Expat Foremothers

On 8 March, we celebrate International Women’s Day and the contributions women have made across the globe. Here in the Lion City, the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame recognizes women who’ve had a major impact on the island’s history, including many expats. On these pages, we take a look at a handful of Singapore’s foremothers from different parts of the world – amazing women who have helped to shape the nation.

- MELINDA MURPHY

Evelyn Norris, Eurasian

1918-2014

A student at the Raffles Girl School (RGS) from 1924 to 1933, Evelyn later came back to her alma mater as a history teacher. Rarely relying on textbooks, Evelyn instead brought history alive for the girls, drawing on her own background, which included volunteering in the Royal Air Force in Sri Lanka during WWII. She then served as the school’s Principal from 1961 to 1976.

A dynamic and hands-on leader, she made many innovative changes to ensure the girls’ school kept pace with others. She also implemented holding assemblies in English one week, Malay the next and then Tamil. Believing in a well-rounded education, she introduced many sports to the school and encouraged more co-curricular activities – she herself was involved in many activities outside of the school including serving as a Major, commanding the Singapore Women Auxiliary Corps and commanding the girls’ section of the National Cadet Corps.

A huge animal rights activist, Evelyn also volunteered at the SPCA together with her sister. When she died at the age of 95, hundreds of students from RGS and from the Crescent Girls’ School (where she was the founding principal) attended her wake.

Dr Charlotte Ferguson-Davie, British

1880-1943

The wife of Singapore’s first Anglican Bishop, Charlotte Ferguson-Davie was a medical doctor at a time when many women were not yet practising medicine. She founded the St Andrew’s Medical Mission in 1913, with a dispensary on Bencoolen Street to provide medical care for destitute women and children.