Rosemary Brown: activist and author

A belief in humanity, heroines and community has led Rosemary Brown to volunteer with refugees, champion forgotten women in history – in particular the adventurous American traveller,  Nellie Bly – and also play an active part locally in the Canonbury Society. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill

Although Islington Faces knows Rosemary Brown best for her Nellie Bly research, reader Julie, who nominated her, has been clear that this is a woman who has also  had a busy career in communications working for many charities and NGOs such as Save the Children and the Rainforest Foundation. She has also volunteered in refugee camps on the Greek mainland and islands, and currently works locally helping refugees in London.

“I’m from Canada – I was born in Toronto – and I grew up in north America, but my roots are in England. Every single relative is British, and my parents are both British,” says Rosemary in the geranium-filled conservatory at her home in Canonbury over Darjeeling tea and carrot cake. Rosemary’s a colourful character, hugely involved in helping people out locally as a Canonbury neighbour, a friend to refugees and champion of women in history, who might easily be forgotten. It’s not just her friendliness that is striking, she’s also a big fan of colour and today kitted out with pink face mask that matches her sweatshirt. And yes, there’s definitely a pink cushion on her chair too.

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“I came to look for my roots at 26 and get to know my cousins,” she says explaining the pull of London for her younger self. “My Mom was from London and my Grandmother was a true Cockney, born within the sound of Bow Bells. My dad was a Lancaster lad.”

Already working as a journalist in the US, but with some experience of helping, “abused women in Florida who didn’t have a shelter unless people opened up their houses,” was how the mid 1980s saw Rosemary Brown living at the House of St Barnabas on Soho Square overseeing 39 homeless women. Amazingly she found this role advertised at the Job Centre.

“The job felt really right. In some ways it changed my life, living and working there and getting to know the social issues. When I started in the ‘80s it was pretty much filled with people who’d been tipped out of psychiatric institutions. I didn’t see a whole lot of care in the community, which for the women might have been a nicer path – in some ways we were just another institution, but we had a sense of community,” she says explaining that 40 years on she’s still in touch with her three co-wardens.

“The Grade 1 listed house is in Greek Street. Dating back to the 18^th century, it’s stunning,” she says about the building that’s been a shelter for homeless people since 1846, is now a charity and a private members club devoted to breaking the cycle of homelessness. “I was the deputy warden there – I hated the title – that’s for a jail, but this was a home. We also had two assistants, a cleaner, cook and a handyperson. It was pretty heavy living and working in the same place – but we were in Soho!” she says with the sort of enthusiastic joy that characterises Rosemary’s can-do attitude.

Moving to Islington
Rosemary wasn’t expecting to stay in London but then she met David Stanton who was soon to become her husband. He lived in this house in Canonbury. It was all white, but he painted the rooms all the colours I like,” says Rosemary. There’s been redecoration over the years, and tenants when the couple were working overseas, but 30 years on the kitchen is still a pale Wedgwood blue.

Listening to Rosemary talk about parts of her life is rather like hearing a rom-com plot for adults with altruistic instincts. It turns out that David was British Ambassador to UNESCO so she got to enjoy a very particular expat lifestyle and access to amazing people. “We were in Washington DC for five years, and Paris for six years; I loved it.” As a plus she was able to keep her journalism going, as well as working with abused women.

The couple have a 26-year-old daughter, Acadia who lives in Southwark and is named after a national park in New England, USA that her parents love.

Canonbury fan
Another consistent interest throughout Rosemary’s career has been getting to know people on her new doorsteps. “Even before we were married, there was an invitation to a Canonbury Society meeting (in 1989) and I said to David, ‘I want to go to that, I want to know my neighbours’ and I’ve been on the committee since then – apart from 11 years when we were out of the country.”

The Canonbury Society celebrated 50 years in existence last year, an achievement sadly muted by the pandemic. But the organisation continues to thrive, and Rosemary is pleased that, “We are becoming more diverse but know we need to attract younger members.”

Introducing Nellie Bly
Rosemary’s very readable book, Following Nellie Bly: Her Record-Breaking Race Around the World, was launched online in March 2021 with a Zoom interview and webinar hosted by the Royal Geographical Society. “Nellie Bly circled the world faster than anyone ever had in 1890 – alone with one small bag – and beat the fictional record of Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg,” says Rosemary who 125 years later, followed in her global footsteps.

“Like most people I’d never heard of Nellie Bly,” says Rosemary, but once she’d found out about Nellie’s journalism, the fact that she pioneered investigative journalism by going undercover in a lunatic asylum and her race around the world, Rosemary had a new goal, “to get her back on the map”.

“There are plenty of British women who need to be taken out of the dustbin of history, but I really wanted to get Nellie’s story out there, partly as an inspiration for my daughter. In my opinion young people needed genuine role models so I thought the best thing I could do was follow in her footsteps. Nellie Bly is somebody to look up to – a journalist and humanitarian, with her mantra that nothing is impossible if you apply the right amount of energy. She won the race against all odds. For starters she was a woman. They told her she couldn’t do it – that they would send a man, and she said she’d go to the other newspaper and get them to fund her because Nellie Bly did not take no for an answer,” says Rosemary. She suddenly stops and goes to fetch a replica of Nellie’s famous leather bag. “It’s so small,” says Rosemary in awe – because she’s followed Nellie’s route and itinerary but with a bit more kit. “You can’t really get a lot in the Gladstone bag! She did whatever it took to win the race. She taught us that if you put your mind to it, you can do it.”

Researching Nellie Bly’s story quickly took over Rosemary’s life – and almost a year after the book was published, she’s still focussing on publicising this independent woman’s stories.

“On 10 December (2021), they are going to unveil a monumental installation by artist Amanda Matthews honouring Nellie Bly on Roosevelt Island in New York City and Rosemary plans to attend the dedication. “It feels like the culmination of my work to get recognition for Nellie Bly.

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Places Rosemary Brown likes in Islington

• What would we have done without the New River Walk in the pandemic? It was such a lifeline. I ran along it really early in the morning. I really love that walk. I’ve seen a kingfisher there and sometimes see the heron.
• Canonbury Square because of George Orwell and also I’m involved with Friends of Canonbury Square and a gate keeper (opening and closing it up). Once a month the Friends get together for gardening: we rake, plant, spread manure – that’s hard work so I try not to get that one! Not long after we formed this group, Cadent the gas company, needed to dig up the square and we got consulted about the restoration and re-planting. They treated us so well. I love the history around that square – both sides, though I wish it was still one big square without the road through it.
• Gyms were never a part of my life until 2003! Now I go to the gym at Highbury Pool every day. There’s a cool community there too. A gym wouldn’t normally be on a list of my favourite places, but it’s kept me sane in tough times with a little bit of exercise. No matter what you are going to do, no matter what you do, you’ll feel better. The roof burnt down in 2018 and it was closed for a long time, but you should see it now, it’s really nice.
• Shriji News at 14 Canonbury Place is a lovely little shop run by two lovely families. You meet your neighbours there where they sell groceries, milk, fresh vegetables and fruit. They’ve been great with vulnerable people, delivering throughout the pandemic. You know you are going to have a nice chat when you go there. The Canonbury Society has a Christmas and a summer party each year, and the Amin family at Shriji News makes fantastic homemade samosas and bahjis and other Indian delicacies, and brings them to the parties. Everybody looks forward to it.
• Before the pandemic, Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants  in Cross Street Baptist Church attracted refugees from across London, they’d sometimes take three buses to get there. Until Covid-19 the centre provided on-site language, yoga and art classes, and personal support.  Another Islington organisation, Speak Street held English lessons there too. Now it’s all online for the time being, but when the centre is filled with people from all different countries and volunteers it feels really nice to be there.
• I joined local residents and St Stephen’s Canonbury to launch Islington Street Associations bringing neighbours together to support each other. We are really lucky to have Nicky coordinating this. She does the work, we try and get the funding and help her with the events. See the interview with Nicky Ludgate on Islington Faces

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Supporting refugees
Rosemary’s lifetime’s experience helping women settle into a new place has had a profound impact on her. She has been supporting refugees since 2015 when she could no longer stand by and witness the inhumanity faced by fellow human beings fleeing war and violence.

In 2019, she won a Churchill travel fellowship (on her fourth attempt) to help local people welcome and support refugees to learn English.

“Language is the biggest gift for any displaced person. If you don’t have the language, you don’t have a voice. My Fellowship took me to the Greek Island of Samos where 7,000 refugees were living in a space for 650. I worked with the organisation Samos Volunteers. It is heartbreaking how people are forced to live in filthy, overcrowded camps. People, including families, had to line up in queues to get food – if they ran out of food they didn’t get anything to eat. We provided practical help, taught classes for adults, and offered activities for kids who had lost their childhood – but we gave them a little bit of it back for two hours a day. The experiences of asylum seekers are so harrowing; I often wake up in the night and shudder.

Rosemary’s Fellowship travels continued in communities across Ireland where she saw for herself how retired people are providing free English conversation classes for refugees through an organisation called Fáilte Isteach which means ‘welcome in.’

They do this through the equivalent of Islington’s University of the Third Age.  “It can be a win-win situation that provides purpose and enjoyment for volunteers and practical skills in English for the refugees, while forging connections which foster integration.

Rosemary has now set up a Refugee Support Group with Islington U3A in partnership with local organisations, Speak Street (run by Islington Faces’ friend Joanna Bevan) and the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants to provide them with volunteers. “During the pandemic, we created activity sheets engendering a sense that we care. And we also host mini TED talks so pepole can go into an online class to learn something about this country – like a presentation about someone’s allotment – which will help people feel more at home here. I’m very pleased with the amount of interest,” adds Rosemary.

Even while these projects are underway, Rosemary keeps running activities and online English lessons for refugees through Care4Calais. Since October 2020, she’s been busy at a local hotel housing around 220 refugees. “I take refugees on local walks every Saturday which are followed by a lovely nutritious lunch made by the Refugee Community Kitchen. Food is so important and brings people together. The people I meet are waiting to be dispersed into more permanent accommodation, I’ve helped some get their status by writing letters of support,” she says pointing out that the things refugees really need are “suitcases, and mobile phones which are lifelines to the loved ones they left behind as well as essential for notice of appointments with the Home Office, or GPs. Often phones get lost on the journey or are confiscated. This time of the year people need shoes, coats and warm clothing too,” she says.

• If you’d like to help support refugees, visit the websites in the text above.
• Enjoy Rosemary Brown’s book, Following Nellie Bly: her record breaking race around the world Readers of this Islington Faces interview can get  25 per cent off the RRP by using the code BLY25 when they check out on https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Following-Nellie-Bly-Hardback/p/18833.

Over to you
Also if you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via islingtonfaces@gmail.com Thank you to Julie for suggesting this interviewee. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola