Good morning,

How are you doing, is everything alright? I hope so, I've had a decent week but also looking forward quite a lot to the weekend. If you're in a similar sort of place, I hope you'll enjoy today's Fem Fri getting you five minutes closer to Friday evening.

When I am out and about, maybe on holiday or maybe in a cultural institution, I take photos of plaques and things to remind me of cool women I see commemorated. Sometimes these women get a bit of a Fem Fri devoted to them, and some are really cool but I can't find a theme, so today is a bit of a clearinghouse for photos I've taken and not used yet.

Let's start with Elizabeth Montagu, bluestocking. I look this photo in York, if you want to go there and look at it it's quite near the cathedral:

Elizabeth became one of the three leading literary or bluestocking hostesses, together with Elizabeth Vesey and Frances Boscawen. She started by inviting people to literary breakfasts and by 1760, she was hosting large evening assemblies where intellectual conversation and not cards was the central attraction. According to Fanny Burney, the chairs were arranged in a semi-circle in order to facilitate discussion.

https://www.regencyhistory.net/2014/01/queen-of-bluestockings-elizabeth.html

Staying with women of strong political views, here's a photo I took in the Royal Albert Hall. I can't find anything about this online but very much enjoy the story of protest via weird untraceable noises:

Finally, from London Zoo, meet Joan Proctor. She was tragically short-lived but achieved a tremendous amount; calming extremely dangerous and strong Komodo Dragons,designing bits of the zoo, capturing a brown bear. She has two species of reptile named after her. If you are ever in charge of naming a new reptile, allow me to commend Joan Proctor to you:

As the first female Curator of Reptiles at London Zoo, Joan Procter attained considerable celebrity status in a short time. At her home in St. Mark's Square, near the Zoo, she kept a pet chimpanzee, called Johnnie. She kept several live reptiles in her drawing room, including dangerous snakes (in glass enclosures). The image of an unusually interesting young woman responsible for exotic and dangerous animals was promoted in the popular press on both Britain and the United States. Joan Procter published widely in scientific books and journals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Beauchamp_Procter

Happy weekend, cool kids,

A xx.