#BehindEveryGreatCity

Thanks for the nominations below, received via our feedback form.

Constance Antonina (Nina) Boyle (21/12/1865 – 4/3/1943). A British journalist, campaigner for women's suffrage and women's rights, charity and welfare worker, and novelist. She was one of the pioneers of the women's police service in Britain; in April, 1918, she was the first woman to be nominated to stand for election to the House of Commons, which paved the way for other female candidates in the general election held in December of that year.

Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock. She is an inspiration to anyone who thinks the world of astrophysics is soley inhabited by white balding middle aged serious white men. She blows this stereotype away. A superb communicator of difficult topics. A fun clever colourful black female in the rarefied area of academia. An inspiration to all women, all ethnic minorities and also to me - a white middle aged serious (grey but not balding!) male. We need to see more of people like her to popularise skills needed for our future.

Toni Guiver. Toni developed and leads and team of volunteers who have raised funds and worked with the council and local groups to turn under-used playing fields into a fabulous asset for everyone in the area. It is now a wonderful wetlands area where people relax learn and exercise.  Children of all abilities and those with disabilities benefit from the activities she organises there. Young people with community service orders also work there and some have benefitted so much that they are now volunteers. She is now working to open an inclusive cafe, catering for especially for people with dementia and autism and their carers. She and her team are tireless in their work and the benefits they have brought to Enfield and neighbouring areas are impossible to number especially since they continually find new ways of using and developing the space they have created for the benefit of others.

Talk London

We've received some more nominations via our feedback form, thanks to everyone who submitted their hidden credits:

"Olive Morris. Despite her tragic early death at the age of 27 she achieved much for black women in Brixton as a community activist , amongst other things establishing the Brixton Black Women's Group. She also fought hard for squatters' rights in the 1970s and Lambeth Council later named one of it main council buildings after her.

Dorinda Neligan. She was a nurse in the Franco-Prussian war who became the first Head Teacher of Croydon High School although she had no formal qualifications. She was a suffragist and encouraged her pupils to aim high and become independent women. She marched in London to campaign for the vote for Women and was a member of the Tax resistance league, withholding her taxes in protest against having no vote. She died in July 1914, sadly before seeing the fruits of her campaigning.

Diane Abbott. First female ethnic minority Member of Parliament. Maintained her membership of parliament for over 30 years. An inspiration to all ethnic minority women and children regardless of political affiliation.

Marie Stopes. Her Family Planning Clinics, first in Holloway and then in Central London, although only open to married women enabled women to plan how many children they would like to have and felt they could support. This enabled married women to avoid the exhaustion of yearly child bearing and early death from the complications of a large number of pregnancies. The children they did have could be better cared for and were less likely to be orphaned. It also enabled women to follow a career which was not continually interrupted by pregnancy. We now take this ability for granted."

Talk London

A few more nominations from our feedback form, thanks for sharing everyone!

"Doreen Lawrence, because she achieved a frank discussion and hopefully real change in systemic and institutional racism in society, police, local authorities, schools — the list goes on. To survive her traumatic loss, and the years that followed and still act with dignity and an assured nature is commendable, and today to continue a fight for inclusion, opportunity and hope for children and teenagers in London.

Margaret Thatcher. Because she won the Falklands War.

April Ashley. One of the first Britons to undergo gender confirmation surgery, she paved the way for thousands of transgender women (and men!) to gain more rights and live their lives as their true selves. Her visibility, even if brought on by the horrible experience of being outed publicly, made a difference to so many incredible people who suddenly found a role model; April's biography is one of the most moving, educating, and inspiring books I have read in a long time. She has been treated so poorly by the press when she was outed – but in reality, she deserves accolades.

Margaret Mary Damer Dawson OBE (12 June 1873 – 18 May 1920). She was a head of her time a prominent anti-vivisectionist and philanthropist who co-founded the first British women's police service.

Rosalind Franklin. Her studies were the original background of DNA structure discovery, but her contribution was qualified only as a support to the Crick & Watson publication of the new achievement.

Claudia Jones. She was a journalist and activist. She founded Britain's first major black newspaper The West Indian Gazette in 1958 and also founded the Notting Hill Carnival."

Talk London