Today is, of course, International Women's Day and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Although Dorset has a small population compared to some counties, it is and has been home to some remarkable residents.

Here, we remember five of them - not all of them born and bred in Dorset - and look at how they made a positive difference to others. 

They come from a range of scientific, creative, and sporting backgrounds.

PAT DUNN

Weymouth's own trailblazing star of football was Pat Dunn.

She made history in September 1976 when she was the first woman to referee an official FA game.

Pat was a pioneer of women's football, coaching the England International side in the 1971 Mexico Women's World Cup.

SYLVIA TOWNSEND-WARNER

Sylvia was born in 1893 in Middlesex and was a noted writer of poems, short stories and novels.

She met poet Valentine Ackland in West Chaldon, Dorset, and moved in with her when she bought a house there in 1930.

The pair became lovers and wrote many political works during their affair, including Sylvia's After the Death of Don Juan.

They twice visited Spain during the Spanish Civil War and were together until Valentine died of breast cancer in 1969.

Sylvia died on May Day in 1978.

The couple's ashes are buried under a stone in Chaldon churchyard.

ALISON CRONIN

Alison with woolly monkey Julio (Image: Newsquest)

American Dr Cronin has continued the good work of her late husband Jim in Dorset, providing sanctuary for abused and neglected primates at Monkey World near Wareham.

She studied biological anthropology at Cambridge University and while living in the UK  met Jim at Monkey World in 1993.

After her husband died, Alison continued running the site and working against animal smuggling and the pet trade.

She said: "At that time a lot of people asked me if I would continue. It was a no-brainer, I had all those faces looking back at me, needing our care and that gave me the strength to keep going."

MARY ANNING

Mary, born in 1804 in Lyme Regis, became one of the most renowned fossil hunters the world has ever seen.

She lived until the middle of the 19th century - a meagre 48 years.

From a young age, Mary and her brother Joseph explored the beaches and cliffs, their hammers chipping away at the secrets hidden within the Jurassic Coast's rocks.

These were no ordinary rocks; they were time capsules, preserving the remains of creatures that lived millions of years ago, during the Jurassic period.

Anning lived through an early life of privation and hardship to become what one source called "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew".

Among Mary's most groundbreaking discoveries was the complete skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus, a marine reptile resembling a dolphin, in 1821.

PJ HARVEY

Polly Jean Harvey is a musician, singer-songwriter, writer, poet, and composer.

She was born in Bridport and grew up on the family’s farm in Corscombe.

Harvey attended school in Beaminster where she received guitar lessons from folk singer-songwriter Steve Knightley.

The two-time Mercury Prize winner has never forgotten her Dorset roots - she gifted Dorset Museum and Art Gallery proofs of her dialect poem Orlam and cover marked with her hand-written edits, and an exclusive signed photograph of her wearing a brooch of traditional Dorset buttons.

Later in the year on November 19, we'll be compiling a list of incredible Dorset men on International Men's Day.

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