Other Contenders...

This Royal Mile antiques dealer was a darling of the press, thanks to her eccentric personality and admirers including the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. When not making headlines due to scandalous robberies and auction house shenanigans, she performed secret acts of charity.

At 1.93m (6ft 4in) and 107kg (17 stone), Irish shipyard labourer “Big Rachel” was an obvious choice as an emergency special constable during the Partick Riots of 1875. She and a farmhand drove away angry protesters.

A suffragette, during the First World War, Evelina founded the Women’s Emergency Corps and worked as a nurse in Serbia with Elsie Inglis. After the war she set up an orphanage there.