00:17Hello and welcome to Kent Chronicles live here on KMTV where we turn back time on all of Kent's
00:23history from the Mesolithic era to the Industrial Revolution and everything in between. I'm Tia
00:29Chalice and join me as we turn back time and discuss all things history. But first our reporter
00:34Crystal McPherson looked into the Kent Queen who was instrumental in Augustine's mission to bring
00:40Christianity to Britain. Here is this week's periodic profile.
00:53We couldn't celebrate Women's History Month in Kent without talking about Queen Bertha, the one who
00:57went down in legend for helping to bring the Christian faith to Britain. Earlier I spoke to
01:01Dr. Doreen Rosman to learn a little bit more about Queen Bertha and how she was involved in Augustine's
01:06mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. She's certainly regarded as sufficiently important
01:11that in 2006 this statue was erected. She was the daughter of the King of Paris. It's likely that
01:22King Ethelbert of Kent felt it would be advantageous to ally himself with the great power of Europe.
01:32She married King Ethelbert and she came to Canterbury. When Ethelbert asked for her hand in
01:39marriage, her father said, my daughter must be allowed to practice her Christian faith. He gave her
01:46what is now St. Martin's Church. The Church of St. Martin was Bertha's private chapel until Augustine's
01:53arrival and is now recognized as the oldest continuously active church in the English-speaking world.
01:58Inside you can find a wooden statue and a stained glass window honoring Queen Bertha.
02:03Canterbury Cathedral also honors Bertha as it is believed that her marriage to King Ethelbert likely
02:07played an important role in his conversion to Christianity. He then went on to help Augustine restore
02:12churches and provided land in Canterbury, eventually leading to the establishment of the cathedral.
02:17The cathedral has since been rebuilt and now honors Queen Bertha with a statue near the southwest porch
02:22entrance. The pope writes to Queen Bertha and the frustrating thing is we don't know quite how to
02:28translate it because there's a word which might mean must have or might mean should. So is he saying
02:36you should have converted your husband earlier than this or is he saying you must have had an
02:42influence on your husband. Your good deeds are known not only among the Romans but also through various
02:49places and he even compared her to Helena who was the mother of the Emperor Constantine so that is high
02:57praise indeed. In Canterbury you can also follow Queen Bertha's walk, a trail of 14 bronze plaques set
03:04in the pavement running from Buttermarket outside the cathedral to St. Martin's Church. It passes through
03:09Lady Wooten's Green where the statues of Bertha and Ethelbert can be found. This is a route much similar
03:14to the route Queen Bertha would have taken from the castle to worship at St. Martin's.
03:17Well now we know a little bit more about this legendary queen. Maybe next time you're in Canterbury
03:22you can follow in the footsteps of one of Kent's most influential and iconic women.
03:30And next for this week's long-standing landmark we took a look into the Royal Tunbridge Wells Neville
03:36cricket ground and why it was burnt down at a suffragette's protest in 1913. Earlier I spoke
03:42to our reporter Daniel Odomeo to find out more.
03:51Well in January 1913 the 1912 franchise bill was withdrawn which was set to give all men the right
03:59to vote and move away from the plural voting system which allowed wealthier men to vote under multiple
04:04constituencies. The bill was withdrawn when it was proposed that women should be added to it which
04:10was deemed out of order at the time. Initially the suffragettes aimed to use a more peaceful approach
04:18but they felt like their voices weren't being heard so that led to numerous protests occurring across the UK
04:24some in Tunbridge Wells including one on the 11th of April 1913 which was when the cricket pavilion
04:30was burnt down. They aimed for the more public areas in Tunbridge Wells such as Pantiles area at the
04:36High Street and Mount Pleasant Road as they wanted to make the suffragette movement unavoidable.
04:42And can you tell us a bit more about what happened at the Neville cricket ground on the day?
04:47So on the 11th of April 1913 the Neville cricket pavilion caught fire in the early hours of the morning
04:55the fire was noticed by a passing lamplighter
04:59who called the fire brigade but by that point the damage was already done around about 1 000 pounds worth
05:05of damage
05:06was done which is around about 100 000 today. Once the fire was extinguished
05:11multiple suffragette materials were found at the scene such as flyers and a picture of their leader
05:19Emmeline Pankhurst. Can you tell us a bit more about why the cricket ground was chosen?
05:25The cricket ground was chosen for two reasons the first being that cricket is a male dominated sport
05:32the second being that women weren't even allowed in the grounds themselves
05:36So by setting fire to a place where you're not allowed they felt like that strengthened their message
05:49And now let's see how the residents of Rochester fared in this week's Tea Time Trivia with Nathan Hardy
05:57Coming up is International Women's Day and for this week's Tea Time Trivia we headed to Rochester to ask
06:02locals what they know of their past. The question? In what decade did Kent have its first organized suffrage march?
06:08It was 1800 something earlier earlier than you think. Maybe 50s, 60s actually.
06:14You know what I really don't I want to say it was like 1917 or something. 1890?
06:18Maybe even later at this point I don't know. I don't know 1912? 1860.
06:22The answer? The 1910s. Oh really? Crazy.
06:28In 1913 the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies passed through towns in Kent
06:32such as Royal Tunbridge Wales which brought major attention to the movement.
06:36And that's it for this week's Tea Time Trivia. See you next week.
06:41And now our reporter Eleanor Gonzalez went down to Canterbury to learn more about a statue
06:46of famed author, playwright and spy, Aphra Benn. Here is this week's Alluring Artifact.
06:59For this week's Alluring Artifact we'll be learning a bit about this statue in Canterbury.
07:03It was erected just over a year ago by Her Majesty the Queen and it's here to honor a groundbreaking
07:07woman from Kent, Aphra Benn. She was born in Kent in 1640 and there is debate among historians whereabouts,
07:13however several believe she was born in Canterbury and lived there during her early life. The first well
07:18documented account of her activities as a spy are in 1665 when she was recruited by Charles II as a
07:24spy in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Then when she was facing financial problems she started writing.
07:29In 1668 plays by women were beginning to be staged and her first play was staged in 1670. Over her
07:36career
07:36she faced a lot of criticism as a female writer but she tackled these criticisms and continuously argued
07:42that women have been held back by their unjust exclusion from education, not their lack of ability.
07:46The statue of Aphra Benn in Canterbury was created to honor her importance as a writer. It stands
07:52outside the Beanie House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury. The bronze statue was designed by British
07:57sculptor Christine Charlesworth. It was officially unveiled on the 25th of February 2025 by Queen
08:03Camilla and the sculpture shows Benn as a young woman leaving Canterbury for London, holding a book
08:08that represents her writing, a theatre mask behind her back symbolizing her career as a playwright,
08:12and a hidden scroll referring to her work as a spy. The statue celebrates her literary achievements and
08:18highlights her role in opening opportunities for female writers in English literature. In her book
08:23A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf writes about Benn, saying that all women together ought to let flowers
08:29fall upon the tomb of Aphra Benn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.
08:33Eleanor Gonsalves,
08:35the KMT League.
08:42And finally for this week's A Town Through Time we take a glimpse into the lives and achievements
08:47of women who all have a connection to Gillingham. Earlier I spoke to Lucy Keane to find out more.
08:55Can you tell me a bit about some of these women? Of course I can. The history of women in
09:00Gillingham
09:00and their achievements stretches for centuries, but the most famous of them have to be the suffragist
09:05and peace campaigner Dame Kathleen Courtney, pioneering psychiatrist Dr Lorna Wing, poet and novelist
09:14Rosemary Tonks, inventor and engineer Verena Holmes, artist Eileen Tirzar Garwood, and African princess and
09:22friend to Queen Victoria Sarah Forbes Bonetta. And can I ask you about the engineer Verena Holmes?
09:28Of course. Verena Holmes was an English mechanical engineer and inventor and what's really fascinating
09:33is that she was the first woman member elected to the institution of mechanical engineers and the
09:39institution of locomotive engineers. During the second world war she worked on naval weaponry and
09:45made rotary gyro valves for torpedoes. And did she continue in engineering after both the world wars?
09:50After the second world war Verena founded an engineering firm that only employed women with
09:55another woman's engineering society member Sheila Lever Holmes and Lever which was based in Gillingham,
10:01hence her feature for this week's episode. And I'd like to ask you about another one of the women you
10:07mentioned at the start, Aina, also known as Sarah Forbes Bonetta, to give some insight into women
10:13of colours history in Gillingham. Certainly. So Sarah has a very interesting backstory. She was believed
10:20to be a titled member of the Yiwa clan in Nigeria. And when she was young her family and many
10:25members of
10:26the clan were either killed or captured by King Gezo of Dahomey. He ended up exchanging her as a gift
10:31in 1850
10:32to a British diplomat and naval captain known as Frederick Forbes. He accepted Aina as a gift
10:40on behalf of Queen Victoria, baptizing her as Sarah Bonetta Forbes. And of course that change in name
10:46signified a separation from her African heritage and culture. When she was presented to Queen Victoria,
10:52a diary entry was recorded that states the Queen describing her as seven years old, sharp and intelligent.
10:58And when Sarah was eight, she was sent to a missionary church school in Sierra Lone,
11:04sorry, where Queen Victoria continued to send her presents and gifts before she eventually came back
11:09to England and settled in Kent. And speaking of Sarah's return to England, can you tell us about
11:14that and her connection to Gillingham? Of course. Well, when she returned, Queen Victoria placed her with
11:20the Shon family in Gillingham. And Sarah ended up living there for six years. And Sarah's accomplishments and
11:25achievements were always scrutinised by society, as her achievements challenged widespread racist beliefs
11:30about African people being intellectually inferior.
11:36That was one for the history books. That's all we have time for. Good night.
11:55Let's hear your historicalæª¢æ¥ about cultural events.
11:57That's my different story.
11:59Good night.
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