On 5 March, several members of the Parish Council were delighted to attend the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating the remarkable Rock sisters – Dorothea and Madeleine – often known as “The Smashing Rock Sisters”.
The sisters lived at Red House on Station Lane and were active Suffragettes, members of the Women’s Social and Political Union founded by Emmeline Pankhurst. Both served prison sentences for their campaigning, including the smashing of windows at Mansion House in protest at comments made by the Lord Mayor of London. Dorothea also famously defaced the 1911 Census, refusing to complete it on the grounds that if women did not count under the law, they should not be counted in the census.
This plaque forms part of the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project, which celebrates the historic achievements of women across the county and aims to recognise notable Essex women whose contributions are not widely known. The project was initiated to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and has continued following Her Majesty’s death. The final (38th) plaque in the county-wide project was deliberately timed to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March.
The plaque was funded by the parish council and unveiled by the Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst. Many thanks to the theatre director Graham Watts and Deputy Lieutenants Roy Clare, Julia Abel Smith, James Bettley and Juliet Townsend for their work on the project. Special thanks also go to Robert Fletcher for his deep research into the Rock sisters and for his help with the project and parish cllr Darryl Sankey.
The Parish Council has been involved in the project with assistance from the Ingatestone & Fryerning Archaeological and Historical Society (IFHAS). Four women connected with the parish were identified for recognition, including the Rock sisters. Two others honoured locally through the project are Dorothy Wadham, founder of Wadham College, Oxford, and Miss E. Vera Pemberton, founder and leader of the Ingatestone Boys’ Own Club. You can read more about them in one of the older articles by Robert Fletcher.
To read more about the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project, please visit the link essex-lieutenancy.org.uk/special-projects/essex-womens-commemoration-project
