Join us for our early evening screening of the Women of Abney in the Harriet Delph room, celebrating the feminist heritage of Abney Park. The women of Abney fought for the right to vote and the right to say no, they transformed the ways we heal and learn, they shattered convention and they thrilled an adoring public. These are their voices and their stories. This screening will be introduced by Sue Doe, one of the collaborators and authors of Women from Hackney’s History.

Some have prominent graves and grand memorials, some have no headstone or share a common grave. Many turbulent lives came to rest in Abney Park and this film lets us hear from 12 women who left their mark on Victorian England and reshaped our world.

Drawing from the 113 profiles in Women from Hackney’s History, now in its second edition and approaching the third, the film includes the first female balloonist, the nursing pioneer for whom the Welsh health service is named and a poet who withstood barbaric quackery. It tells the rags to riches stories of music hall stars – and the men who reduced them back to rags. We hear from the former prostitute who scandalised polite society, exposed its hypocrisy, changed the consent laws and was rewarded with a prison sentence.

The film gives voice to two women who are buried, overshadowed by their husbands, under Abney’s largest and best known memorials. The huge and international impact of the Booth family relies on the refusal of its women to be constrained by traditional roles, while the splendour of the Bostock lion and the glamour of the circus obscures a history of abuse and its survival.

Doors open at 6.40pm, with the screening starting at 7.00pm. The film is an hour long and will be followed by a Question and Answer session allowing the audience to ask questions and share their thoughts..

The film is a collaboration between The Hackney Society, Tower Theatre and Abney Park Trust.

Access information:

After hours access to Abney Park for this event will be limited to ticket holders.
Please arrive at the Stoke Newington High Street entrance. Access to the Harriet Delph room is on the far right-hand side of the forecourt.
Latecomers will not be admitted after 7.10pm.