WHAT do a famous Victorian poet, an honoured educational reformer and the original Bond girl have in common?
They are all part of the ‘Celebrated Women of Frome’ exhibition being held at the town’s museum between March and July. The exhibition celebrates more than a dozen women who were born, lived, or had a close association with Frome and their lives range from the late seventeenth century to the present day.
Museum press officer, David Lassman said, “Each woman chosen made a significant contribution to her chosen field, either at a local level or a more national one, some even international.’
“The exhibition, which starts on 8th March, marks not only the re-opening of the Frome Heritage Museum for this year, but was chosen to coincide with International Women’s Day.”
Alongside the exhibition, there will also be a programme of related events and activities that will include walks, talks, theatrical productions and workshops.
There is also two pre-opening events. The first of these took place at the weekend and saw the unveiling of a portrait of Elizabeth Rowe, the eighteenth century poet and one of the women being celebrated.
The portrait hung for a long time in Rook Lane Chapel, in Bath Street, where Elizabeth Rowe worshipped and is also buried, but disappeared for several years before reappearing when it was donated to the museum.
It has been painstakingly restored and the results were seen by those at the event, including Frome’s deputy mayor, cllr Sara Butler-Bartholomew, but will also be on display throughout the exhibition.
The other event is the museum’s entry for the town’s Window Wanderland, which is based on the theme of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’.
Christina Rossetti is the famous Victorian poet who lived in Frome for a period in the early 1850s.
David adds, “Although she resided here only a relatively short time, and the school she was running with her mother failed, Christina and her family’s influence and association is more far reaching than people realise.”
There is also the educational reformer, Clara Grant, whose pioneering work was rewarded with an OBE and Lois Maxwell, best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films, and who lived in Frome between 1994 and 2002.
Others in the exhibition, which runs between 8th March and 10th July, include a prolific playwright, the town’s first and only female MP, a best-selling romance novelist and a pioneering photographer whose images shocked the world.
As the exhibition runs for several months, there will also be the opportunity for visitors to the museum to nominate other Frome women they think should be celebrated.
The exhibition is free, although donations are welcomed, and can be viewed daily between 10am and 2pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays.
The Frome Heritage Museum is located at 2 North Parade, Frome, BA11 1AT. Tel. 01373 454611.
For more information about the exhibition and related programme of events, see the Museum’s website https://frome-heritage-museum.org/
