Dame Ethel Smyth

This is the latest in my occasional series of statues of eminent former residents following previous posts of the cricketing Bedser twins, HG Wells and scientist, Sir William Grove. Dame Ethel Smyth was the first female composer to be awarded a damehood. She was born in Sidcup, Kent (near to where I was brought up) in 1858 and spent her later years in Woking where she died, at the age of 86, in 1944. She was active in the women's suffrage movement and was sent to Holloway Prison for two months in 1912 for her activities in campaigning for votes for women. She had a personal life that may have been considered quite unorthodox at the time and it is only in more recent times that her music has become widely known and appreciated. Her opera, The Wreckers, set in a remote 18th century Cornwall village opened this year's season at Glyndebourne. This statue was erected on Internationak Women's Day on 8 March 2022. It is possible to listen to two of her works by scanning the QR code at the statue.