*the “Walk of Fame-Stars” – Kings Cross Station-London N1 (2026)

Posted on by Posted in Art, People, Quirky Topics, Transport - Rail .

This London Shoes blog is even smaller than a usual ‘short & sweet’…..it’s more of a ‘quickie’!!!

The reason being is because tomorrow (Sunday 8th March 2026) is “INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY” – and last week whilst out and about in the ‘Smoke’, my London Shoes happened to stumble upon something that has been displayed in conjunction with this international event…….namely the “Walk of Fame-Stars” displayed on the Kings Cross Station concourse.

But first, a very brief history about ‘International Women’s Day’.

It sort of  originated in New York way back in 1908 when a workforce of female garment makers went on strike. Their action and their reasons for striking got a load of coverage from the media, coverage that swept across America. So much so that the ‘Socialist Party of America’ championed their cause and created a ‘National Women’s Day’ in 1909.

The following year in 1910, the German socialist party proposed an ‘International Women’s Day’ at the ‘International Socialist Women’s Conference’ in Copenhagen. These proposals were aimed at promoting women’s rights, including suffrage.

The first international celebration of this women’s movement occurred in March 1911, and took place in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, with over a million people marching for rights to work, vote, and to hold office.

Moving on a couple of years to the 8th March 1917 – thousands of Russian women started a ‘Bread and Peace’ strike, which in its way, played a pivotal role in what became the Russian Revolution.

Fast forward a few decades and by 1975 the United Nations not only recognised “International Women’s Day” – they formally celebrated it, globally – as a day to highlight and call for gender equality.

Today,  – ”International Women’s Day’ is a massive global non-political event for celebrating, highlighting, championing and often protesting, women’s equality. It is often symbolised by the colour ‘purple’ which signifies dignity and justice.
So – what’s all this got to do with a bunch of stars on the floor of Kings Cross Station, I hear you ask?
Well – in conjunction with this years International Women’s Day (Sunday 8th March), 10 large red stars have been placed on a small section of the busy station concourse – forming he Kings Cross “WALK of STARS” – and these stars commemorate and celebrate the lives of 10 remarkable women who worked for the “London North Eastern Railway” (LNER).
These 10 women, past and present all worked for LNER at some stage, and there’s an interesting untold story behind each of these women.
For example – looking at the stories of just a few – back in the 1850’s ‘Elizabeth Holman’ disguised herself as a man just so she could get a job in railway construction – having been constantly refused every time she applied for the role.
Another ‘Star’ commemorates ‘Gladys Garlick’ one of the country’s first ever female train guards.
And then there’s ‘Nellie Nelson’ who worked as a porter right the way through during WW2 – and was pivotal in keeping everything together and keeping passengers safe at all times.
In more modern times, ‘Rezwana Rahman’ is commemorated with a ‘Star’ – in recognition of her being the first hijab wearing LNER train driver.
There are other women with similar service to LNER who’s ‘Star’ makes up the 10 on display – and who’s back stories provide great examples of ‘gender equality’ within the rail company’s workforce – in an industry where apparently up to 35% of employees are female.
So – that’s the Kings Cross ‘Walk of Fame-Stars’ for you – a ‘quickie’ in Shoes terms – but in my opinion, a nice little touch by LNER and a story worth of capturing and sharing via my London Shoes.
Hope you enjoyed this little story and its accompanying photos.

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2 Responses

  1. Very interesting back history about the origin of International Woman’s Day and well done LNER, I wonder if there has there been any similar recognition from other companies to mark the day.

    Reply

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