People Open DS/UK/23483 Aeolian Ladies' Orchestra (1886) Aeolian Ladies' Orchestra 1886 British female orchestra Group (Female) The Rosabel Watson Orchestra | Æolian Ladies' Orchestra DS/UK/3381 United Kingdom British Music | Orchestra White No known disability No known religious affiliation Rosabel Watson - founder and conductor Notable Members: Beatrice Pettit - cornet player, vocals (also associated with the English Ladies' Orchestral Society and Eleanor Clauson's Ladies' Pompadour Band) Unknown The Aeolian Ladies Orchestra was the first all-female Orchestra in the UK. It was founded by Rosabel Watson. She was mentioned in The Common Cause, a Suffragist newspaper, in 1910 where, at a reception for the President and Council of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies given by Lady Frances Balfour, “….Miss Rosabel Watson’s orchestra will give a programme of music. Miss Watson’s band is composed largely, if not entirely, of ardent suffragists who are also excellent artistes…” The Aeolian Ladies Orchestra was the first all-female Orchestra in the UK. Watson was a double bass player, a viola player and also was described as the “best woman horn-player in England”; evidently she was an excellent all-round musician. https://southbanksinfonia.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/shakespeare-in-music-rosabel-watson-the-suffragist-pioneer/ (2021) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 RAHAKirkbride 8/9/2021 RAHAKirkbride 5/30/2023 a093f2c8-0916-4789-90a1-91c38b7236e1