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Helen Caroline Colman was a suffragist, activist, writer and collector of Egyptian antiquities who lived between 1866 and 1947.

Early Life
Helen Caroline Colman was born in 1866 at Carrow House, Norfolk, to Jeremiah James Colman and Caroline Colman (née Cozens-Hardy), the fourth of six children born between 1859 and 1869. She was educated at Laleham Boarding School for Girls in Clapham Park, London. In 1886, she moved into Carrow Abbey, a family property, where she would live for the rest of her life.

Politics and Suffragism
In 1905 Colman wrote a biography of her father, Jeremiah James Colman, for private distribution among family and friends, published by Chiswick Press. The book focused heavily on Jeremiah’s political career – and also stressed his support for the participation of women in political life. The issue of women’s rights would go on to be a defining one for Helen: she was committed to achieving women’s suffrage through peaceful means and co-founded, along with her sisters - Ethel and Laura - the Norwich branch of the National Council of Women in 1918. On 31st October 1923, when Ethel became the first female Lord Mayor of Norwich (and indeed the first in the UK), she appointed Helen as her Lady Mayoress, to assist her with her duties throughout her yearlong term.

Egypt and Egyptology
On November 20th 1896, Helen, along with her sister Laura, and Laura's husband, accompanied her brother Alan on a trip to Egypt having been advised that the hot, dry climate may be beneficial to his health (he suffered from 'a delicacy of the lungs', thought to be tuberculosis, and his condition had recently deteriorated). They were shortly joined by her father and other two sisters, whereupon they embarked on a Nile cruise, sightseeing and collecting over 250 Ancient Egyptian artefacts. Alan died on 7th February 1897, and the party decided to return home on the 10th February on departure from Luxor.

On return their return, Helen and Ethel commissioned a pleasure wherry to be built in memory of their recent brother, named Hathor after the ship that carried them down the Nile (itself named for the Ancient Egyptian goddess). Hathor, built at Reedham, was decorated in an Egyptian style, and launched in 1905. Today, it is one of only eight surviving wherries on the Norfolk Broads.

In 1921, Helen and Ethel donated their significant collection of Egyptian artefacts to Norwich Castle, where it remains.

Death
Colman died in 1947 at Carrow Abbey.