Willow Mytholmroyd, Bridlington, England 1908.

Founder of the Rhubarb Emancipation Movement, Mytholmroyd’s wistful lectures on the laxative benefits of the crimson vegetable was always under-appreciated by the gaggle of reprobates who gathered in village halls across the north of Edwardian England, merely to acquaint the free buffet.

When she fell with a handsome charabanc driver he dutifully proposed, but Mytholmroyd refused on principle. “No man shall own me, no matter how impressive be his carriage”. Yet they raised the child out of wedlock, her devoted lover masquerading seven days a week as the dear elderly aunt of a tragically widowed young woman.