Episode 3174
Elizabeth Alkin
Mon, 2026-Jan-12 00:42 UTC
Length - 1:51
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.
The featured article for Monday, 12 January 2026, is Elizabeth Alkin.
Elizabeth Alkin (c. 1600 – c. 1655) was a publisher, nurse and spy for the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War (1642–1651). She was also commonly known as Parliamentary Joan, one of many derogatory names she was called by royalist sympathisers.
Little is known about Alkin's early life. Her husband was arrested and hanged in 1643 by the royalists during the English Civil War for spying for the Parliamentarians; Alkin continued his work, spying in Oxford, even during the city's siege.
By 1648 Alkin was involved in selling and then publishing Parliamentary newsbooks—the forerunners of newspapers. She used her role as a vendor to track down and report several publishers of royalist material. After the civil war, Alkin nursed casualties of the First Anglo-Dutch War, initially in Portsmouth, then Harwich and Ipswich. With her health failing she returned to London. It is presumed she died shortly afterwards, possibly over the 1655 Christmas period.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:42 UTC on Monday, 12 January 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Elizabeth Alkin on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm neural Olivia.
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