept 29, 1924, London – d. Oct 29, 2002, Rome)

Bertilla of Spoleto
Holy Roman empress 905 – 911, second wife emperor Berengar II (c843 – 924).
(b. c859 – murd. 911, during a palace coup)

Bertish, Suzanne
British actress, The Hunger (1983) : The 13^th Warrior (1999).
(b. Aug 7, 1953, London)

Bertrada of Laon
Carolingian queen 751 – 768, m. King Pepin III (714 – 768), daughter of Carobert, count of Laon. Regent for her sons Charlemagne and Carloman II 768 – 770.
(b. c716 – d. July 12, 783, Chateau de Choisy, near Annecy)

Bertrada of Montfort
Queen of France 1092 – 1108, m. (1) Fulk V of Anjou m. (2) (1092, abducted) King Philip I (1052 – 1108), Stepmother of Louis VI.
(b. 1070, Montfort l’Amauri – d. Feb 14, 1117, Fontevrault Abbey, Maine)

Bertrand, Francoise Dillon, Comtesse
French Napoleonic courtier, served the deposed emperor on Elba and St Helena.
(b. July 25, 1785 – d. March, 1836)

Besant, Annie
British socialist and theosophist, prominent in Anglo-Indian society, author of The Fruits of Philosophy (1875) : The Gospel of Atheism (1877).
(b. 1847, London – d. 1933, India)

Bethoc (Beatrix)
Scottish princess, daughter of King Malcolm II. Mother of King Duncan I macCrinan (d. 1040).
(b. c984 – d. c1027)

Bethune, Louise Blanchard
American architect, her styles included ‘Romanesque Revival’ and ‘French Renaissance’.
(b. 1856, Waterloo, New York – d. 1913)

Bethune, Mary McCleod
Black American educator, appointed the director of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration (1936).
(b. 1875, Mayesville, South Carolina – d. 1955)

Betjeman, Penelope Valentine Hester Chetwode, Lady
British traveller and writer
(b. 1910 – d. 1986)

Betrest
Queen consort of Egypt, wife of King ‘Adjib. Mother of Semerkhet.
(fl. c2700 B.C.E.)

Beveridge, Ada
Australian civic activist
(b. Feb 15, 1875, Townsville, QLD – d. Jan 20, 1964, Roseville, Sydney)

Bevington, Louisa Sarah
British poet and journalist, Poems, Lyrics and Sonnets (1882).
(b. 1845, Battersea, London – d. after 1895)

Bhadda Kapilani
Indian Buddhist poet, one poem is preserved in the Therigatha.
(fl. c500 B.C.E.)

Bhadda Kundalakesa
Indian Buddhist poet and ascetic, one poem is preserved in the Therigatha.
(fl. c500 B.C.E.)

Bhutto, Benazir
Pakistani political activist, opposed the dictatorship of General Zia ul Haq.
(b. 1953)

Bhutto, Begum Musrat
Pakistani politician, mother of Benzir, leader of the left-wing Pakistani People’s Party.
(b. c1925)

Bianchi, Martha Gilbert Dickinson
American novelist and poet, The Cathedral, and Other Poems (1901) : A Modern Prometheus (1908) : The Wandering Eros (1925, poems), Edited various collections of the works of Emily Dickinson, including, The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson (1924).
(b. c1865, Amherst, Massachusetts – d. Dec 21, 1943)

Bianco, Margery
British author, The Late Returning (1902) : The Adventures of Andy (1927) : The Good Friends (1934) : Forward Commandos (1944).
(b. July 22, 1881, London – d. 1944)

Bibesco, Helene Costaki Epurano, Princess
Romanian salonniere and pianist, patron of Marcel Proust.
(b. 1849 – d. Oct 31, 1902, Bucharest, Romania)

Bibesco, Marthe Luce Lahovary, Princess
Romanian writer, Royal Portraits (1928) : The Madonna of Romania (1928).
(b. 1888 – d. 1973)

Bibiana-Benitez, Maria
Puerto-Rican poet and dramatist, La cruz del Morro (1862).
(b. Dec 1, 1813, Aguadilla, Puerto-Rico – d. April, 1873, San Juan, Puerto-Rico)

Biblias
Gallo-Roman Christian martyr, beheaded because she was a Roman citizen.
(b. c150 – d. June 2, 177 C.E., Lugdunum (Lyons), Gaul)

Biddulph, Mary Frederica Seymour, Lady
British courtier, lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, V.A. (third class)
(b. June, 1825 – d. Oct 23, 1902)

Bidwell, Marjory Elizabeth Sarah
British suspense novelist, pseudonym ‘Elizabeth Ford’.
(b. c1909, Seaford, Essex)

Bieber, Margarete
German-American educator, archaeologist, Greek and Roman art historian, and writer
(b. July 31, 1879 – d. Feb 25, 1978, New Canaan, Connecticut)

Biehl, Charlotte Dorothea
Danish dramatist, novelist, translator and writer
(b. 1731 – d. 1788)

Bieiris de Romans see Romans

Bigham, Madge Alford
American author, Tales of Mother Goose Village (1904) : Little Folks Land (1907) : Within the Silver Moon (1911) : Tales of Peanut Town (1922) : Sunny Elephant (1940).
(b. Sept 30, 1874, La Grange, Georgia)

Bilhah
Hebrew servant to Rachel,and concubine to Jacob.
(fl. c1750 B.C.E.)

Bille, Corinna
Swiss novelist and poet
(b. 1912 – d. 1979)

Billington-Greig, Teresa
British women’ rights campaigner and suffragette, The Militant Suffrage Movement (1911) : Women and the Machine (1913).
(b. 1877, Lancashire – d. 1964)

Bilton, Belle (Isabelle Maude)
British music hall actress, Lord Dunlo unsuccessfully attempted to divorce her (1890).
(b. 1866, London – d. Dec 31, 1906, Gorbally, Ireland)

Bingham, Madeleine Mary (Lady Clanmorris)
British author
(b. 1911 – d. Feb 16, 1988)

Bingham, Millicent Todd
American geographer and author, Life of Mary E. Stearns (1909) : Peru, Land of Contrasts (1914) : Emily Dickinson, a Revelation (1954).
(b. 1880, Washington D.C. – d. Dec 1, 1968)

Bintanath I
Queen of Egypt, wife of her father Ramesses II.
(b. c1280 – d. after 1213 B.C.E.)

Bintanath II
Queen of Egypt 1213 – c1205 B.C.E., daughter of Ramesses II, sister-wife of Merenptah.
(b. c1261 – d. c1205 B.C.E.)

Birchenough, Mabel Charlotte Bradley, Lady
British novelist, Disturbing Elements (1895) : Postherds (1898).
(b. 1860 – d. 1936)

Birch-Pfeiffer, Charlotte
German dramatist and writer
(b. 1799 – d. 1868)

Birell, Tala
Romanian actress, Lady Nora Ebbsworth in Mrs Parkington (1944) with Greer Garson.
(b. Sept 10, 1907, Bucharest, Romania
d. Feb 17, 1958, Landstuhl in der Pfalz, Rhineland, Germany)

Birk, Alma Lillian Wilson, Lady
British politician and journalist
(b. Sept 22, 1917, London – d. Dec 29, 1996, London)

Birks, Rosetta Jane
Australian feminist and suffragist
(b. March, 1856, Adelaide, SA - d. 1911, Adelaide_

Birstein, Anna
American author, Star of Glass (1950) : The Troublemaker (1955) : The Sweet Birds of Gorham (1966).
(b. May 27, 1927, New York)

Biscossi, Sibylla (Sybilla of Pavia)
Italian blind virgin saint
(b. 1287, Pavia, Italy – d. 1367)

Bishop, Elizabeth
American poet, North and South (1946) : The Complete Poems (1969) : Geography III (1976).
(b. Feb 8, 1911, Worcester, Massachusetts – d. 1979)

Bishop, Hazel
American cosmetic manufacturer, produced the first kissproof lipstick.
(b. Aug 17, 1906, Hoboken, New Jersey – d. Dec 5, 1998, Rye, New York)

Bishop, Helen Walton
American socialite, survivor of the Titanic disaster (1912).
(b. 1893, Sturgis, Michigan – d. March 16, 1916, Sturgis)

Bishop, Isabella Lucy Bird
British traveller, explorer, and writer, A Lady’s Life in the Rockies (1879).
(b. Oct 15, 1832, Boroughbridge Hall, Yorkshire – d. Oct 7, 1904, Edinburgh, Scotland)

Bismarck, Johanna von Puttkamer, Princess von
Prussian courtier and diarist, m. the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
(b. April 11, 1824, Viartlum – d. Nov 27, 1894, Varzin, nr Rummelsborg, Pomerania)

Bjork, Anita
Swedish actress, Sjoberg’s Miss Julie (1951), Bergman’s Secrets of Women (1952).
(b. 1923, Tallberg, Sweden)

Bjorn, Thyra Ferre
Swedish-American author, Papa’s Wife (1955) : Papa’s Daughter (1958) : Dear Papa (1963) : This Is My Life (1966) : Then There Grew Up a Generation (1970).
(b. Sept 12, 1905, Malmberget, Sweden)

Black, Clementina
British trade unionist, novelist and author, Married Women’s Work (1915) : The Linleys of Bath (1911).
(b. 1854, Brighton, London – d. 1922)

Black, Mary Childs
American art historian
(b. 1922 – d. Feb 28, 1992)

Blackborow, Sarah
English Quaker polemicist and legal reformer.
(fl. 1657 – 1662)

Blackburn, Helen
Irish suffragist, Handbook for Women engaged in Social and Political Work (1881).
(b. 1842, Knightstown, Valencia Island, Kerry, Ireland – d. 1903)

Blackburne, Helena
British miniature, water colour and oil flower painter.
(fl. 1880 – 1899)

Blackman, Honor
British actress
(b. Dec 12, 1927, London)

Blackmore, Isabel
British miniature painter
(fl. 1836 – 1851)

Blackwell, Elizabeth (1)
British etcher and engraver, A Curious Herbal (1737 – 1739).
(b. c1698 – d. 1774)

Blackwell, Elizabeth (2)
Anglo-American physician, the first woman to gain a medical degree in America.
(b. Feb 3, 1821, Bristol, England – d. May 31, 1910)

Blackwell, Emily
Anglo-American physician, sister of Elizabeth, first woman to specialize in surgery.
(b. 1826, Bristol, England – d. 1910)

Blackwood, Beatrice
British anthropologist and ethnologist, Both Sides of the Buke Passage (1935).
(b. 1889 – d. Nov 29, 1975)

Blades, Daisy
British portrait painter, her sitters included the future Queen Mary, wife of George V.
(fl. c1880 – 1891)

Blair, Mary Josephine
American socialite
(b. 1916 – d. Dec 29, 1991)

Blake, Marie see Rock, Blossom

Blamire, Susanna
British poet and lyricist, The Traveller’s Return : Epistle to her Friends at Gartmore (c1772), When Home We Return (c1790) : Auld Robin Forbes (before 1794).
(b. 1747, The Oaks, near Dalston, Carlisle – d. 1794, Carlisle)

Blanc, Elizabeth G.
American actress, known professionally as ‘Baroness Blanc.’
(b. 1864 – d. Dec 13, 1932)

Blanca of Portugal
Infanta, daughter of Alfonso III. Abbess of Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile.
(b. 1259 – d. 1321)

Blanchard, Ann
British miniature painter
(fl. 1816 – 1824)

Blanche see also Bianca or Blanca

Blanche of Aragon
Titular Queen of Navarre 1462 – 1464, m. (div.1453) Henry IV of Castile (1425 – 1474).
(b. 1420 – murd. 1464, Chateau de Ortes, Bearn, Gascony)

Blanche of Artois
Queen regent of Navarre 1274 – 1276, for her daughter Jeanne I (later Queen of France, wife of Philip IV) : m. (2) Edmund of Lancaster (1245 – 1296) son of Henry III of England.
(b. 1247, Artois – d. May 2, 1302, Paris, France)

Blanche of Burgundy (1)
Comtesse de La Marche, first wife of Charles IV (1294 – 1328), Divorced for adultery (1314)
and imprisoned for life, forced to become a nun in 1322.
(b. 1293 – d. before April 5, 1326, Abbey of Maubuisson)

Blanche of Burgundy (2)
Countess of Savoy 1323 – 1329, m. (1307) Count Edward (1284 – 1329), Involved in a financial dispute over her unpaid dowry with her brother Duke Eudes IV (1346).
(b. 1288, Dijon, Burgundy – d. July 18, 1348, Dijon)

Blanche of Castile (1) (Blanca)
Queen of France, granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Louis VIII (d. 1226), and regent for her son Louis IX 1226 – 1234 and 1248 – 1252.
(b. March 4, 1188, Palencia, Castile – d. Nov 27, 1252, Paris, France)

Blanche of Castile (2) (Blanca)
Spanish Infanta, the daughter of Infante Pedro, Regent of Castile, and granddaughter of Jaime II, King of Aragon. She m. (1325 - div. 1330) as his first wife, Pedro I 'the Cruel' of Portugal, King 1357 - 1367. No children, she became Cistercian Abbess of Las Huelgas, Castile.
(b. 1316 - d. 1375, Abbey of Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile)

Blanche of Lancaster
English heiress, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, m. (1359) John of Gaunt (1340 – 1399) son of Edward III. Chaucer wrote his Book of the Duchess for her. Mother of King Henry IV (1367 – 1413) and Philippa, wife of Joao I of Portugal.
(b. March 25, 1341 – d. Sept 12, 1369, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire)

Blanche of Valois (1)
Queen of Bohemia 1346 – 1348, first wife (1329) emperor Charles IV (1316 – 1378).
(b. 1317, France – d. Aug 1, 1348, Bohemia)

Blanche of Valois (2)
French princess, daughter of Philip V. Abbess of Longchamps, near Paris.
(b. 1312 – d. April 26, 1358)

Blanche of Valois (3)
French princess, posthumous dau. of Charles IV, but for the Salic Law she would have succeeded her father as Queen of France, m. Philip, Duc d’Orleans (1336 – 1375).
(b. April 11, 1328 – d. Feb 7, 1392)

Blanche Plantagenet
English princess, daughter of Henry IV and his first wife Mary de Bohun, m. (1402) Louis III Barbatus, elector Palatine (1391 – 1436).
(b. 1392, Peterborough Castle – d. May 22, 1409, Neustadt, Alsace)

Bland, Beatrice
British landscape and floral painter
(b. May 11, 1864, near Lincoln – d. Jan 20, 1951, London)

Blankers-Koen, Fanny
Dutch hurdle athlete, won Olympic medals (1946) and (1948) when considered too old.
(b. 1918, Baarn, Holland – d. Jan 25, 2004)

Blatch, Harriet Stanton
American suffrage leader, and writer, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
(b. 1856, Seneca Falls – d. 1940)

Blatherwick, Lily (Mrs Hartrick)
British flower painter
(fl. 1877 – 1897)

Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna
Russian mystic, fraud, and founder of modern theosophy, Isis Unveiled (1871).
(b. 1831, Ekaterinoslav, Russia – d. 1891)

Blecher, Miriam
American dancer and choreographer. Her routines were themtic and motivated by social protest, her best known work, Van de Lubbe’s Head being anti-Nazi.
(b. 1912, New York – d. Sept 19, 1979, Los Angeles, California)

Blessington, Margeurite Power, Countess of
Irish writer, traveller and salon hostess, The Idler in Italy (1839) : The Idler in France (1841), mistress of her son-in-law, the Comte d’Orsay.
(b. 1789, Knockbrit, near Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland – d. 1849, Paris, France)

Blida
Anglo-Saxon saint, the mother of St Walstan of Bawburgh (c950 – 1016). She was said to have been a princess of East Anglia.
(fl. c950)

Bliekastel, Laurette von
German heiress of Hindstein, Bernkastel and Puttlingen, m. (1242) Henry IV, Count of Salm-Viviers (d. 1293) who held Bliekastel in her right.
(b. c1215 – d. Sept, 1269)

Blithilda of Neustria
Merovingian princess, daughter of Clotaire I, King of Neustria and his last wife Vuldetrada of Lombardy, m. Arnoald I, Margrave of Scheldt (c537 – 611).
(b. c558 – d. 603)

Blixen, Karen Christenze (Isak Dinesen)
Danish writer and plantation manager, Out of Africa (1937) : Angelic Avengers (1944).
(b. 1885 – d. 1962)

Bloch, Blanche
American pianist
(b. 1890 – d. March , 1980)

Bloemardine
Flemish beguin
(b. c1270 – d. 1336)

Blondell, Joan
American commedienne and actress, The Blue Veil (1951) : Desk Set (1957).
(b. Aug 30, 1909, New York – d. Dec 25, 1979, Santa Monica, California)

Bloomer, Amelia Jenks
American feminist, temperance advocate, and writer, founder and editor of The Lily 1849 – 1855, the first magazine for women in America.
(b. May 27, 1818, Homer, New York – d. 1894)

Bloomfield, Georgina Liddell, Lady
British diplomatic wife, memoirist and water colour painter
(b. April 13, 1822, London – d. May 21, 1905, Bramfield House, Hertford)

Blount, Annabella
British poet, A Cure for Poetry (1741).
(b. c1678, Rendcomb, Gloucestershire – d. after Aug 15, 1741, Antwerp, Holland)

Blow, Susan Elizabeth
American kindergarten founder, Educational Issues in the Kindergarten (1908)
(b. 1843, St Louis, Missouri – d. 1916)

Blum, Arlene
American mountaineer, first all-woman climb of Mt McKinley, Alaska (1970).
(b. 1945)

Blumental, Felicja
Polish-Brazilian pianist
(b. Dec 28, 1911, Warsaw, Poland – d. Dec 31, 1991, Tel Aviv, Israel)

Blumkin, Rosa
American furniture entrepeneur and centenarian
(b. Dec 3, 1893, Schidrin, near Minsk, Russia – d. Aug 7, 1998, Omaha, Nebraska)

Blundell, Grace E.M.
British miniature, portrait, and water colour painter
(fl. c1880 – 1894)

Blunt, Anne King Lady
British traveller and writer, The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates (1878).
(b. 1837 – d. 1917)

Blyton, Enid Mary
British children’s writer and poet, Child Whispers (1922) : Noddy : The Famous Five.
(b. Aug 11, 1897, East Dulwich, London – d. 1968)

Boa
Queen of the Sabirian Huns, sent King Tyranax captive to the emperor Justinian I at Constantinople.
(fl. c520 - 528)

Boadicea see Boudicca

Board, Ruby Willmett
Australian feminist and welfare activist
(b. Oct 15, 1880, Gunning, NSW - d. Dec 25, 1963, Sydney, NSW)

Bocanegra, Gertrudis
Mexican freedom fighter, created a female army during the War of Independence (1810).
(b. 1765 – executed. 1817)

Bochkareva, Mariya
Russian Bolshevik patriot and exile, My Life as Peasant Officer and Exile (1929).
(b. 1889, Novgorod)

Bodansky, Barbara Biber
American child psychologist
(b. 1904 – d. Sept, 1993)

Bodenweiser, Gertrud
Austrian-Australian dancer and choreographer
(b. Feb 3, 1890, Vienna, Austria – d. Nov 10, 1959, Sydney, NSW)

Bodichon, Barbara Leigh
British feminist, Women and Work (1857), the model of George Eliot’s Romola (1863).
(b. 1827, Watlington, near Battle, Sussex – d. 1891)

Bodley, Rachel Littler
American botanist and chemist, catalogued plants from the herbarium of James Clark.
(b. 1831 – d. 1888)

Boecop, Cornelia toe
Flemish painter, daughter of Mechteld, and her pupil.
(b. c1545 – d. after 1577)

Boecop, Mechteld toe
Flemish painter of religious canvasses, The Four Evangelists (1577).
(b. c1520 – d. after 1577)

Boedila Thorgautsdottir
Queen of Denmark c1094 – 1102, m. King Erik I Egode (1054 – 1103).
(b. c1077 – d. 1102, Jerusalem, Palestine)

Bogdanoff, Rose
American costume designer
(b. 1903 – d. Jan 19, 1957)

Boguslawski, Dorothy Beers
American consultant, author, and day-care specialist.
(b. 1911 – d. April 3, 1978, New York)

Bohra, Katharina von
German Protestant, the wife (1525 – 1546) of Martin Luther, formerly a nun.
(b. 1499 – d. 1552)

Bohrenz, Eva Margarethe
German publisher and journal printer
(b. c1740 – d. Oct 16, 1780)

Bohun, Matilda de
English literary patron, wife of the earl of Winchester, Matthew Paris produced a Latin psalter for her.
(b. c1215 – d. 1252)

Boigne, Charlotte Louise Adelaide Elonore d’Osmond, Comtesse de
French courtier and memoirist, Recits d’une tante, and Memoires (1907 – 1908).
(b. Feb 19, 1781, Palace of Versailles, near Paris – d. 1866)

Boivin, Marie Anne Victoire
French obstetrician, Nouveau traite des hemorragies de l’uterus (1818)
(b. 1773, Montreuil – d. 1847)

Bok, Sophie Elisabeth
German actress attached to the ducal court of Saxe-Gotha. Retired with a pension (1779).
(b. c1745, Lauenburg – d. after 1800, Gotha, Thuringia)

Boleyn, Lady Mary
English Tudor courtier, daughter of Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Lady Elizabeth Howard. Mistress of Francis I, King of France, and of Henry VIII, King of England, who was the father of her son Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon (1526 - 1596). Henry dismissed her in favour of her sister Anne, whom he eventually married (1533). Mary m. (1) William Carey, a gentleman usher at court (1495 - 1528) : m. (2) Sir William Stafford (d. 1548).
(b. 1500, Blickling Hall, near Norwich, Norfolk - d. 1543)

Bolka of Kosel
Silesian princess, daughter of Duke Boleslav, Abbess of Treibnitz c1404 – 1428.
(b. c1352 – d. before Oct 14, 1428)

Bolognetti, Faustina Acciaioli, Contessa
Italian society figure in Bologna, friend of Sir Horace Mann.
(b. c1702 – d. 1776)

Bol Poel, Martha De Kerchove de Deuterghem, Baroness
Belgian feminist, president of the International Council of Women 1935 – 1940.
(b. 1877, Ghent, Flanders – d. 1956)

Bolton, Louisa
British miniature painter
(fl. c1880 – 1891)

Bombelles, Angelique Charlotte de Mackau, Marquise de
French letter writer, lady-in-waiting to Madame Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI.
(b. 1762 – d. Sept 27, 1800, Brunn, Moravia)

Bona de Bourbon
Countess of Savoy, m. Amadeus VI (1334 – 1383), daughter of Pierre I, Duc de Bourbon and Isabelle de Valois. Regent 1391 – 1397 for her son and grandson.
(b. 1341 – d. Jan 19, 1402)

Bonafede, Contessa Lorenza Maddalena
Italian patrician beauty, the mistress of adventurer Giacomo Casanova. She ended her days confined to a lunatic asylum.
(b. c1727, Venice – d. after 1762, Venice)

Bona of Savoy
Duchess of Milan, m. Duke Galeazzo Maria (1444 – 1476), Regent 1476 – 1479 for her son Giangaleazzo II (1469 – 1494), Proposed as a bride for Edward IV of England.
(b. 1449 – d. 1503)

Bonaparte, Justine Eleonore Ruflin, Princesse de
French patrician, mistress and third wife (1852) of Prince Pierre Napoleon (1815 – 1881).
(b. July 1, 1832 – d. Oct 13, 1905)

Bonaparte, Maria Letizia Ramolino de (Madame Mere)
Corsican matriarch, m.Carlo Buonaparte, mother of emperor Napoleon I (1769 – 1821)
(b. Aug 24, 1750, Ajaccio, Corsica – d. Feb 2, 1836, Rome, Italy)

Bona Sforza
Queen of Poland, m. King Sigismund I (1467 – 1548) and mother of Sigismund II Augustus (1520 – 1572). Generally detested because of her financial corruption.
(b. Feb 13, 1495 – d. Nov 7, 1558)

Bond, Elizabeth
British miniature painter, niece of the actor Aubrey Smith.
(b. c1825 – d. 1897)

Bondfield, Margaret Grace
British trade unionist, Minister of Labour (1929) the first female Cabinet minister.
(b. 1873, near Chard, Somerset – d. 1953)

Bone, Louisa Frances
British miniature painter and enamellist
(b. c1810 – d. after 1844)

Bonheur, Rosa
French painter, Plowing in Nivernais (1849) : The Horse Fair (1853 – 1855).
(b. 1822, Bordeaux – d. 1899)

Bonneau, Florence Mary (Mrs Cockburn)
British flower painter
(fl. 1871 – 1884)

Bonney, Anne
American pirate, when captured by the British her false plea of pregnancy saved her from the gallows.
(b. 1702, Cork, Ireland – d. 1780, South Carolina, America)

Bonney, Lores (Maude Rose)
Australian aviatrix
(b. Nov 20, 1897, Pretoria, South Africa – d. Feb 24, 1997)

Bonnin-Armstrong, Ana Ines
Puerto-Rican poet, journalist and dramatist, Fuga (1948) : La dificil esperanza (1966).
(b. 1902, Ponce, Puerto-Rico)

Bonnor, Rose D.
British miniature and portrait painter
(fl. 1901 – 1913)

Bonsignori, Maddalena
Italian philosopher, scholar and university lecturer.
(fl. c1300)

Bonstelle, Jessie
American actress and manager of the Garrick Theater, Detroit 1910 – 1922.
(b. 1872 – d. 1932)

Booth, Catherine
British co-founder of the Salvation Army and hymnwriter.
(b. 1829, Derbyshire – d. 1890)

Booth, Elizabeth
British flower painter
(fl. 1879 – 1885)

Booth, Evangeline Cory
British religious leader, General of the Salvation Army 1934 – 1939.
(b. 1865, London – d. 1950)

Boothby, Hill
British literary figure, friend of Dr Samuel Johnson.
(b. 1708 – d. 1756)

Boothe-Luce, Clare
American writer and politician, author of The Women (1939), the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut 1943 – 1947.
(b. 1903, New York – d. 1987)

Borden, Lizzie Andrew
American alleged murderess, supposedly killed her father and stepmother with an axe (1892). She was acquitted amidst nation wide publicity.
(b. 1860, Fall River, Massachusetts – d. 1927)

Bordier, Primrose
French textile designer and fine linen specialist
(b. 1929, Paris – d. Nov 21, 1995, Paris)

Borg, Flora Austin
American publisher and newspaper columnist, It Was Today.
(b. 1909, Piermont, New York – d. Oct 14, 1971, Hackensack)

Borghese, Pauline de Bonaparte, Princesse de
French-Italian beauty, sister of Napoleon I, m. (1) Victor Leclerq, m. (2) Prince Camillo Borghese (1775 – 1832), She was the model for Antonio Canova’s nude reclining Venus.
(b. Oct 20, 1780, Ajaccio, Corsica – d. June 9, 1825, Florence, Italy)

Borgia, Lucrezia
Italian patrician, daughter of Pope Alexander VI., m. (1) Giovanni Sforza, m. (2) Alfonso d’Aragon, Duca di Bisceglie, m. (3) (1501) of Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.
(b. April, 1480, Subiaco, Italy – d. 1519, Ferrara)

Boris, Bessie
American painter
(b. 1917 – d. Sept, 1993)

Borrero, Dulce Maria
Cuban poet, artist and civil servant, Horas de mi vida (1912) : El matrimonio en Cuba (1912).
(b. 1883, Cuba – d. 1945)

Borrero, Juana
Cuban poet, Rimas (1895).
(b. May 18, 1877, Cuba – d. March 8, 1896, Cayo Hueso, Cuba)

Bosanquet, Helen
British social reformer and theorist
(b. Feb 10, 1860, Manchester, Lancashire – d. April 7, 1925, Golders Green)

Boscawen, Jael
British society and salon figure
(b. 1647 – d. 1730)

Bose, Abala Das
Indian educator, secretary of the Brahmo Balika Shikshalaya (School for Girls) Calcutta.
(b. 1865 – d. 1951, Calcutta)

Boserup, Esther Talke
Danish development theorist, Women’s Role in Economic Development (1970).
(b. 1910)

Bostock, Edith
British still-life painter
(fl. c1850 – 1868)

Boti y Barreiro, Regina Eladio
Cuban poet, biographer and author, Rumbo a Jauco (1910) : La nueva poesia en Cuba (1927).
(b. 1878, Oriente Province, Cuba – d. 1958)

Botot, Marie Anne
French dancer
(b. 1714 – d. 1796)

Bouboulina, Laskarina
Greek freedom fighter in the Gree War of Independence against the Turks.
(b. 1771, island of Spetses, Greece – killed 1825, during a family feud)

Boucherett, Jessie (Emilia Jessie)
British campaigner for working women, Conditions of Working Women (1896).
(b. Nov, 1825, Willingham, Lincolnshire – d. Oct 18, 1905)

Boudicca (Boadicea)
Celtic warrior queen of the Iceni, Britain, rebelled against the Romans (59 C.E.) but was defeated and committed suicide with her two daughters.
(b. c25 – d. 62 C.E.)

Boufflers, Francoise Eleonore de Jean de Manville, Comtesse de (Mme de Sabran)
French society figure, letter writer, and émigré, m. (1) Eleazar, Comte de Sabran, m. (2)
Stanislac, Chevalier and Comte de Boufflers, who had been her admirer for many years.
(b. 1749 – d. 1827)

Boufflers, Marie Anne Philippine de Montmorency, Duchesse de
French society figure, m. (1747) Charles Joseph, Duc de Boufflers (1731 – 1751).
(b. 1731 – d. 1797)

Boufflers, Marie Charlotte Hippolyte de Camps de Saujon, Marquise de
French salonniere, m. (1746) Edouard, Marquis de Boufflers-Rouverel (d. 1763), Mistress of the Prince de Conti, known as ‘L’Idole du Temple’ by Mme du Deffand.
(b. 1725 – d. 1800)

Boughton, Joan
English Lollard heretic, mother of Lady Young.
(b. c1413 – burnt alive April 28, 1494, Smithfield, London)

Bouhired, Djamila
Algerian nationalist heroine, author of Pour Djamila Bouhired (1957).
(b. 1935)

Bouillon, Francoise de Breze-Maulevrier, Duchesse de
French peeress 1532 – 1574 as comtesse de Maulevrier, daughter of Diane de Poitiers, m. Robert IV de La Marck, Duc de Bouillon (1512 – 1556).
(b. 1516 – d. 1574)

Bouillon, Leonore Catherine Febronie von Berg-Heerenburg, Duchesse de
Flemish-French society figure, prominent during the Wars of the Fronde, m. (1634)
Frederic Maurice de La Tour d’Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon (1605 – 1652).
(b. May 6, 1613, Brussels – d. July 24, 1657, Paris)

Bouillon, Louise Henriette de Lorraine-Harcourt, Duchesse de
French society figure, attempted to poison her rival, the actress Mlle Lecouvreur.
(b. 1707 – d. 1737)

Bouillon, Marie Hedwige Eleonore Christine de Hesse-Rheinsfeld, Duchesse de
French society figure, m. (1766) Jacques Leopold de La Tour ‘Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon (1748 – 1802), Mentioned in the memoirs of Mme de La Tour du Pin.
(b. June 26, 1748 – d. May 27, 1801)

Boulainvilliers, Marie Madeleine de Hellencourt de Dromesnil, Marquise de
French courtier of Louis XV, the early patron of the notorious Comtesse de La Motte.
(b. c1716 – d. Dec, 1781)

Boulanger, Lili
French composer, sister of Nadia, Pour les funerailles d’un soldat (1912) : Vieille priere bouddhique (1917).
(b. 1893 – d. 1918)

Boulanger, Nadia
French composer, conductor and teacher, sister of Lili,the first woman to conduct a symphony orchestra in London (1937).
(b. 1887 – d. 1979)

Boulaye, Louise de La Marck, Marquise de
French heiress, m. (1633) Maximilien Eschalard, Marquis de Boulaye.
(b. 1612 – d. May 17, 1668)

Boulger, Dorothea Henrietta
British novelist, Pretty Miss Bellew (1875).
(b. May 30, 1847, Thelton Hall, Norfolk – d. July 22, 1923)

Boulton, Laura Theresa Craytor
American writer
(b. 1899 – d. Oct 16, 1980)

Boulton, Mary Bancroft
American psychotherapist
(b. Aug 9, 1911 – d. May 30, 1998)

Boupacha, Djamila
Algerian nationalist heroine, campaigned for women to take a more prominent role in public life.
(b. 1942)

Bourbon, Marie de
French princess, daughter of Pierre I, Duc de Bourbon and Isabelle de Valois, her sister Jeanne m King Charles V. Dominican prioressof Poissy 1380 – 1401.
(b. 1347 – d. Dec 29, 1401)

Bourbon, Marie de Valois-Berry, Duchesse de
French patron of Jeanne d’Arc and Colette of Corbie. Founded the convent f Moulins in the Bourbonnais.
(b. 1370 – d. June, 1434)

Bourbon-Clermont, Marie de
French princess, the daughter of Robert I, Comte de Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy. She was prioress of Poissy, near Paris 1333 – 1344.
(b. 1285 – d. 1372)

Bourignon, Antoinette
French religious mystic and hymn writer
(b. 1616, Lille, Flanders – d. 1680)

Bourke-White, Margaret
American photo-journalist, Eyes on Russia (1931) : You have seen their Faces (1937).
(b. 1904, New York – d. 1979)

Bours, Anne Rouad, Dame de
French letter writer, corresponded with Honor, Lady Lisle.
(fl. 1512 – 1540)

Bouzols, Laure Anne de Fitzjames, Marquise de
French society figure, granddaughter of James II of England, m. (1732) Timoleon Joachim Louis de Montagu Beaune, Marquis de Bouzols (d. 1747). Correspondent of Madame du Deffand.
(b. 1713 – d. Dec 6, 1766)

Bourtai (Bortei)
Mongol empress, wife of Genghiz Khan (1162 – 1227)
(b. 1172 – d. after 1227)

Bova
Merovingian princess, daughter of Clotaire I, king of Neustria and his third wife Sigihilda. Abbess of St Peter, Rheims, near Paris.
(b. c612 – d. c673)

Bow, Clara
American film actress, publicized as the ‘It’ girl, Mantrap (1926) : It (1927).
(b. 1905, Brooklyn, New York – d. 1965)

Bowden, Mary
British flower painter
(fl. 1871 – 1890)

Bowdler, Henrietta Maria
British novelist and devotional verse writer
(b. 1754 – d. Feb 25, 1830, Bath)

Bowen, Elizabeth Dorothea Cole
Irish-Anglo novelist, The Death of the Heart (1938) : The Demon Lover (1945).
(b. 1899, Dublin, Ireland – d. 1973, Hythe, Kent, England)

Bowen, Grace Scott
American educator, head of Knox School for Girls, Cooperstown. Survivor of the Titanic disaster (1912).
(b. 1867 – d. 1945, Cooperstown, New York)

Bower, Florence Turitz
American music educator
(b. 1899 – d. July, 1993)

Bowne, Eliza Southgate
American letter writer, A Girl’s Life Eighty Years Ago (1883).
(b. 1783, Scarborough, Maine – d. 1809)

Bowra, Harriette
British novelist, A Young Wife’s Story (1877).
(b. c1830 – d. 1898, Nice, Alpes Maritimes, France)

Bowser, Rose Maude
British flower painter
(fl. c1880 – 1889)

Box, Betty
British film producer, A Tale of Two Cities (1957) : The 39 Steps (1960), OBE (1958).
(b. 1920 – d. 1999)

Box, Muriel (Lady Gardiner)
British dramatist, scriptwriter, and film director, The Happy Family (1950) : Street Corner (1953).
(b. 1905 – d. 1991)

Boyd, Elizabeth
British novelist and poet, The Happy-Unfortunate ; Or, The Female Page (1732) : The Humorous Miscellany (1733) : The Snail (1745).
(b. c1685 – d. after 1745)

Boyd, Hermia
Australian artist and sculptor
(b. Aug 10, 1931, Sydney, NSW – d. Jan 25, 2000, Sydney)

Boyle, Nina (Constance Antonina)
British women’s rights advocate and campaigner, co-founder of the Women Volunteer Police Corps (1914).
(b. Dec 21, 1865, Bexley, Kent – d. March 4, 1943, London)

Bozyk, Reizl
American Jewish actress
(b. 1914 – d. Oct, 1993)

Bracegirdle, Anne
British actress, Love for Love (1695) : Mourning Bride (1697) : Way of the World.
(b. 1663 – d. 1748, London)

Brackenburg, Georgina
British portrait painter
(fl. 1891 – 1905)

Bracker, Virginia Lee
American journalist
(b. 1907 – d. Oct, 1993)

Bracket, Leigh Douglass
American science fiction writer and novelist, Alpha Centauri or Die.
(b. Dec 7, 1915, Los Angeles, California – d. March 18, 1978, Hollywood, California)

Bradburn, Eliza
British writer, The Story of Paradise Lost (1828).
(fl. 1816 – 1847)

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth
British popular novelist, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862). : The Infidel (1900) : The Rose of Life (1905).
(b. 1837, London – d. 1915)

Bradford, Ida Frances Annabella Lumley, Countess of
British courtier, lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary, wife of George V.
(b. 1848 – d. Aug 22, 1936)

Bradley, Marion Zimmer
British author of the Avalon series.
(b. June 3, 1930)

Bradstreet, Anne
Anglo-American poet, The Tenth Muse lately sprung up in America (1650).
(b. c1612, Northampton, England – d. 1672, North Andover, New England)

Bradwell, Myra Colby
American lawyer, editor of the Chicago Legal News 1868 – 1894.
(b. 1831, Manchester, Vermont – d. 1894, Chicago, Illinois)

Brady, Veronica
American actress
(b. 1888 – d. Jan 19, 1964)

Bragnina, Lyudmila
Russian athlete, Olympic gold medal winner (1972) for middle distance running.
(b. 1943, Sverdlovsk, Russia)

Brahms, Dora Sonet
American interior decorator
(b. 1896 – d. April 27, 1970, Manhattan, New York)

Braile, Maria Antonia
Albanian poet, Songs (1917).
(b. 1894, San Demetrio, Corone, Cosenza – d. 1917)

Braine, Agnes de
French religious patron, became a Praemonstratensian nun (1133)
(b. c1090 – d. March 31, 1149)

Brancas, Louise Francoise de Clermont-Gallerande, Duchesse de Villars-
French courtier, friend of Mme de Pompadour, known as the ‘tall duchess’.
(fl. c1730 – 1756)

Brandenburg, Countess Julia von
Prussian morganatic daughter of King Frederick William II and Countess Sophie von Donhoff, m. (1816)
Ferdinand, Duke von Anhalt-Kothen (1769 – 1830).
(b. Jan 4, 1793 – d. Jan 27, 1848)

Brandram, Rosina
British contralto vocalist
(b. c1845, London – d. Feb 28, 1907)

Brant, Molly (Mary)
American Indian representative, supported the British during the Revolution.
(b. 1736, Mohawk valley, New York State – d. 1796, Ontario, Canada)

Brantes, Aymone Marie Sylvie Renee de Faucigny-Laucinge, Comtesse de
French patrician, a descendant of Charles X 1824 - 1830, she m. (1929) Francois Sauvage, Comte de Brantes (1899 - 1944).
(b. Aug 8, 1905, Paris - d. Jan 23, 1993, Paris)

Braose, Matilda de
Norman political victim, starved to death by order of King John.
(b. c1160 – d. 1211, Corfe Castle, Dorset)

Brassey, Anna Allnutt, Lady
British traveller and writer, The Voyage of the Sunbeam (1878).
(b. Oct 7, 1839, London – d. Sept 14, 1887, at sea)

Brassova, Nathalia Sergievna Cheremetevskaia, Countess
Russian courtier and émigré, mistress and morganatic wife of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch Romanov (1878 – 1918) brother of Tsar Nicholas II.
(b. 1880 – d. Jan 23, 1952)

Braun, Eva
German Reich figure, the mistress of dictator Adolf Hitler.
(b. 1912 – suicide April 30, 1945, Berlin)

Braun, Lily
German socialist writer, Die Frauenfrage (1901) : Memoiren einer Sozialistin (1911).
(b. 1865 – d. 1916)

Bravo, Magdalena Garcia
Spanish poet
(b. 1862 – d. 1891)

Braye, Henrietta Otway-Cave, Lady
British peeress, fourth holder of the barony of Braye (1879).
(b. Nov 3, 1809 – d. Nov 14, 1879)

Bregendahl, Marie
Danish novelist and writer
(b. 1867 – d. 1940)

Bregy, Charlotte Saumaize de Chazan, Comtesse de
French salonniere, letter writer and poet
(b. 1619 – d. 1693)

Brema, Marie
British mezzo soprano
(b. Feb 28, 1856, Liverpool – d. March 22, 1925, Manchester, Lancashire)

Bremer, Fredrika
Swedish novelist, feminist, and letter writer, The Neighbours (1837) : The House (1843) : Hertha (1856).
(b. 1801, Abo, Finland – d. 1865)

Brenan, Jennie Frances
Australian dancer and teacher
(b. April 24, 1877, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria – d. Feb 2, 1964)

Brenner, Anita
Mexican writer
(b. Aug 13, 1905 – d. 1974)

Brent, Margaret
Anglo-American colonist and estate manager in Maryland 1638 – 1651.
(b. c1601, Lark Stoke, Gloucestershire, England – d. 1671, Virginia, America)

Brereton, Charlotte
British poet, daughter of Jane, An Epistle from Scotland (1742).
(b. c1720, Oxford – d. after 1744)

Brereton, Jane
British poet, mother of Charlotte, Merlin : A Poem (1735) : Poems (1744).
(b. 1685, Bryn-Griffith, near Mould, Flintshire – d. Aug 7, 1740, Wrexham)

Bretagne, Marie de
Princess, daughter of Richard, Comte d’Etampes, and granddaughter of Louis, Duc d’Orleans. Abbess of Sainte Marie, Fontevrault, Maine 1457 – 1477.
(b. 1424 – d. Oct 19, 1477)

Breval, Lucienne
Swiss-French soprano vocalist
(b. 1869 – d. 1935)

Breville, Louise Margeurite de
French heroine
(b. 1648 – d. 1673)

Brevort, Meta
American mountaineer
(b. 1823 – d. 1876)

Brewer, Ann
British miniature painter
(fl. 1763 – 1780)

Brewer, Mary
British miniaturist and portrait painter
(fl. 1848 – 1874)

Brewer, Jeutonne
American educator, linguist, and bibliographer.
(b. May 5, 1939, Enid, Oklahoma)

Brezhneva, Galina Leonidovna
Russian society figure, daughter of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
(b. 1928 – d. June 30, 1998, Moscow)

Brezhneva, Viktoriya Denisovna
Russian First Lady 1964 – 1982, m. (1928) Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906 – 1982).
(b. 1907, Kursk – d. 1995, Moscow)

Briane, Elizabeth Anne
British portrait painter
(fl. 1798 – 1807)

Brice, Fanny
American commedienne, vocalist, and actress, The Great Ziegfeld (1936).
(b. 1891, New York – d. 1951)

Brickman, Miriam
American casting director
(b. 1931 – d. July 2, 1977)

Bridget of Sweden (Bridget Perssdotter)
Swedish saint, mystic, and founder of the Bridgettine Order (1370).
(b. 1303, Sweden – d. 1373, Rome, Italy)

Bridget of York
Planatagenet princess, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Nun at Dartford.
(b. Nov 10, 1480, Eltham Palace, Kent – d. 1517, Dartford Priory, Kent)

Brie, Catherine de
French actress
(b. 1630 – d. 1706)

Briet, Margeurite de
French novelist, translator and letter writer
(b. c1510 – d. 1552)

Brigadere, Anna
Latvian dramatist, novelist and lyric poet
(b. 1861 – d. 1933)

Brigid
Irish virgin saint, founded the first community of nuns, ‘The Mary of the Gael’.
(b. c450 C.E., Faugher, near Dundalk – d. Feb 1, 523, Kildare)

Brigid of Abernethy
Scottish virgin saint and recluse.
(fl. c700)

Brimmer, Anne
British portrait painter
(fl. 1846 – 1857)

Brinvilliers, Marie Madeleine Margeurite d’Aubray, Marquise de
French poisoner, beheaded because of her rank, her remains wer publicly burnt.
(b. 1632 – d. July 17, 1676, Paris)

Brionne, Louise de Rohan, Princesse de
French society figure, mistress of Etienne, Duc de Choiseul (1719 – 1785).
(b. March 28, 1734 – d. March 20, 1815)

Briscoe, Sophia
British epistolary novelist, Clarissa (1771) : The Fine Lady (1772).
(fl. c1750 – 1772)

Brissac, Marie Louise Bechameil de Nointel, Duchesse de
French Bourbon courtier of Louis XIV and the Regency period, m. (1692) Louis de Cosse, Duc de Brissac (1668 - 1709). Dowager duchesse 1709 - 1740.
(b. 1661 - d. April 2, 1740)

Brittain, Vera
British writer, Testament of Youth (1933) : Account Rendered (1945).
(b. 1893, Newcastle-under-Lyme – d. 1970)

Britton, Barbara
British actress
(b. Sept 26, 1920 – d. Jan, 1980)

Britton, Elisabeth Gertrude
American botanist
(b. 1858 – d. 1934)

Bro, Margeuritte Harmon
American educator, editor, author, book-reviewer, and ghost writer
(b. Aug 5, 1894, David City, Nebraska – d. 1977)

Broadhead, Marion E.
British portrait painter and engraver
(fl. c1900 – 1912)

Broderick, Hilda Charteris, Lady
British society figure, member of the ‘Souls’ coterie.
(b. Oct 13, 1854 – d. Aug 1, 1901)

Broe, Ruth Hammond
American author and military officer, Colonel in the US Marine Corps, of which she wrote a history.
(b. 1912 – d. Aug 19, 1983, La Jolla, California)

Bron, Eleanor
British stage, film and television actress, Bedazzled (1967) : Women in Love (1969) : Little Dorrit (1988) : Absolutely Fabulous series (1992) as Patsy’s mother.
(b. 1934, London)

Bronfinnia see Uanfinnia

Bronte, Anne (Acton Bell)
British novelist, Agnes Grey (1847) : Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848).
(b. 1820, Haworth, near Bradford, Yorkshire – d. May, 1849, Scarborough)

Bronte, Charlotte (Currer Bell)
British novelist, Jane Eyre (1847) : Shirley (1849) : Villette (1852).
(b. 1816 – d. March, 1855, Haworth, nearr Bradford, Yorkshire)

Bronte, Emily (Ellis Bell)
British novelist, Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846) : Wuthering Heights (1847).
(b. 1818, Haworth, nearr Bradford, Yorkshire – d. Dec, 1848, Haworth)

Brook, Helen Knewstub, Lady
British civic activist, founder of the Brook Advisory Centres.
(b. 1907 – d. 1997)

Brook, Mary
British author
(b. c1726, Woodstock, Oxon – d. 1782)

Brooke, Julia Henrietta Anson, Lady
British courtier, maid-of-honour to Queen Victoria.
(b. c1815 – d. Dec 27, 1886)

Brookes, Ivy Deakin, Lady
Australian musician and community activist, daughter of PM Alfred Deakin.
(b. July 14, 1883, Melbourne, Victoria – d. Dec 27, 1970, Melbourne)

Brooks, Eda Helen
American actress
(b. 1899 – d. Oct 15, 1993)

Brooks, Gwendolyn
Black American poet, Annie Allen (1949) : Maud Martha (1953) : Selected Poems (1963).
(b. 1917, Topeka, Kansas – d. 2002)

Brooks, Romaine Goddard
British painter and salon hostess, At the Piano (1920) : Una, Lady Troubridge (1924).
(b. 1874, Rome, Italy – d. 1970)

Brooks-Randolph, Angie Elizabeth
Liberian lawyer and diplomat, Permanent Representative to the UN (1975 – 1977).
and ambassador to Cuba.
(b. 1928)

Brough, Louise (Alice Louise)
American lawn tennis player, won all three titles at Wimbledon 1948 and 1950.
(b. 1923, Oklahoma)

Brougham, Marianne Eden, Lady
British memoirist
(b. 1785 – d. Jan 12, 1865)

Broughton, Rhoda
British novelist
(b. Nov 29, 1840, North Wales – d. June 5, 1920)

Browallius, Irja Agnes
Finnish novelist and author
(b. 1901 – d. 1968)

Brown, Amy
Anglo-French mistress of Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Berry (1778 – 1820).
(b. April 8, 1783, Maidstone, Kent – d. May 7, 1876, Chateau de La Contrie, France)

Brown, Emily Clark
American academic
(b. 1896 – d. Oct, 1980)

Brown, Helen Gurley
American journalist, Sex and the Single Girl (1962), editor of Cosmopolitan magazine.
(b. 1927, Green Forest, Arkansas)

Brown, Joan Sayers
American fashion co-ordinator and freelance writer
(b. 1925 – d. Aug 28, 1983, Annapolis, Md.)

Brown, Judith
American figurative and metal sculptor, Caryatids.
(b. 1931, New York – d. May 11, 1992, Manhattan, New York)

Brown, Meredith Jemima
British campaigner for working girls, founded Rowton House.
(b. c1837 – d. Nov 8, 1908)

Brown, Molly (Margaret Tobin Brown)
American socialite, ‘Unsinkable Molly Brown’, survivor of the Titanic disaster (1912).
(b. July 18, 1867, Hannibal, Missouri – d. Oct 26, 1932, Barbizon Hotel, New York)

Brown, Muriel Humphrey
American senator, widow of Hubert H. Humphrey.
(b. 1912, Huron, South Dakota – d. Sept 20, 1998, Washington, D.C.)

Brown, Pamela
British actress
(b. July 8, 1917, London – d. Sept 18, 1975, London)

Brown, Rachel Fuller
American chemical researcher, isolated the first anti-fungal antibiotic, Nystatin, the first woman to receive the Pioneer Chemist Award (1975).
(b. 1898, Springfield, Massachusetts – d. Jan 15, 1980, Albany, New York)

Brown, Rosemary Isabel
British spiritual medium and composer, Unfinished Symphonies (1971) : Immortals at my Elbow (1974).
(b. July 27, 1916, London – d. Nov 16, 2001)

Brown, Zenith Jones
American writer
(b. Dec 8, 1898 – d. Aug 25, 1983)

Brown Blackwell, Antoinette Louisa
American reformer and Congregational priest, The Sexes Throughout Nature (1875).
(b. 1825, Henrietta, Monroe County, New York State – d. 1921)

Browne, Frances
British writer, Granny’s Wonderful Chair (1857).
(b. Jan 16, 1816, Stranorlar, Donegal, Ireland
d. Aug 21, 1879, St John’s Grove, Richmond, Surrey, England)

Browne, Harriet Louisa Campbell, Lady
British political hostess, community leader and letter writer
(b. July 1, 1829, Edinburgh, Scotland
d. April 9, 1906, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, England)

Browne, Ida Alison
Australian geologist and academic
(b. Aug 16, 1900, Paddington, Sydney, NSW – d. Oct 21, 1976, Edgecliff, Sydney)

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
British poet, wife (1846) of Robert Browning, Sonnets for the Portugese (1851) : Aurora Leigh (1857).
(b. 1806, Durham – d. 1861)

Bruce, Evangeline
American diplomatic hostess and biographer
(b. 1918 – d. Dec 12, 1995)

Bruce, Mary Grant
Australian author, A Little Bush Maid.
(b. May 24, 1878, Sale, Victoria – d. July 2, 1958)

Bruce, Mildred Mary (Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce)
British racing car driver and author, The Peregrinations of Penelope.
(b. 1895 – d. 1990)

Brunetti, Argentina
Argentinian actress, Italian servant in My Cousin Rachel (1952) : The 4^th Tenor (2002).
(b. Aug 31, 1907, Argentina)

Bruntland, Gro Harlem
Norwegian politician, the first female Prime Minister 1980.
(b. 1930, Oslo, Norway)

Brunhilda
Merovingian queen, daughter of Athanagild, Visigothic King of Spain, she m. (566, at Metz) Sigebert I, King of Austrasia (d. 575). Regent for her son Cyhildebert II, her grandson Theuderic, and her great grandson Sigebert II. Brutally killed to remove her political influence, she was torn to pieces by wild horses.
(b. c549 – d. 613, her ashes interred in the Abbey of Autun, Burgundy)

Bruton, Mary Catherine
Australian Catholic religieuse, Superior-General of the Sisters of Charity (1924).
(b. May 13, 1862, Sydney, NSW – d. Oct 15, 1937)

Bryant, Sophie
Irish educator, patriot and suffragist
(b. Feb 15, 1850, Sandyhurst, near Dublin
d. Aug 14, 1922, Chamonix, France, whilst mountain climbing)

Bryceland, Yvonne
American actress
(b. Nov 18, 1925 – d. Jan 13, 1992)

Brynmor-Jones, Florence
British portrait painter
(fl. c1890 – 1904)

Bubar, Margaret Weber
American naturalist, writer, and civic activist
(b. 1920 – d. May 30, 1978, Stamford, Connecticut)

Buchanan, Bessie Allison
Black American silent film actress, politician and legislator.
(b. 1902 – d. Sept 7, 1980, Manhattan, New York)

Buchanan, Inez
British miniature painter
(fl. c1890 – 1913)

Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker
American writer, The Good Earth (1931) : The House Divided (1935) : The Exile (1936).
(b. 1892, Hillsboro, West Virginia – d. 1973)

Buckingham, Anne Neville, Duchess of
Plantagenet granddaughter of John of Gaunt, courtier of Henry VI, interceded with Margaret of Anjou on behalf of the city of London (1462), Literary patron.
(b. c1402 – d. Sept 2, 1480)

Buckingham, Anne Plantagenet, Countess of (Anne of Woodstock)
English peeress and heiress, granddaughter of Edward III, held the county of Buckingham 1399 – 1438, after the death of her brother Humphrey, m. (3) William Bourchier, Comte d’Eu (1365 – 1420).
(April, 1383, Pleshey Castle, Essex – d. Oct, 1438, priory of Llanthony, Monmouthshire)

Buckingham, Catherine Woodville, Duchess of
Plantagenet courtier, sister to Elizabeth, wife of Edward IV, m. (1) Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (d. 1483) m. (2) Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford (d. 1495), uncle of Henry VII, m. (3) the diplomat, Sir Richard Wingfield (1458 – 1525).
(b. 1458, Grafton Regis, Northants – d. 1497)

Buckingham, Eleanor Percy, Duchess of
English Tudor courtier of Henry VII and Henry VIII, m. (1) Edward Stafford, 3rd Ducke of Buckingham (`477 - 1521) : m. (2) Mr Spencer.She died of the sweating sickness.
(b. 1478 - d. 1530)

Buckingham, Ethel (Mrs Havers)
British miniaturist, portrait and animal painter
(fl. c1880 – 1901)

Buckley, Blanche
British portrait painter
(fl. 1896 – 1914)

Buckley, Victoria
Black American political official, Secretary of State for Colorado.
(b. 1947, Denver, Colorado – d. 1999)

Bucs, Louise de Dupuy de Montbrun, Marquise de
French centenarian, m. Jean de Penteres, Marquis de Bucs, inherited the seigneurie of Montbrun, in the Dauphine, which passed to her daughter, the Marquise de Bimar.
(b. 1674 – d. 1774)

Budberg, Moura Zakhevskaia-Benkendorff, Baroness
Russian-Anglo literary hostess and writer, mistress of H.G. Wells.
(b. 1892, Russia – d. 1974, London)

Budmani, Lukrecija Bogasinovic
Yugoslav poet
(b. 1710 – d. 1794)

Bueno, Maria Esther
Brazilian lawn tennis player, beat Margaret Smith at Wimbledon (1964). She won the US Singlers titles four times (1959 – 1966).
(b. 1939)

Bugbee, Ruth Carson (Ruth Carson)
American health worker and author, You and Tuberculosis (1952).
(b. July 10, 1903, Indianapolis, Indiana)

Bullwinkel, Vivien
Australian nursing sister and WW II heroine, prisoner of the Japanese.
(b. Dec 18, 1915, Kapunda, SA – d. July 3, 2000, Perth, WA)

Bulmer, Joan (Mistress Waldegrave)
English courtier, secretary to Catharine Howard, wife of Henry VIII.
(b. 1519 – d. Lawford Hall, Essex, bur. Dec 10, 1580)

Bulyovsky, Lilla
Hungarian actress and dancer, member of the couurt theatre at Dresden. Attached to the Bavarian court theatre at Munich 1857 – 1871.
(b. May 25, 1834, Klausenburg, Transylvania, Hungary – d. Dec 17, 1909, Graz, Styria, Austria)

Bunbury, Lady Sarah see Lennox, Lady Sarah

Bunke, Tamara
Argentinian revolutionary, supporter of Che Guevara, her memory is greatly revered.
(b. c1940 – d. 1968)

Buran
Queen of Baghdad, m. (822) Caliph Al-Ma’mun (d. 833).
(b. 803 – d. 884, Baghdad)

Burbidge, Margaret (Eleanor Margaret)
British astronomer, ‘Synthesis of the elements in the stars’ (Oct, 1957) for which she was awarded the Warner Prize (1959) : Quasi-Stellar Objects (1967).
(b. 1920)

Burdett-Coutts, Angela Georgina, Baroness
British philanthropist, heir of the banker Thomas Coutts, editor of Women’s Work in England (1893).
(b. 1814, London – d. 1906)

Burford, Rose de
English merchant and provisioner
(b. c1275, London – d. 1329, London)

Burgess, Eliza Mary
British miniaturist and portrait painter
(b. March 2, 1878, Walthamstow, Essex – d. after 1914)

Burgess, Georgina Jane
New Zealand midwife and hotelier, postmistress at Burke Pass.
(b. c1838, Edinburgh, Scotland – d. Jan 10, 1904, Cricklewood, near Fairlie, NZ)

Burghersh, Lady see Westmorland, Priscilla, Countess of

Burgos, Julia de see De Burgos, Julia

Burgundofara (Fare)
Merovingian virgin saint, Abbess of Faremoutiers, Brie 620 – 657.
(b. c590, Pipimissium, near Meaux – d. 657)

Burke, Joan Lindsay
Australian bohemian figure, wife of artist Ray Lindsay.
(b. 1912, Sydney, NSW – d. 2004, Sydney)

Burke, Kathleen
American actress
(b. 1917 – d. April 9, 1980)

Burke, Roberta Gorsuch
American military wife, widow of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke.
(b. Jan 3, 1899, Lawrence, Kansas – d. July 4, 1997, Fairfax, Virginia)

Burlingham, Dorothy Tiffany
American child psychoanalyst and writer, War and Children (1943).
(b. 1891, Manhattan, New York – d. Nov 19, 1979, Hampstead, London, England)

Burne-Jones, Georgiana Macdonald, Lady
British Pre-Raphaelite beauty and painter
(b. 1840 – d. 1920)

Burnet, Pauline Ruth
British mental health worker
(b. 1920 – d. 1991)

Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson
Anglo-American novelist and children’s writer, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) : The Secret Garden (1911).
(b. 1849, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England
(d. 1924, Plandrome Park, Long Island, New York)

Burney, Fanny
British novelist and courtier, daughter of Charles Burney, author of Evelina (1778) : Cecilia (1782). Lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte 1785 – 1791.She married a French emigre, Alexandre, Comte d'Arblay.
(b. 1752, King’s Lynn, Norfolk – d. 1840, London)

Burnham, Helen Billings
American judge
(b. 1916, Earlville, New York – d. Feb 12, 1998, Mattydale, Syracuse, New York)

Burrard, Isabella Duckett, Lady
British miniature painter
(b. c1815 – d. 1876)

Burrell, Sophia Raymond, Lady
British poet and dramatist, Poems (1793) : The Thymbriad (1794) : Maximian (1800).
(b. c1750, Barking, Essex – d. June 20, 1802, West Cowes, Isle of Wight)

Burton, Beryl
British cyclist, winner of five gold medals, the only woman to beat top class male riders in open events.
(b. May 12, 1937, Leeds, Yorkshire – d. May 5, 1996, near Harrogate, London)

Burton, Isabel Arundell, Lady
British traveller and writer, The Inner Life of Syria (1875) : Life of Sir Richard Burton.
(b. 1831, London – d. 1896)

Burton, Joan Linnell
British archivist and custodian, great-granddaughter of painter John Linnell.
(b. July 3, 1909, London – d. Sept 27, 1997)

Burton, Katherine Kurz
American educator, biographer, and magazine editor
(b. 1890, Cleveland, Ohio – d. 1969)

Burton, Nellie Lisa Bass, Lady
British peeress, second holder of the barony of Burton 1909 – 1962.
(b. Dec 27, 1873 – d. May 28, 1962)

Burton, Virginia Lee
American children’s writer, Calico, the Wonder Horse (1941) : Life Story (1962).
(b. 1909, Newton Centre, Massachusetts – d. Oct 15, 1968)

Bury, Agnes de
English provisions merchant, convicted of fraud and deception in London.
(fl. 1344)

Bush, Pauline
American actress, Betty’s Bondage (1915) : The Enemy Sex (1924).
(b. May 22, 1886, Lincoln, Nebraska – d. Nov 1, 1969, San Diego, California)

Bute, Frances Coutts, Marchioness of
British patrician, daughter of the baker Thomas Burdett Coutts, and stepdaughter of actress Harriet Mellon.. Mother of Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart (1803 – 1854).
(b. 1773, London – d. Nov 12, 1832, Dale Park)

Butera, Ottavia Spinelli, Princess di
Italian princess, secretly m. (1814) Robert Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, but the union was not recognized in Britain or Sicily, and the couple forcibly seperated.
(b. c1785 – d. Dec, 1857, Palermo, Sicily)

Butler, Agnes
English nun at convent of St Michael, Stamford. She eloped twice with different lovers.
(fl. c1470 - 1480)

Butler, Lady Eleanor
British diarist and eccentric recluse at Llangollen.
(b. 1739, Ireland – d. June 2, 1829, Llangollen, Wales)

Butler, Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, Lady
British military painter, Calling the Role after an Engagement (1874) : The Dawn of Waterloo (1895).
(b. Nov 3, 1846, Villa Claremont, Lausanne, Switzerland
d. Oct 2, 1933, Gormanston Castle, Meath, Ireland)

Butler, Hildred Mary
Australian microbiologist and writer, Blood Cultures and Their Significance (1937).
(b. Oct 9, 1906, Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria – d. April 8, 1975, Melbourne)

Butler, Josephine Elizabeth
British feminist and social reformer, editor of The Dawn, and The Storn Bell.
(b. 1828, Milfield, Cheviot Hills – d. Dec 30, 1906)

Butt, Dame Clara Ellen
British contralto vocalist, Elgar wrote his Sea Pictures (1899) for her known for her rendition of his Land of Hope and Glory. DBE (1920).
(b. 1872 – d. 1936)

Buxton, Mary Anne
New Zealand educator
(b. c1795 – d. Oct 18, 1875)

Buzilla see Felicia of Hauteville

Byrne, Cecily (Lady Aylmer)
British actress, famous as Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
(b. 1891, Birmingham – d. June 30, 1975)

Byrne, Jane Margaret Burke
American politician, elected Mayor of Chicago in 1979.
(b. 1934, Chicago, Illinois)

Byron, Annabella Milbanke, Lady (Anne Isabella)
British philanthropist and reformer, wife of the poet, Lord George Byron, supporter of co-operative ventures and educational institutes.
(b. May 17, 1792, Elmore Hall, Durham
d. May 16, 1860, Regent’s Park, Middlesex, London)