On 20th November 2001 the contribution of two Sturge sisters to their native city was marked by the City Council erecting a blue plaque on their former home at 2 Durdham Park, Bristol, Elizabeth and Helen Sturge had moved to that address from the old family home at Tyndalls Park on the death of their father and lived there until their own deaths in 1944 and 1945.

These two remarkable women made their mark in the fields of education, the provision of model housing and political reform. Recent interest in their lives, and those of other pioneering Bristol women, has been raised by the publication of a book entitled "Go Home and Do the Washing" by Lorna Brierley and Helen Reid, (published by Broadcast Books.) The title aptly illustrates the prevailing attitude to women of that period but such comments did not discourage their tireless campaigns for votes for women and their practical commitment to any number of housing, welfare and educational projects.

The resistance of those times to the role of women in public life is summed up by the fact that, despite their part in the founding of the local Redland High and Clifton High schools, as women their names were not recorded in the original lists of founders. Both Elizabeth and Helen would no doubt have welcomed the changes that have followed and the fact that, in November, it was a female Lord Mayor of Bristol that led the civic ceremony to honour their work, watched by girls from both schools.

Representing the family, and sharing the unveiling ceremony with the Lord Mayor, was Roger Sturge (left below), a nephew who can recollect that, as a child, he had visited the two Sturge sisters at their home.

Within the family, Elizabeth Sturge is, perhaps, best remembered today for her books on family history. Prepared as a souvenir of the original Sturge Pilgrimage in 1930, her book "The Sturges and Early Quakerism" forms an excellent introduction to the family's heritage. This is now available on the internet, to allow family members access to this hard to find book.