REMEMBERING MY SUPER LADY MAGAZINE

Arline Usden in 2007

I must confess to having a soft spot for The Lady magazine, well, their then editor Arline Usden liked my articles enough to publish quite a few of them in the early 1990s. It is always rewarding for a writer to see their byline, which seems to give that little extra confidence and encouragement to look around, research and begin new projects which lead to publication in their and other journals.  

The staff members of this weekly magazine were like no other. Many of them had spent years working in their quaint building at 39/40 Bedford Street, in London 's Covent Garden, and I always felt so welcome when I turned up for a cup of tea. As the magazine had so much earlier history, particularly with my rather special Society of Women Writers and Journalists (founded in 1894), I was delighted to be invited to  look through their archives stored in the basement to take pics of their first edition in 1885. 

During my investigations at the start of one of my books The Woman Writer I knew I had to include at least one chapter devoted to The Lady, as I discovered that many of the pioneers of our own Society had also had work accepted by their very first editor Nora Heald.  She was followed by Rita Shell in 1895.  It was Rita, one of our eventual SWWJ  Vice-Presidents who set up social projects for women, including championing many worthwhile causes such as encouraging women to stand for election to their local Board of Guardians and improving conditions for female hospital nursing staff. Her weekly salary was £7 and this mother of four boys continued as editor until 1925. An amazing woman. 

So much has happened in the annals of The Lady magazine which is still owned and run by the Bowles family. By 1959 it was in the hands of Tom Bowles, grandson of the founder Thomas Gibson Bowles, where it remained until 2008, when Tom handed it over to his nephew Ben Budworth. Ben believed passionately that The Lady could still be relevant for today's woman, and he started the huge changes that have now occurred at Covent Garden. In 2009 Rachel Johnson was hired as the magazine's ninth editor and they celebrated The Lady's 125th anniversary in Feb 2010. Things were about to change, and boy - did they go apace. 

The Lady journal left its famous address in 2019 and is now based in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Check website:  www.lady.co.uk