Publications
Women of Victorian Hastings, 1830 - 1870, by Helena Wojtczak, published 2002 (184 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109020 & ISBN-13: 9781904109020) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries
Notable Women of Victorian Hastings: Some Mini-biographies, by Helena Wojtczak, published 13 April 2002 (3rd edition, 87 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109039 & ISBN-13: 9781904109037) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries
Women of Victorian Sussex: Their status, occupations and dealings with the law, by Helena Wojtczak, published 9 December 2003 (256 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109055 & ISBN-13: 9781904109051) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Railway women: Exploitation, Betrayal and Triumph in the Workplace, by Helena Wojtczak, published 2005 (384 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109047 & ISBN-13: 9781904109044) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:With a compelling combination of humour and indignation, Helena Wojtczak reveals the untold story of the British railwaywoman, charting her progress from exploited drudge in the 1830s to steam engine driver by the 21st century, using an engrossing collage of historic and contemporary documents, photographs, official reports and vivid personal testimonies.
Within the first two chapters we enter a world of sabotage, gruesome fatalities, pig-stealing, transvestism, murder, train crashes, a shipwreck, bombs, capture by the enemy, strikes, anti-woman agitation, heroic acts and tragic deaths.
As we trace the steps of women staking their place in one of Britain's largest and most well-known industries, we learn of abysmal exploitation and shameful betrayal. Ultimately the story develops - via the crashing of male bastions, accompanied by appalling harassment - into one of triumph.
Within the first two chapters we enter a world of sabotage, gruesome fatalities, pig-stealing, transvestism, murder, train crashes, a shipwreck, bombs, capture by the enemy, strikes, anti-woman agitation, heroic acts and tragic deaths.
As we trace the steps of women staking their place in one of Britain's largest and most well-known industries, we learn of abysmal exploitation and shameful betrayal. Ultimately the story develops - via the crashing of male bastions, accompanied by appalling harassment - into one of triumph.
Notable Sussex Women: 580 Biographical Sketches, by Helena Wojtczak, published 1 June 2008 (304 pp., Hastings Press, ISBN-10: 1904109152 & ISBN-13: 9781904109150) accessible at: R.I.B.A. Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review by Christine Gray in Sussex Past and Present no. 117, April 2009:A real plum pudding of a book! Whatever page you open there's either a fascinating mini-biography or photographs of the women or of the houses where they lived. The book also includes some short articles on aspects of women's lives. Apart from the introductory articles, photographs and indexes, it is arranged by locality. Within the three main sections - West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and East Sussex - the entries are in alphabetical order of place-names, though there is a separate alphabetical index of all the subjects.
Self-obsessed, I turned to West Hoathly, where my grandmother lived as a child. There are two entries, a potter and an art historian, both way up the social scale from my dear Granny. And this, perhaps, reveals an inevitable omission. As the author tells us, 95% of the women described were born into the middle and upper classes.
The only working class woman I spotted was Margaret Powell, whom I remember broadcasting on BBC Woman's Hour during the fifties and sixties. Margaret went into service aged 15, but by going to evening classes gained the necessary literacy skills to write and have published her memoirs Below Stairs, a book about her mother, a biography of Prince Albert, and four novels. Her former home at 222 Old Shoreham Road, Brighton has a blue plaque.
Down the margins of the introductory articles there are various put-down quotes from men, but also a succinct one from Lizz Winstead: 'I think, therefore I am single'. The book covers an approximate timespan of 1800 to 1950. Thank goodness times have changed!
Self-obsessed, I turned to West Hoathly, where my grandmother lived as a child. There are two entries, a potter and an art historian, both way up the social scale from my dear Granny. And this, perhaps, reveals an inevitable omission. As the author tells us, 95% of the women described were born into the middle and upper classes.
The only working class woman I spotted was Margaret Powell, whom I remember broadcasting on BBC Woman's Hour during the fifties and sixties. Margaret went into service aged 15, but by going to evening classes gained the necessary literacy skills to write and have published her memoirs Below Stairs, a book about her mother, a biography of Prince Albert, and four novels. Her former home at 222 Old Shoreham Road, Brighton has a blue plaque.
Down the margins of the introductory articles there are various put-down quotes from men, but also a succinct one from Lizz Winstead: 'I think, therefore I am single'. The book covers an approximate timespan of 1800 to 1950. Thank goodness times have changed!