Unearthed historical records lay bare prejudices faced by City of London’s black and ethnic women residents

‘All too often, women were reduced to a mere footnote in history, and black and Asian women are even less likely to feature in conventional histories’

Detail from ‘Chairing the Members’ by William Hogarth, 1758 (London Metropolitan Archives)

The lives of black and Asian women who worked and lived in the City of London from the 17th to 19th centuries have been uncovered in a new report.

Research commissioned by the City of London Corporation combed through parish and court records, newspaper adverts and previously published works to unearth details on the lives of 160 black and Asian women found to be living in the Square Mile for the first time.

The paper was published on Tuesday for the Celebrating City Women campaign, initiated by the City of London Corporation, which aims to better understand the City’s past and recognise remarkable women connected to the area.