On Monday 13 April I will be giving a talk on women inventors in Kingston, a suburb of London, UK. It is part of the programme of the University of the Third Age's Kingston branch.
I have been interested in the topic since, many years ago, I was asked how to identify women inventors in the Victorian era by Deborah Jaffé, later the author of Ingenious women (2003). I remember the moment vividly, and have found the problem of identifying them fascinating ever since.
I will be using many illustrations, mainly from the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, to show the typical (or amusing) patents that women were responsible. As they were denied the opportunity to become engineers, they tended to cover what I call the Three Cs: Clothing, Cooking and Cleaning. I will also talk about many they were in comparison with men, and will feature some leading inventors.
The talk will be at 2 pm at the United Reformed Church, Union Street, above 5 minutes' walk from Kingston railway station. Non-members are charged £2 for admission.
I retired in April 2013 after 25 years as a librarian at the British Library specialising in inventions. This included running numerous workshops; writing books on inventions and a work blog; carrying out searches for clients; and one-to-one meetings with inventors. [more]
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