Plaque to honour Worthing’s first female mayor a century ago

Ellen Chapman held the office from 1920-22 and will receive the plaque thanks to the efforts of the current mayor and mayoress, Lionel and Karen Harman.

During a meeting of the full council on Tuesday (October 20), Mr Harman reported that fundraising for his charities had ‘not been going so well’ due to pandemic restrictions.

But he shared good news about his plans for the blue plaque, which he hopes will be put at the entrance to the town hall early next year.

A GoFundMe page has raised £800, with £565 of that coming from the people of Richbourg, a town in France which was all but destroyed during the Battle of Boar’s Head, in 1916.

There has been a strong link between Worthing and Richbourg since the First World War.

On June 30 1916, the Sussex Southdown Brigade lost 366 men and officers during the battle, with more than 1,000 wounded or taken prisoner.

It became known as ‘the day Sussex died’.

But when the war ended, Ellen Chapman and the people of Worthing raised thousands of pounds to help rebuild Richbourg.

As well as being the first woman mayor, Ellen was the first woman to run for election in Worthing and, in 1919, along with Evelyn Gladys Cecil in Bognor Regis, became the first woman to be elected to West Sussex County Council.