Helena Florence Normanton, QC (14 December 1882 – 14 October 1957) was the first woman to take advantage of the

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It became law when it received Royal Assent on 23 December 1919.''Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1921''. p. 213 ...

and join an institution of the legal profession. In November 1922, she was the second woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales, following the example set by Ivy Williams in May 1922. When she married she kept her surname and in 1924 she was the first British married woman to have a passport in the name she was born with. In October 2021 Normanton was honoured by the installation of an English Heritage Blue plaque at her London home in

Mecklenburgh Square Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed square in Bloomsbury, London. The square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792–1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. The square was ...

Early life and education

Normanton was born in East London to Jane Amelia (née Marshall) and piano maker William Alexander Normanton. In 1886, when she was just four years old, her father was found dead in a railway tunnel. Her mother, who may already have been separated from her father, a stigmatised position in those days, brought up Helena and her younger sister Ethel alone— letting rooms in the family home in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

to wives of officers, before moving to Brighton to run a grocery and later a boarding house. In 1896 Normanton won a scholarship to the York Place Science School in Brighton, now known as Varndean School for Girls, where she did well, becoming a pupil teacher by the time she left in July 1900. Following her mother's death she became responsible for supporting her sister and helped to run the family's boarding-house before attending a teachers' training college at Edge Hill, Liverpool where she studied between 1903–5. She also read modern history at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

as an external student, graduating with first class honours, obtained a Scottish Secondary Teachers' Diploma, and held a diploma in French language, literature and history from Dijon University.''Who's Who 1938'', p. 2513 She lectured in history at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

, and began to speak and write about feminist issues. She worked as a tutor to the sons of the Baron de Forest, a Liberal MP. She spoke at meetings of the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality. It was an offshoot of the militant suffragettes after the Pankhursts decide to rule without democratic support fro ...

and supported the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

Legal career

Normanton describes the moment she decided to become a barrister in her book, '' Everyday Law for Woman''. She says that as a twelve-year-old girl, she was visiting a solicitor's office with her mother, who was unable to understand the solicitor's advice. Normanton recognised this situation as a form of

sex discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

and wished to help all women gain access to the law, which at the time was a profession only open to men. In the book, Normanton reflects: "I still do not like to see women getting the worst end of any deal for lack of a little elementary legal knowledge which is the most common form amongst men". Normanton held ambitions to become a barrister from a young age. An application to become a student at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1918 was refused, and she lodged a petition with the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. She reapplied on 24 December 1919, within hours of the

coming into force, and was admitted to the

.'Obituary: Mrs H. F. Normanton, Q.C.', ''The Manchester Guardian'', 16 October 1957 She married Gavin Bowman Watson Clark in 1921, but preserved her maiden name for professional reasons. In 1924, she became the first married British woman to be issued a passport in her maiden name. She was the second woman to be called to the bar, on 17 November 1922, shortly after Ivy Williams. She was the first woman to obtain a divorce for her client, the first woman to lead the prosecution in a murder trial, and the first woman to conduct a trial in America and to appear at the High Court and the Old Bailey. In 1949, along with Rose Heilbron, she was one of the first two women King's Counsel at the English Bar. Helena Normanton

Feminism

Normanton was a campaigner for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, becoming the first married woman in Britain to have a passport in her maiden name, believing that men and women should keep their money and property separately. She was also a pacifist, later being a supporter of

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

. Ten years after the passing of the

, Normanton spoke at the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

’s seventh Annual Conference in July 1929, alongside Professor

Winifred Cullis Winifred Cullis (2 June 1875 – 13 November 1956) was a physiologist and academic, and the first woman to hold a professorial chair at a medical school. Early life and education Born in Gloucester, Winifred was the youngest daughter of the ...

, the first woman to hold a professorial chair at a medical school, and architect Edna Mosley. In her speech, Normanton noted that there were She acted as the Honorary Legal Adviser for the

from 1936 until 1954, succeeding Theodora Llewelyn Davies in the role. She campaigned for divorce reform, and was president of the

Married Women's Association The Married Women's Association (MWA) was a British women's organisation founded by Edith Summerskill and Juanita Frances in 1938. Summerskill became the association's first president. Its original aims were to promote financial equality between ...

until 1952, when the other officials resigned over her memorandum of evidence to the Royal Commission on Divorce, which they regarded as 'anti-man'. Normanton formed a breakaway body, the Council of Married Women. She founded the Magna Carta Society. She was a pacifist throughout her life, and demonstrated against the nuclear bomb after the Second World War.

Personal life

Normanton was married to Gavin Bowman Watson Clark, an accountant. They lived in London. Normanton died in

Sydenham, London Sydenham () is a district of south-east London, England, which is shared between the London boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley and Southwark. Prior to the creation of the County of London in 1889, Sydenham was located in Kent, bordering Surrey. Hist ...

on 14 October 1957, and after cremation was buried with her husband in

Ovingdean Ovingdean is a small, formerly agricultural, village in the east of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. Overview It was absorbed into the administrative borough of Brighton, East Sussex, England in 1928, and now forms part of the city of ...

churchyard, Sussex.

Legacy

In 1957, Normanton was the first person to leave a legacy donation to the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

(which opened in 1961), and is recognised as a founding funder. She wrote that “I make this gift in gratitude for all that Brighton did to educate me when I was left an orphan.” In 2015, the Helena Normanton Society was formed in her honour at the University of Sussex, and The Helena Normanton Doctoral Fellowship was launched there in 2017. The archives of Helena Normanton are held at

The Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

at the Library of

The London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, re
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In February 2019, 218 Strand Chambers rebranded as Normanton Chambers in her honour. This is the first instance of a barristers' chambers being named after a woman. In 2020 barrister Karlia Lykourgou set up the first legal outfitter dedicated to offering courtwear for women, as much of the existing provision was impractical and uncomfortable. She named it Ivy & Normanton, in honour of Ivy Williams, the first woman to be called to the Bar in May 1922, and Helena Normanton. In April 2021

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

announced that Normanton was one of six women whom they were honouring with a Blue plaque, marking where she lived from 1919 to 1931 during the early part of her legal career. Normanton's nomination was made by women barristers at

Doughty Street Chambers Doughty Street Chambers is a British set of barristers' chambers situated in Bristol, Manchester and London's Doughty Street, undertaking criminal justice, public law, immigration, employment, human rights and civil liberties work. Doughty Str ...

. The plaque was unveiled by Brenda Hale, the first female head of the Supreme Court on the wall of 22

in October 2021. In June 2022, Normanton was honoured with a blue plaque at 4 Clifton Place, Brighton where she lived as a teenager in the 1890s, following a campaign by teenage Brighton twins, after they learned of Normanton in a school project.

Works

* ''Sex Differentiation in Salary'', 1915 * ''India in England'', 1915 * ''Oliver Quendon's First Case'', 1927 (a romantic detective novel published under the pseudonym Cowdray Browne) * ''The Trial of Norman Thorne : the Crowborough chicken farm murder'', 1929 * ''Trial of Alfred Arthur Rouse'', 1931 * '' Everyday Law for Women'', 1932 *''The Trial of Mrs. Duncan'', 1945

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Normanton, Helena 1882 births 1957 deaths Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Edge Hill University English King's Counsel Members of the Middle Temple English women lawyers 20th-century King's Counsel Women's Engineering Society 20th-century women lawyers 20th-century English lawyers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people