Pioneering female editor’s forgotten grave is restored
The final resting place of the first female editor of a national newspaper ‘erased from history’ has been restored with a plaque to commemorate her achievements. Reporter Katie Heslop discovers more.
Rachel Beer was, even by today’s standards, quite a remarkable lady.
Despite not being able to vote, or sit in parliament’s press gallery, she is cited as the ‘First Lady of Fleet Street’ for muscling in on a malemonopolised print industry in the 19th Century, becoming the first female editor of not one, but two national titles in her early 30s.
Mrs Beer, who died in Tunbridge Wells in 1927, presided over The Sunday Times and The Observer simultaneously in the 1890s. Her remarkable achievement is now marked with a plaque, the result of a three-yearmission led by The Times columnist Ann Treneman, who became interested in the pioneer after researching her family’s mausoleum in Highgate for a book, but discovered Rachel was not buried there.
Ms Treneman, who worked for the Kent Messenger in the 1980s, said: “I started looking for her grave. I tramped around her cemetery for days. “It was pretty anonymous and just said ‘daughter of David Sassoon’, I thought she deserved better. It really has been a quest and I feel very proud.”
Both The Sunday Times and The Observer papers were edited by Rachel Beer until 1901.
Deeply affected by her husband’s death, she was committed for psychiatric treatment and the newspapers were sold.
She moved to Tunbridge Wells, where she lived for more than 20 years and was buried at the Kent and Sussex Cemetery, in Benhall Mill Road.
Ms Treneman said: “I thought she had been more or less erased from history. She was very much a do-gooder, there were a lot of campaigns to improve people’s health.
She wrote a 4,000 word comment piece every week, she was very involved.”
As a woman working in a ‘man’s world’ Rachel had many hurdles to overcome. “There were many things women couldn’t do in those days and I think her husband was very supportive of her, but when he died she no longer had that support.
“I think she fell apart when he died and she was basically declared insane. We would now call that deep grief and depression,” Ms Treneman said.
The original headstone was cleaned and repaired, and a marble plaque added in February, after permission from Rachel’s descendants. However, Ms Trenemen was only able to visit the grave recently because of the pandemic.
The marker was paid for by The Sunday Times and The Observer, and the editors of both papers welcomed the addition.
Emma Tucker, of the Sunday Times, said: “Rachel Beer is a hugely important part of Fleet Street’s history and I’m pleased this new grave marker notes her pioneering contribution to journalism.” Paul Webster, of The Observer, said: “The
Observer remains proud of this extraordinary woman’s accomplishments and is grateful that she now has a fitting memorial.”