Jean's Story

Against the grain

It is in our nature to conform. There’s safety in the pack. But some see beyond the status quo to what could be. It isn’t intentional, but rather instinctive. Pioneers believe that we create our world as opposed to accept it.

Hannah’s grandmother, Jean, was a rebel and a journalist with an outlook on life that was ahead of her time.

Born in 1929 and with a brother who was 15 years her senior, Jean’s parents had a slightly Victorian outlook on life. Her father was born in 1878 and fought at The Somme.

Growing up in St. Johns Wood between the World Wars, Jean was quick to develop a rebellious streak. The more her parents laid down the law, and even punished her, the more determined Jean became to rebel and escape.

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From these early beginnings Jean developed a fierce independence and a disdain for patriarchy that only grew throughout her whole life.

After the Second World War, Jean got a job on The Millinery Times. At the time, a teenage single woman working in the press would have caused a stir but this only encouraged her further. Jean began to build a name within the media and launched her decades long career as a successful journalist, always challenging the patriarchal systems around her.

She was the bread winner in her second marriage. She was tough but beautiful, glamorous and popular, and known to be an incredibly loyal friend.

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