Public health pioneer and founding figure of LJMU Fanny Calder has been honoured at Liverpool’s newest hotel.

Fanny was a working-class Liverpool woman whose concern for the poor inspired her to dedicate 50 years to teaching domestic skills to women to improve diets and hygiene in the home.

She founded the F.L.Calder College in the city centre - a forerunner college of Liverpool John Moores University.

Working in the late 19^th Century and the era of the First World War, Fanny was famously described by Florence Nightingale as the ‘Saint of laundry, cooking and health’.

Women in Science

Born in 1838, Fanny’s 175^th birthday was marked by LJMU a few years ago and now she has been honoured again in her native city by Liverpool City Council.

Following a public vote, meeting rooms at the Novotel Liverpool Paddington Village have been named after Fanny and two other women within the science and health fields.

Almost 900 votes were cast and Kitty Wilkinson, Fanny Calder and Dr Letitia Eva Obeng topped the poll and now each have a high-tech meeting room named after them.

The room plaques were officially installed ton Monday, 10 January.

The 16-storey Novotel Liverpool will be the highest hotel in the city and is part of the £1bn Paddington Village development that is set to become an international hub for life sciences, health care and technology. The council-owned hotel is franchised by Accor Hotels and will be managed by Legacy Hotels and Resorts on the council’s behalf. It will open in summer 2022.

Impact on others lives

Cllr Sarah Doyle, cabinet member, development and economy, said: “Naming these rooms has been a real opportunity for us all to learn more about the incredible pioneers who were born in Liverpool or who came to the city to study or work. All three women have had a profound effect on the lives of potentially millions of people across the world.

“It’s humbling to recall that Kitty Wilkinson’s thinking during the cholera epidemic remains sound advice as we continue to fight coronavirus and that Fanny Calder’s domestic science school eventually became part of Liverpool Polytechnic, now Liverpool John Moores University.”

- Liverpool John Moores University marks its 200th anniversary in 2023 with the first of its consituent forerunner colleges opening in 1823.