You may have noticed the rather large building site in the heart of our campus and know that this will be our new Library and Student Services Centre (L&SSC), set to open in autumn 2017.

And we need a name! We have four remarkable women from which to choose and they had incredible lives. They also all attended Royal Holloway College or Bedford College (one of our founding colleges) or both.

Emily Wilding Davison

Emily studied English at Royal Holloway College in 1893 and went on to play a leading role in the Suffragette movement. She was imprisoned and force-fed several times in her fight to win votes for women. Her most notable sacrifice for the suffrage movement occurred when she jumped in front of King George V’s horse during the 1913 Epsom Derby. This action claimed her life. Watch our College Archivist Annabel Valentine discuss Emily's life.

Sarah Parker Remond

Sarah was one of the first women to be educated at Bedford College where she studied languages. She broke many barriers for women by travelling around the US and UK, without a male escort, to make anti-slavery speeches in 1859. Sarah also tried to have references to white males removed from New York’s state constitution, which would have expanded rights of women and African-Americans. Find out why Jack Kilker thinks we should name the new building after Sarah in this video.

Hilda Martindale

Hilda studied at both Royal Holloway College and Bedford New College and went on to become a leading civil servant. She argued strongly for equal pay and against the marriage bar (which forced women to leave their jobs if they got married.) Hilda also became one of Britain’s first female factory inspectors and wrote influential reports on the effects of lead poisoning in brickworks. Discover why Dr Ruth Livesey believes the new library should be named after Hilda.

George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans was one of the first students to study at Bedford College when it opened in 1849. Under her pen name, George Eliot, she wrote many well-known classics including Middlemarch (1872) and The Mill on the Floss (1860). She was also friends with leading 19th century feminist Barbara Bodichon. Watch Dr Gwilym Eades tell us why the new building should be named after George Eliot.

You can share your favourite by 1 November via this online form or by using the hashtag #RHNameIt on Twitter. You can also find out more about our estate plan.