This plaque on the side of Newington Green Primary School records the presence of one of Stoke Newington’s leading intellectual dissenters – that pioneering champion of women’s rights, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797). For two years, she tried to earn a living by running a girls’ school on this site. When the school failed, she worked in Ireland as a governess – an experience which influenced her groundbreaking work, A Vindication of the Rights of Women.

Fleetwood Street, Stoke Newington, London N16 (Photographed June 2024 © Breda Corish) In 2023, I was asked to give a local history talk...