Did you know that, across the United Kingdom, only 2.7% of statues are of women who are not either royal or mythical? By my count, there are now twenty-eight statues of named non-royal women in London. Queens such as Victoria, Elizabeth, and Anne have prominent statues and many mythological figures are also represented in female form.

Statues of Women in London. Photo Credit: © Katie Wignall.

In chronological order of unveiling, the non-royal and non-mythical females are:

1. Sarah Siddons, the renowned actress of the eighteenth century. The first statue of a non-royal and non-mythical woman in London was sculpted by Leon-Joseph Chavalliaud and was unveiled in 1897 by fellow actor Sir Henry Irving.

2. Boudicca and her daughters by Thomas Thorneycroft. Although she long predates Sarah Siddons, the statue was unveiled five years later. Boudicca (or Boadicea as she used to be known) was responsible for burning Roman London and killing up to 70,000 people.

Boadicea and Her Daughters statue in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

3. Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina stands on top of the Victoria Palace Theatre. The statue was made by Frank Matcham and unveiled in 1902. She created the character of the Dying Swan and performed it over 4000 times.

4. Margaret Ethel MacDonald was an early feminist and social reformer. Her statue is by Richard Reginald Coulden and was unveiled in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1914. She had six children with her husband Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald but died at the age of forty one in 1911.

5. Florence Nightingale, the famous ‘lady with the lamp’ is part of the Crimea Memorial on Waterloo Place. It was made by Sir Arthur George Walker and unveiled in 1915.

6. Edith Cavell, a World War One nurse, was executed by firing squad in 1915 and her statue by Sir George Frampton was unveiled in 1920.

7. Louisa Brandeth Aldrich Blake by Edwin Lutyens stands in Bloomsbury and was unveiled in 1926. She was Britain’s first female surgeon.

8. Catherine Booth appears twice in London. The first statue, by George Edward Wade, is in Denmark Hill and a copy was unveiled in 2015 on the Whitechapel Road.

Catherine Booth statue on Mile End Road in London. Photo Credit: © GrindtXX via Wikimedia Commons.

9. Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading suffragette and lived up to the motto of the Women’s Social and Political Union, which she founded: ‘deeds not words’. Her statue by Arthur George Walker is in Victoria Tower Garden.

10. Nell Gwynn (1650 – 1687) was unveiled in 1937 above the entrance to Nell Gwynn house, today a luxury block of flats. She enjoyed a meteoric rise from the slums of Covent Garden to the bed of Charles II.

11. Manche Maseola by Tim Walker is one of the modern martyrs at the front of Westminster Abbey unveiled in 1998. Aged only fifteen she was killed for her beliefs.

12. Esther John is also among the modern martyrs. She was murdered in Pakistan in 1960.
(Also worth a mention is Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was killed by Bolsheviks but is not included because of her royal blood.)

13. Virginia Woolf has two statues, one by Stephen Tomlin in Tavistock Square from 2004. There is also a more recent bust, unveiled in 2022, in Richmond where she lived with her husband Leonard.

Richmond Riverside, statue of Virginia Woolf by Laury Dizengremel. Photo Credit: © Andy Scott via Wikimedia Commons.

14. Violette Szabo’s bust by Karen Newman stands on Victoria Embankment. She was a member of the SOE in World War Two but was killed aged just twenty three.

15. Twiggy, the famous model and actress stands in Mayfair. Her statue by Neal French was unveiled in 2012.

16. Noor Inyat Khan was a female war hero shot by the Nazis. Her bust is also by Karen Newman and is in Gordon Square. It was unveiled in 2012.

17. The bust of Agatha Christie was also unveiled in 2012, the sixtieth anniversary of her play The Mousetrap. It is by Ben Twiston Brown and stands in Covent Garden.

18. Amy Winehouse stands in Camden Market, where she used to work. The statue by Scott Eaton was unveiled in 2014 on what would have been her 31st birthday.

Bronze statue of the British singer Amy Winehouse located in the Stables Market in Camden Town. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

19. Ada Salter was a social reformer and president of the Women’s Labour League, which was founded in 1906. Her statue was unveiled in Bermondsey in 2014 near that of her husband Alfred, who worked as a doctor.

20. Joan Littlewood was a well-known actress and director in Stratford’s Theatre Royal, where her statue by Philip Jackson, stands. It was unveiled in 2015.

21. Mary Seacole’s statue has been called the first one of a black woman in London, although that title might better describe Manche Maseola. It stands by St Thomas’s Hospital, where Florence Nightingale is also remembered.

22. Millicent Garrett Fawcett’s statue by Gillian Wearing was unveiled by Theresa May in 2018. She was the first woman to be honoured in a square dominated by men.

23. Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 but her statue was not unveiled until 2020. The controversial statue by Maggi Hambling stands in Newington Green.

24. Claudia Jones by Favour Jonathan stands outside the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. It was unveiled in 2021 and shows the campaigner for civil rights.

Claudia Jones’ sculpture at Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

25. Virginia Woolf’s statue was unveiled in 2022 in Richmond. She and her husband Leonard founded the Hogarth Press while living there.

26. Ada Lovelace was called ‘the enchantress of numbers’ by Charles Babbage. Her 2022 statue stands in Horseferry Road and is by Etienne and Mary Milner.

27. Sister Nivedita was born Margaret Elizabeth Noble in Ireland in 1891. She dedicated her life to education and is remembered in a statue in Wimbledon by Swami Vishwamayanadaji that was unveiled in 2023. Her adoptive name means ‘Dedicated to God’.

28. Fanny Wilkinson by Gillian Brett was unveiled in July 2025 and is currently the most recent statue of a woman in London. She was Britain’s first professional landscape gardener and her statue is part of a restored water fountain in Coronation Gardens, Wandsworth.

Editor’s Note: This article was initially published on Lookup London.