Imagination, foresight, money, power, determination, fragility, feeling and achievement are what most of us aspire to at one time or other. However we are sometimes the unfortunate victim of circumstances beyond our control. Essex Girls are a cut above average and history shows they are remembered. Sometimes they were quiet and sometimes they were loud but never were they shrinking violets. Below are a few who have made their mark.

The beginning of the first millennium saw Britain subjected to a cruel Roman occupation. Colchester Castle Museum stands on the foundations of the Roman 'Temple of Claudius' which, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, "The local population regarded as a citadel of tyranny" Queen Boudicca or (Boadicea) led a ferocious revolt against the Romans which resulted in Colchester being burnt to the ground. Evidence of the burning survives to this day in what is known as 'Boudicca's Destruction Horizon.' It is said that digging almost anywhere in Colchester will lead to a thick layer of red soot. Boadicea is one of Britain's greatest heroines. Although the revolt was crushed Boadicea will remembered as the first Briton to seriously challenge invaders. She is honoured with a magnificent statue that stands opposite the Houses of Parliament on the Embankment in London.

600 years later a gentle young lady Osyth (or Ositha) the intended wife of Sighere, the Christian King of the East Saxons was beheaded by a marauding band of Vikings simply because she resisted their demands. Legends came into being and miracles are said to have happened in and around the Priory of St Osyth near Clacton.

Local guide books mention that in the 1300s two truculent sisters, Beornia and Synnove, daughters of a Saxon noble were responsible for the two churches standing side by side in the village of Willingale. That certainly was an achievement for the two Essex Girls although the background to this tale is anything but happy. Full details can be found in the Essex Hundred Histories.

Throughout this period the Abbess of Barking held one of the most powerful positions in the Kingdom. Amongst the Abbesses were a number of Queens, Princesses and nobles. Katherine de Pole was one who gave sanctuary, cared for and educated the Tudor children during the Wars of the Roses.

Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII (the first Tudor King), held a number of estates in Essex. She founded St John's College Cambridge.

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I, had strong connections with Rochford where her father owned Rochford Hall. She met her fate when she was betrayed by others. After her death the Boleyn estates at Rochford were acquired by Lord Richard Riche.

Sir William Petrie of Ingatstone did exceedingly well from Henry VIII's dissolution of the Monasteries. Dorothy Wadham, his daughter was the founder of Wadham College, Oxford.

On the 9th of August 1588 Queen Elizabeth I, although not an Essex Girl by birth, chose Tilbury to make her most famous speech 'I have the body of a weak and feeble woman'. This was at the time when the country was in great peril from the Spanish Armada.

Another Essex girl Margaret Lucas was born in Colchester in 1623. She was destined to become the most famous authoress of her day. She excelled in writing poetry and philosophy in spite of being exiled during the turbulent times of the English Civil War when her home town was under siege from the Parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell.

Have you ever noticed who is on the back of a five pound note? The lady is Elizabeth Fry the great prison reformer who lived in Barking for many years during the early part of the nineteenth century. She has been featured on the five pound note since 1992.

One hundred years later another Essex lady came to prominence in Braintree. Elizabeth Courtauld the wife of the industrial magnate Sam, was the first to run a crèche on an organised basis.

During the First World War at Chalkwell, Ellen Elizabeth Josceyln inherited a beach business from her husband when he suddenly died in 1917. Nearly everybody said she would not be able to cope. She did cope and the beach business thrived and ran for over 30 years. Today the seaside beach by Chalkwell rail station is still affectionately referred to by locals as Joscelyn's Beach.

A firebrand and Maverick Sylvia Pankhurst took up residence in Woodford between 1927 and 1956. She was daughter of the pioneer suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst who campaigned tirelessly for womens rights. Silvia was a chip off the old block and from her home base in Woodford she set about trying to make right the wrongs of the world.

The Women from Brightlingsea were perhaps inspired by Silvia Pankhurst. They were in the vanguard of efforts to prevent live animal exports leaving through that port. The women were there in all weathers for 10 months during 1995.

Finally we must make mention of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After leaving university Margaret Roberts as she then was, moved to Colchester and got her first job at a plastics factory in Lawford just outside Manningtree. Unlike the street sign Essex proved to be anything but a dead end for the Iron Lady. Perhaps those who mock Essex Girls are just jealous - however what is certain such generalisations are made on the basis of ignorance. History will be the judge of the women of Essex and so far it has judged positively.