Prof Kate Loder
@kghist.bsky.social
History: especially gender, women, children, music, African diasporas, queer histories, disabilities.
British women composers
#womencomposers
Long-term housebound with v. severe long covid
#longcovid
British women composers
#womencomposers
Long-term housebound with v. severe long covid
#longcovid
In MASSIVE news, we’ve got a new scrabble dictionary.
The day I’ve long been waiting for:
The day I’ve long been waiting for:
October 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In MASSIVE news, we’ve got a new scrabble dictionary.
The day I’ve long been waiting for:
The day I’ve long been waiting for:
Reading about Harriet Cohen who won an award aged 18 for being the most distinguished musician at the RAM!
But UGH not enjoying the relationship with Arnold Bax stuff. He was infatuated & began to write to her from their 1st meeting when was 16. He was newly married and…[brace yourselves] 1/2
But UGH not enjoying the relationship with Arnold Bax stuff. He was infatuated & began to write to her from their 1st meeting when was 16. He was newly married and…[brace yourselves] 1/2
August 15, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reading about Harriet Cohen who won an award aged 18 for being the most distinguished musician at the RAM!
But UGH not enjoying the relationship with Arnold Bax stuff. He was infatuated & began to write to her from their 1st meeting when was 16. He was newly married and…[brace yourselves] 1/2
But UGH not enjoying the relationship with Arnold Bax stuff. He was infatuated & began to write to her from their 1st meeting when was 16. He was newly married and…[brace yourselves] 1/2
Roberta Cowell (1918-2011) A British racing driver from Croydon, she was captured in Germany during the WWI. Underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1951. Would be interested to read her autobiography some time.
Thank you @edrybicki.bsky.social so much for telling me about her - she’s new to me
Thank you @edrybicki.bsky.social so much for telling me about her - she’s new to me
August 9, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Roberta Cowell (1918-2011) A British racing driver from Croydon, she was captured in Germany during the WWI. Underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1951. Would be interested to read her autobiography some time.
Thank you @edrybicki.bsky.social so much for telling me about her - she’s new to me
Thank you @edrybicki.bsky.social so much for telling me about her - she’s new to me
Hello 😀 do you think the rather blurred photo below might be the same species? My unreliable app suggested siver-sided sector, but I think it looks like your photo?
Budding, but very ignorant naturalist here….
Budding, but very ignorant naturalist here….
August 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Hello 😀 do you think the rather blurred photo below might be the same species? My unreliable app suggested siver-sided sector, but I think it looks like your photo?
Budding, but very ignorant naturalist here….
Budding, but very ignorant naturalist here….
My partner started a wildlife pond in our garden. Now we have swifts swooping & diving throughout the day 😊
I can see the pond - and the swifts - from the bedroom window, & can now manage to get out there every now and then. Life-changingly wonderful ♥️
Solidarity to everyone living with #longcovid
I can see the pond - and the swifts - from the bedroom window, & can now manage to get out there every now and then. Life-changingly wonderful ♥️
Solidarity to everyone living with #longcovid
June 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
My partner started a wildlife pond in our garden. Now we have swifts swooping & diving throughout the day 😊
I can see the pond - and the swifts - from the bedroom window, & can now manage to get out there every now and then. Life-changingly wonderful ♥️
Solidarity to everyone living with #longcovid
I can see the pond - and the swifts - from the bedroom window, & can now manage to get out there every now and then. Life-changingly wonderful ♥️
Solidarity to everyone living with #longcovid
Listening to the hugely prolific English composer Kaikhosru Sorabji, b.1892. Reclusive, he felt an outsider due to his Parsi heritage & homosexuality. In 1924 he dedicated his Piano Concerto no. 7 [7!] to sexologist Havelock Ellis. Sorabji also wrote on decriminalising homosexuality
May 27, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Listening to the hugely prolific English composer Kaikhosru Sorabji, b.1892. Reclusive, he felt an outsider due to his Parsi heritage & homosexuality. In 1924 he dedicated his Piano Concerto no. 7 [7!] to sexologist Havelock Ellis. Sorabji also wrote on decriminalising homosexuality
If you’re into classical music and/or women’s history (or know someone who is) this merch is a great gift. It will also support the extraordinary work @henselpushers.bsky.social is doing to make available the music of Fanny Hensel (aka Mendelssohn). Delighted with mine - a gift to me 😊
April 27, 2025 at 4:40 PM
If you’re into classical music and/or women’s history (or know someone who is) this merch is a great gift. It will also support the extraordinary work @henselpushers.bsky.social is doing to make available the music of Fanny Hensel (aka Mendelssohn). Delighted with mine - a gift to me 😊
So will the Vatican will be checking the genitalia of potential popes? Apparently in the past there was a procedure to do just this. This was due to anxieties over the apocryphal Pope Joan - a woman said to have risen through the Catholic hierarchy dressed as a man.
April 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
So will the Vatican will be checking the genitalia of potential popes? Apparently in the past there was a procedure to do just this. This was due to anxieties over the apocryphal Pope Joan - a woman said to have risen through the Catholic hierarchy dressed as a man.
Was reminded today about William Anderson’s ‘Model Women’ (1870). Anderson had a section on navigation which focused on Janet Taylor (d.1870). She wrote texts on the subject, made instruments, and taught sailors at her specialist academy.
Love this eg of the expansiveness of ideas of ‘model women’
Love this eg of the expansiveness of ideas of ‘model women’
April 13, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Was reminded today about William Anderson’s ‘Model Women’ (1870). Anderson had a section on navigation which focused on Janet Taylor (d.1870). She wrote texts on the subject, made instruments, and taught sailors at her specialist academy.
Love this eg of the expansiveness of ideas of ‘model women’
Love this eg of the expansiveness of ideas of ‘model women’
Pleased to come across African-American composer Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874-1959) today. Like many C19 women her work has been associated with religion, but as always it’s more complicated. Her Cuban Liberty March (1898), for eg, was about the Cuban War of Independence from Spain.
April 5, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Pleased to come across African-American composer Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874-1959) today. Like many C19 women her work has been associated with religion, but as always it’s more complicated. Her Cuban Liberty March (1898), for eg, was about the Cuban War of Independence from Spain.
Victorians often had dynamic ideas about girlhood. Joseph Johnson’s ‘Clever girls of our time’ (1862) celebrated girl musicians, writers & artists.
His opening chapter is dedicated to the famous singer, Clara Novello.
At 11 years old she was training in Paris. 3 years later she made her debut.
His opening chapter is dedicated to the famous singer, Clara Novello.
At 11 years old she was training in Paris. 3 years later she made her debut.
April 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Victorians often had dynamic ideas about girlhood. Joseph Johnson’s ‘Clever girls of our time’ (1862) celebrated girl musicians, writers & artists.
His opening chapter is dedicated to the famous singer, Clara Novello.
At 11 years old she was training in Paris. 3 years later she made her debut.
His opening chapter is dedicated to the famous singer, Clara Novello.
At 11 years old she was training in Paris. 3 years later she made her debut.
Pleased to learn Jane Austen was familiar with the music of Ann Thickness, copying one of her songs into the family music book. Thickness was jailed in France during the terror, but released in 1794 on showing that she could earn her own living. www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2015/12...
April 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Pleased to learn Jane Austen was familiar with the music of Ann Thickness, copying one of her songs into the family music book. Thickness was jailed in France during the terror, but released in 1794 on showing that she could earn her own living. www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2015/12...
Following the track of composer Liza Lehmann has led me to Menie Muriel Dowie - one of Lehmann’s many amazing cousins. Dowie (1866-1945) was a new woman writer. Her first major publication, A Girl in the Karpathians, was based on her solo trek through the Carpathian Mountains, aged 24!
March 31, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Following the track of composer Liza Lehmann has led me to Menie Muriel Dowie - one of Lehmann’s many amazing cousins. Dowie (1866-1945) was a new woman writer. Her first major publication, A Girl in the Karpathians, was based on her solo trek through the Carpathian Mountains, aged 24!
Today I came across Louisa Melvin Delos Mars (born c. 1860): the first African-American woman to compose a produced opera: Leoni, the Gypsy Queen (1889)
March 31, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Today I came across Louisa Melvin Delos Mars (born c. 1860): the first African-American woman to compose a produced opera: Leoni, the Gypsy Queen (1889)
Hannah Binfield (1809-87) is one of so many composers who affirms scholarly reassessments of the position of C19 women. In her case, the widespread incidence of contemporary businesswomen…
1/2
1/2
March 26, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Hannah Binfield (1809-87) is one of so many composers who affirms scholarly reassessments of the position of C19 women. In her case, the widespread incidence of contemporary businesswomen…
1/2
1/2
Today I was trying, unsuccessfully, to find out more re British composer Annie Peck. But pleasingly this led me to her namesake, the extraordinary American mountaineer (1850-1935). This Annie Peck, an active suffragist, made record-breaking ascents, specialising in South America.
March 18, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Today I was trying, unsuccessfully, to find out more re British composer Annie Peck. But pleasingly this led me to her namesake, the extraordinary American mountaineer (1850-1935). This Annie Peck, an active suffragist, made record-breaking ascents, specialising in South America.
Info on new book on Fanny Eaton. Born in Jamaica in 1835, she and her mother came to England in the 1840s. Eaton became well-known as a model for pre-Raphaelite artists. This didn’t change her fortunes long term though. She had ten children and later worked as a seamstress and a cook.
March 5, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Info on new book on Fanny Eaton. Born in Jamaica in 1835, she and her mother came to England in the 1840s. Eaton became well-known as a model for pre-Raphaelite artists. This didn’t change her fortunes long term though. She had ten children and later worked as a seamstress and a cook.
Queer composer Ella (A.E.) Overbeck (1870-1919) deserves more attention. Russian born she was adopted in England & trained at the RAM. She had a diverse output & conducted her own orchestral works.
She had close links with the UK suffrage movement.
#queerhistory
#lgbtqhistory
#womencomposers
She had close links with the UK suffrage movement.
#queerhistory
#lgbtqhistory
#womencomposers
February 10, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Queer composer Ella (A.E.) Overbeck (1870-1919) deserves more attention. Russian born she was adopted in England & trained at the RAM. She had a diverse output & conducted her own orchestral works.
She had close links with the UK suffrage movement.
#queerhistory
#lgbtqhistory
#womencomposers
She had close links with the UK suffrage movement.
#queerhistory
#lgbtqhistory
#womencomposers
In 1886 Ethel Higgins was born in Hull, the daughter of a builder. Taking the surname Leginska she became a musical superstar. In one year alone (1924) she conducted the London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Konzertverein and Paris Conservatory orchestras.
January 19, 2025 at 9:02 PM
In 1886 Ethel Higgins was born in Hull, the daughter of a builder. Taking the surname Leginska she became a musical superstar. In one year alone (1924) she conducted the London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Konzertverein and Paris Conservatory orchestras.
So guess what I’ve just come across….Florence Gilbert (whose brother was W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) was a composer. In 1900, The King magazine described her as a ‘well known’ writer of ballads.
December 27, 2024 at 12:04 PM
So guess what I’ve just come across….Florence Gilbert (whose brother was W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) was a composer. In 1900, The King magazine described her as a ‘well known’ writer of ballads.
@sarahfritz.bsky.social’s point has been driven home for me today: just received my 2nd hand copy of the enormous, 2 vol ‘International Encyclopaedia of Women Composers’ by A.I. Cohen, published in 1987…
December 21, 2024 at 4:46 PM
@sarahfritz.bsky.social’s point has been driven home for me today: just received my 2nd hand copy of the enormous, 2 vol ‘International Encyclopaedia of Women Composers’ by A.I. Cohen, published in 1987…
1/2 Here’s one you might like, @geoffcrossick.bsky.social? This is my Great Grandad, Ernest Sears standing next to his Dad, Herbert. Plough Rd, Wandsworth, London, early C20.
White aprons, ‘high class’ provisions, on-brand cart…
White aprons, ‘high class’ provisions, on-brand cart…
December 6, 2024 at 11:37 AM
1/2 Here’s one you might like, @geoffcrossick.bsky.social? This is my Great Grandad, Ernest Sears standing next to his Dad, Herbert. Plough Rd, Wandsworth, London, early C20.
White aprons, ‘high class’ provisions, on-brand cart…
White aprons, ‘high class’ provisions, on-brand cart…
I so love this photo: it was taken in Paris just before the outbreak of WWI. Renee, pictured here, was a 16 year old dancer with the Ernie Lottinger Troupe and is wearing her cherry outfit. She was my great great aunt. My mum still remembers her. And, @womenofsouthlondon she was a South Londoner.
December 4, 2024 at 5:47 PM
I so love this photo: it was taken in Paris just before the outbreak of WWI. Renee, pictured here, was a 16 year old dancer with the Ernie Lottinger Troupe and is wearing her cherry outfit. She was my great great aunt. My mum still remembers her. And, @womenofsouthlondon she was a South Londoner.
C19 parents were strategic: in the 1820s Fanny Dickens’ parents sent her to train at the Royal Academy of Music, tho could ill afford it. She later taught there as a sub-professor in harmony. Her bro Charles however was taken out of school aged 12 to work in a factory. (He later wrote novels…)
November 28, 2024 at 8:28 PM
C19 parents were strategic: in the 1820s Fanny Dickens’ parents sent her to train at the Royal Academy of Music, tho could ill afford it. She later taught there as a sub-professor in harmony. Her bro Charles however was taken out of school aged 12 to work in a factory. (He later wrote novels…)
Looking at Maud V. White today thinking she’d make a great case study for fin de siecle queer history.
One of the most popular composers of her day, her romantic songs sung in homes across the country. But I love how her sexuality was hidden in plain sight e.g. her song ‘To Lesbia’.
#FeministSky
One of the most popular composers of her day, her romantic songs sung in homes across the country. But I love how her sexuality was hidden in plain sight e.g. her song ‘To Lesbia’.
#FeministSky
November 26, 2024 at 8:47 PM
Looking at Maud V. White today thinking she’d make a great case study for fin de siecle queer history.
One of the most popular composers of her day, her romantic songs sung in homes across the country. But I love how her sexuality was hidden in plain sight e.g. her song ‘To Lesbia’.
#FeministSky
One of the most popular composers of her day, her romantic songs sung in homes across the country. But I love how her sexuality was hidden in plain sight e.g. her song ‘To Lesbia’.
#FeministSky