On Thursday 27^th February, we were delighted to welcome Lucinda Hawksley, author, art historian, public speaker and broadcaster to the Senior School Learning and Resources Centre. As a great great great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens, Lucinda has grown up with an interest in her family history. For the last decade, she has been a Patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London and specialises in literature, art, history and social history from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Our Sixth Form English Students were invited to attend a lecture, given by Lucinda, on the role of women in Victorian literature. During the talk, she highlighted historically influential female authors, the role of women in Victorian Society, key books the girls should be studying and how the actions of these pioneers of feminism have impacted on today.

Jaya Chambers (Lower Sixth) reflected: "The talk on Victorian literature was extremely interesting and gave us an insight into how far women's rights and the social expectations of women have developed over the last two centuries. Lucinda brought to light how women were often depicted in books published by men which was not only engaging, but will benefit us for our wider reading of literature and understanding attitudes towards women and romance for the Love Through the Ages component of our exam.

Ella Turner (Lower Sixth) added: "The talk was really insightful and interesting! I learnt so much about Victorian women who defied the stereotypes of their time. The most interesting part was learning about Caroline Norton who was in an abusive relationship, had her children taken away from her, but still wrote letter after letter to Queen Victoria to ask her to change the unfair child custody laws and eventually she managed to. 

In the Junior School, Lucinda gave lively and entertaining talk to Year 6, sharing her ancestry, heritage, and journey as an author.

Jeanie Morris (6C) said: “I think it was an incredible experience because I got to meet a real author, I love English and when we did the workshops, she has inspired me to use some of her techniques.”

Tami Oginni (6W) added: “I found Lucinda inspiring – she made me really think about writing in more depth, using our own experiences.”

Mrs Copp (Deputy Head, Junior School) who helped facilitate the event, said: “The workshops inspired the girls to employ advanced techniques for writing autobiographical or biographical work and highlighted many of the research elements needed to do this competently. Lucinda shared some of her own challenges with writing biographies like Princess Louise, with some material being inaccessible; she shared some of the ways she had to find to get around this in order to research a prominent member of the Victorian Royal Family.”