International Women's Day 2023

International Women's Day

Throughout Fortnum's long life, we've had the privilege of meeting many inspirational women who have not only changed the world, but shaped Fortnum's forever. 

International Women's Day is on 8th March, and we want to share the stories of just a few of those incredible women. 

Florence Nightingale

Fortnum’s has played a key role in military conflicts throughout history, sending supplies to battlefields and care packages from loved ones back home, but the distinctiveness of our packaging and the deliciousness of our produce meant packages would often be intercepted before reaching their final destination. During The Crimean War Florence Nightingale, then a young nurse on the frontlines, wrote to The Times newspaper in London telling of the squalid hospital conditions and widespread hunger and disease taking hold because supplies were not reaching her base. Upon hearing this, Queen Victoria famously demanded Fortnum’s dispatch vast quantities of concentrated Beef Tea Extract, a highly nutritious and restorative foodstuff, in unmarked boxes to Florence Nightingale’s army base in Scutari ‘without delay’. 

Evelyn Whiteside

Although her childhood and early working life remain clouded in mystery, Evelyn Whiteside made her name working with London department stores and became Britain’s first female retail director when she was made Company Director of Fortnum’s in 1954 after joining as a fashion buyer in 1946. Evelyn masterminded Fortnum’s 250th anniversary celebrations in 1957, designing a scarf based on the theme of ‘Through 12 Reigns’, but left the business shortly thereafter and dedicated her remaining years to charity work.

Helen Craggs

A militant Suffragette and daughter of Fortnum's chairman Sir John Craggs, Helen Craggs joined the radical Women’s Social & Political Union at the age of 20 using her mother’s maiden name and soon became embroiled in radical campaigns and increasingly violent protests. In 1912, Helen was one of several suffragettes arrested for smashing Fortnum's Piccadilly windows, a popular form of WSPU protest, and sent to Royal Holloway Prison where she immediately went on hunger strike. She and the other women suffered greatly and were in extremely poor health upon their release and Fortnum's chose to send hampers of restorative foods to the prisoners to aid recovery and show solidarity and support for their mission, if not the methods.

Joyce Wethered

In the early 1900s, Sportswear & Sporting Equipment was one of Fortnum’s most popular departments and ladies golf was fast-becoming the ultimate fashionable pastime for well-to-do young ladies. In 1933, we announced a partnership with champion ladies golfer Joyce Wethered who began taking womenswear appointments with amateur golfers where she would advise the ladies on their form, swing and style on the links. As a 6-time winner of the Ladies Open Golf Championship, captain of the first Curtis Cup in 1929, and winner of countless other championship titles, Joyce’s style appointments were wildly popular and they almost always turned into golf lessons, helping to make Fortnum’s golf department more successful than ever. So successful in fact, we had to install a putting green on the 3rd Floor, which is sadly no longer there.

Andrea Tanner

Dr Andrea Tanner, previously a professional genealogist, historical researcher, and an academic medical historian, has been the custodian of our Fortnum & Mason archive since 1990, which she describes as being her pleasure to guard, protect and augment. Want to know more about our founders? Have a question about the paintings that decorate the walls of our Piccadilly home? Dr T, as we fondly call her, knows all, and is our font of Fortnum’s knowledge, continually bringing to life an amazing array of stories from the Fortnum’s archive and delighting those joining our Delicious History Tours. In her spare time, she is honorary archivist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, on the Committee of the London Tea History Association, and a member of the Heritage Committee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.