Bloomsbury, Belsen, Oxford

Janet Vaughan was a woman of huge energy and passion, who always sought to improve the lives of others. As a doctor and medical researcher, and also a social and educational reformer, she aimed to relieve suffering and to enable people - especially women - to develop and use their talents so as to live fulfilled lives. When young, married, living in Bloomsbury and building a career in haematology in spite of the barriers faced by women in medicine and science, she inspired Virginia Woolf in her writing of 'A Room of One's Own' and 'Three Guineas'. At the same time her work for Spanish Medical Aid and membership of the Communist Party put her on the Nazi 'black list', and so destined to be executed in the event of a successful invasion of Great Britain.