Blue Plaques: Princess Diana and Kathleen Lonsdale among those honoured

Ellen Craft, Princess Diana and Jean Muir will get new memorial plaques

English Heritage has announced plans to honour six women with its famous blue plaques this year.

The blue plaque scheme, which started back in 1866, celebrates the lives of important figures from the past and the buildings which they lived and worked in all around London.

The very first plaque went up in 1867 to commemorate British poet Lord Bryon. Fast forward 150 years and now, more than 950 plaques can be found right across the English capital.

So which women are getting a plaque in 2021? Read on to find out more.

Ellen Craft

Ellen Craft disguised herself as a man to escape slavery

Former slave and campaigner Ellen Craft will be receiving a plaque. She escaped slavery in the southern US state of Georgia and campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

As part of their great escape plan, Ellen dressed up as a white slave owner and her husband pretended to be her slave. Their former masters ended up chasing them, forcing them to flee to England as refugees, where she and her husband arrived in December 1850.

The Crafts toured the UK, lecturing against slavery, before settling in Hammersmith in the house which the plaque will go up.

Kathleen Lonsdale

Kathleen Lonsdale will be remembered with a blue plaque

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, who worked as a crystallographer, will be honoured with a blue plaque today. Irish-born Lonsdale, who was also a peace campaigner and prison reformer, will be remembered for her ground-breaking work on crystal structures and her important role in the field of X-ray crystallography.

She is being commemorated with a plaque on the 50th anniversary of her death and it'll will be located in Seven Kings, Redbridge where Kathleen lived from 1911 to 1927.

Caroline Norton

Caroline Norton is known for helping to bring about one of the first pieces of feminist legislation in the UK. She was in a bad marriage and her separation from her husband was widely publicised in Britain.

Her determination to fight for custody of her children and the rights to her own property led to the introduction of several new laws which helped give women more rights. Norton's plaque will mark her former central London home, where she lived for over 30 years.

Jean Muir

Jean Muir was a British fashion designer who became well known all over the world for her clothing.

Her plaque will go up in central London where the showroom of her flagship brand, Jean Muir Ltd, was based. She worked there from 1966 until her death in 1995.

Helena Normanton

Barrister Helena Normanton was the first woman ever to practise at the Bar, and work at two of the highest courts in the UK, the High Court and at the Old Bailey in London.

She campaigned to get more women into the legal profession and was passionate about women's rights. Her plaque will be at the address where she lived for the early part of her legal career.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Princess Diana became one of the most famous women in the world. She married Prince Charles in 1981, and became a prominent member of the royal family.

She devoted a lot of her life to charity work and used her platform to highlight important campaigns she cared about. Her plaque will mark one of the buildings associated with her life before marriage.