Victoria Hughes

Victoria Hughes (née Rogers, 22 June 1897 – 30 August 1978) was a British lavatory attendant, and the first of her profession to have an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, having published her memoirs Ladies' Mile (1977) at the age of 80, which some found shocking but which have since become a valuable local history resource.

[1] On 16 July 1916, she married Richard Hughes (1896–1965), an apprentice ironmonger, who the same day left to fight in France as a member of the Royal Berkshire Regiment during the First World War.

[1] She soon discovered that many of her customers were prostitutes working the nearby Ladies Mile, and although thoroughly respectable herself, she did not judge, instead providing tea, sympathy and advice.

[2] From 1958, Mr and Mrs Hughes lived in a terraced house at 255 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, where she died on 30 August 1978, from cancer.

[1] In 2003, a blue plaque was unveiled by David Foot who had written the book for her on the public conveniences where she worked,[4] and in 2006 she became the first of her profession to be given an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.