Helena Normanton

Helena Florence Normanton, KC (14 December 1882 - 14 October 1957) was the first woman to practise as a barrister in the UK.[1] In 1922 she was called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Middle Temple, following the example set by Ivy Williams earlier that year.

She went on to become the first woman to lead the prosecution in a murder trial, to conduct a trial in America and to represent cases at the High Court and the Old Bailey. In 1949, along with Rose Heilbron, she became one of the first women King's Counsel at the English Bar.

Normanton was a campaigner for women's rights and women's suffrage, becoming the first married woman in the UK to have a passport in her maiden name, believing that men and women should keep their money and property separately.[2] She was also a pacifist, later being a supporter of CND.[1]

Little is known of Normanton's career before she became a lawyer, other than that she trained as a teacher in Liverpool at Edge Hill Teacher Training College between 1903 and 1905.[1] Her entry in the 1938 edition of Who's Who states that she had a first class honours degree in Modern History from the University of London; a Scottish Secondary Teachers' Diploma; and a diploma in French language, literature and history from Dijon University. In 1921 she married Gavin Bowman Watson Clark.[3]

Archives

The archives of Helena Normanton are held at The Women's Library at London Metropolitan University.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Helena Normanton biography, Spartacus Educational, accessed 10 January 2011
  2. ^ Edge Hill magazine, Edge Hill University, accessed 10 January 2011
  3. ^ Who's Who 1938, p 2513
  4. ^ "The Women's Library Special Collections Catalogue". Calmarchive.londonmet.ac.uk. http://calmarchive.londonmet.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo='7HLN'). Retrieved 2011-10-04.