Trailblazing women who helped shape Yorkshire's biggest city could soon see their names lit up in history - and finally joining the men who have long held pride of place.

Plans are to be put before council leaders in Leeds to add the names of six women to the walls of the authority's meeting chamber at Civic Hall.

Already, the names of many men from history feature on panels lining the room, but now six women would be added for the very first time.

Among them would be cyclist Beryl Burton and Gertrude Paul, as a founding member of the Leeds West Indian Carnival and the first black headteacher in Leeds.

Beryl Burton OBE: (centre) the English racing cyclist who dominated the sport in the UK and abroad, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles and setting numerous national records.

The executive board will be asked to back the plans at a meeting on Wednesday, and to consider expanding it in the future.

Deputy leader, Coun Debra Coupar, said each of these “exceptional” women have a special place in the hearts of the people of Leeds.

“Honouring their legacy in this unique way will also make a very poignant and powerful statement about Leeds, it’s commitment to equality and our desire to ensure that women and girls living and growing up here can have the belief that anything is possible,” she said.

Outgoing chief executive Tom Riordan has refused a pay award for a number of years, members said, and savings made here would be used to pay for the project.

Leonora Cohen OBE: A pioneer of the Suffragette movement, born in Leeds. She was famously arrested for smashing a glass case containing royal insignia at the Tower of London in protest against the government’s position on a woman’s right to vote.

When the Civic Hall was first built back in 1933, men who had a close association with the city saw their names added to the walls of the council chamber.

A public consultation was held earlier this year to choose which women's legacies should feature first, as the council looks to also highlight their role.

The others chosen include the Barnbow Lasses, 35 women and girls killed in an explosion in the Barnbow Munitions Factory in the First World War.

Then a pioneer of the Suffragette movement, Leeds-born Leonora Cohen, who was famously arrested for smashing a glass case with royal insignia at the Tower of London.

Gertrude Paul was a founding member of the Leeds West Indian Carnival and the first black head teacher in Leeds. She also founded the Leeds International Women’s Group, the Afro Asian Organisation and the United Caribbean Association. Credit: Family photo.

Alice Bacon, as the city's first female MP, is also to feature, having overseen major changes as a Home Office minister, from the abolition of the death penalty to the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

And finally, Ivy Benson, a saxophonist and bandleader born in Holbeck who led an all-female swing band. She was among the first invited to perform at Berlin's VE celebrations in 1945.

Names of Leeds' women trailblazers could be added to council chamber for the first time

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