Margravine Friends Aim to Celebrate Pioneering Feminist

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By raising funds to add headstone on grave of Jeanne Deroin

The Hammersmith branch of the Socialist League in Margravine Cemetery

April 21, 2025

The Friends of Margravine Cemetery are asking local people for help establishing a memorial celebrating the life and work of a local pioneering feminist.

Jeanne Deroin, who was born in 1805 and died in 1894, gained an international reputation as a feminist, educator and a member of William Morris’s circle in Hammersmith.

She was an important influence on the suffragette movement, writing and editing and extensive collection of feminist works.
She was well-known for her journalism on behalf of women’s equality and a leading organiser for the Co-operative Workers Movement.

She was the first woman to stand for election to public office in France in 1849, but she was subsequently arrested and sentenced for political conspiracy against the government.

When Louis Napoleon became Emperor of the 2nd Empire, fearing re-arrest and exile to a penal colony, Deroin fled to London in 1852, where she taught local French émigré children. She was also an active member of the Socialist League, later the Hammersmith Socialist Society.

Her home until her death was at 58 Cobbold Road.

Jeanne Deroin

She was buried in an unmarked grave in Margravine Cemetery, but after establishing its location, the cemetery’s Friends are now fundraising to commission a memorial headstone and hold a community opening ceremony.

The Friends say: “ A memorial gravestone for Jeanne Deroin will raise awareness of her legacy and inspire future generations to continue championing equal rights for all. A QR code will direct visitors to a website which expands upon Deroin’s life and work.

“ In the historic setting of Margravine Cemetery, the memorial will serve as a lasting site of remembrance and education accessible to the local community, schools, and societies interested in Jeanne Deroin and her role in the international women's rights movement.

“This memorial will help to increase community engagement with the rich cultural heritage of Hammersmith & Fulham.”

A campaign has already raised £1,600 of the £2,700 needed to commission the headstone, and the Friends are now raising the remaining amount through Hammersmith & Fulham Hive, on crowdfunding platform Spacehive.

You can find out more about this campaign and donate funds here.

For more about the Friends of Margravine Cemetery, go to this web site.

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