WOMEN STUDENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1922, Page 8

WOMEN STUDENTS

FSRST ENGLISH BARRISTER

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN LEGAL EXAMINATIONS

(FROM OUR OWJt COMSSPOItDINT.) LONDON, 3rd November. Owing to the novelty of equal!educational advantages «» far <ie men and women are concerned, aiiontrion ie now .being drawn' to any women ■ who are particularly tiucceosfvJ .in examinations which hitherto have not been opened to them. For instance, Jhe first women barrister is liiaa Ivy Williams, of Oxford. '.'".. Although oco woman, Miss Olive dapham, had already passed her final Bar examination, time adding .to her laurels, the achievement, of being the first woman to pas*; there waa the poeEifcUity that Borne, othar woman, by taking b.onoiire, might qealify to be nailed first by aecurin(g- the remittance of two term*, which it is in the power oi the Bench of an Inn to allow. The' woman who gained this remittaiao) wouid thus be ahead by two terms of otfier women students passing the haul. Miss Ivy Wiliams, LL.D., student of the Inner Temple, who has been placed second'in ordei of merit in Glass- I. (Certificate of Honour), hag achieved the distinction, which allows her to ask the Bench of the Inner Temple to remit two terms. Should .Mias William* ask; for the remittance,- and should the Bench grant it, she could be "called" in April 1922. The other women student* will not be qualified to bo "called" before Michaelmas, 1922. 1 UNIQUE DISTINCTION. Of the 123 students examined, Miss Williams shared with one other, Mr. Herbert Dunkley, the honour of being placed in Class I. Miss Williams, had already »chieved scholastic- distinction before she became a law student. Three other women, students who passed the final examination are:' Miss Monica Mary Geike Cobb (Middle Temple), who was the sixth out of 19 students placed in Class II.; Miss Ethel Bright Ashford (Middle Temple), Class III.; and Miss Helena Moreno Normanton,, Class 111. ■ Eighteen women students have passed the preliminary examinations. None of them has equalled the success of Miss Normanton, 8.A., who earlier in the year passed the three compulsory parts of the examination at once. She took a first in Constitutional History,' a second in Eoman Law and a second in Criminal Law and Procedure: Miss Normanton imported romance into the severe business of studying for the law by marrying two days before the result of the final examination put the seal to her long struggle for admittance to the Bar. A MODERN PORTIA. Mliss Chryctal MacmUlan, who has taken a second in Roman Law and in Criminal Law and Procedure, is a,well,known woman, who" took her Science Degree at Edinburgh University as long ago as 1896, andherM.A. at the same University, with honours in Mental and .MoraKPhilosophy, in 1900." From 1906 to ,1908 Miss Macmillan was hon. secretary of the Committee.of Women' Graduates; of Scottish Universities, which carried on the. law. case Nairn*' v. The Universities, seeking to' establish- the claim of women graduates to the .Parliamentary vote. In November, 1908, she anticipated her present achievements by pleading in person in the appeal which was taken to the House: of Lords. ■ '..' ;'. . ,;• ."' •; „.; To Mies Evelyn Pa-iscilla Hope,"' a student of the Middle Temple, has fallen the special prize rof £50 for the best paper in ' Constitutional Law and Legal" History in the Michalemas Bar Examina-' tdon. She is also awarded a first class. THE ONLY WOMAN FOR WASHING- :•■.,- ' •■■■•■■; TON.■■■. :.-.•■• Miss K. Manicom, the young woman Labour leader—she is only twenty-eight years of age-r-is the most discussed figure in feminist circles at present, for she is to go to Washington to place before the Disarmament Conference ,the European working ■women's point of ■view. , She will' be the only. European woman delegate at the Conference. Miss Manicom was appointed by the'lnternational Conference of Working Women, irhich met recently at Geneva-.' She takes'withhei » six-line resolution that voices the opinion of the delegates of the working women of forty-nine Europeans countries. "The resolution urges disarmament." said Miss Manicom, "because war brings misery and' suffering to the world, and the aftermath of war ir wrecked homes and destroyed lives." :• ': ' ' ■ Miss Manioom, who is ' described as • fair,' with large blue eyes and rosy, cheeks, is. the woman, organiser of the Workers' Union) and achieved promin-' ence in, April, 1920, 'soon aftei she.had assisted in the Pearl strike ■ victory, when she addressed a Labour Women's Conference at the Memorial Hall. Heroratory made a deep impression on.the 500 debates, and she was singled-out as a star of the Labour Party. "She, is in dead earnest, but her seriousness does not obliterate her sense of humour or her love of fun." LADY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY. Mies Hilda Oohsstbne, M; Al., who has been appointed to thej-newly-fojmded Chair of History in tfie'University of London, is the third daughter of Mr. H; A. ', Johnstone, a former Stockpart Magistrate. Miss Johnstone received har\ early education at the Manchester High School, and was subsequently a student at the Universities of Edinburgh and Manch«ster. From 1906 to 1913 she was Lecturer in History at Manchester University, and in 1913 was' Reader in History in King's College for Women/ Prom 1916 to 1918 she was on the staff of the Wai Trade Intelligence Departl ment. Miss Johnstone. has written numerous books on history, 'including "A Hundred Years of History." Her appointment is tenable at the Royal Holloway College, and dates, from Ist January next. ITronv a large number of men and women historians fc the position, the choice fell upon Mis? Johnstone,, who is described as being young, dark, vivacious, and possessing a sparkling sense, of humour; as essentially modem; wear*, nice ilothes and a velvet . hair I>and, and looks as if ahe could lon occasions forget . all about ' : William .the . Conqueror and dance, foxj toots. She is the, sister-in-law of Pro--1 fessor Tout, and has devoted all her life to the study of history. "The study of past events (she says) gives us a sane outlook. It is immensely valuable, especially in timeti like these, in fostering a calm, critical judgment. It is a most interesting and human, thing to teach. The medieval period is my pet period. It would be mainly interesting to 8° back in time ito see if all our modern theories,about medieval life, .fit the r«Jity.". " '.' '. ■':•, • IMPORTANT AltT: SCHOLARSHIP. The Rome Scholarship"'fox 1921 has been awarded by the. Faculty of Engraving of the British School at Rome to M-ise Lilian Whitebead, of Bury, Lancashire. . She is tho first woman to gain this open scholarship. Miss Whitehead began her art training iii 1912 at the Bury School of Art, from which she passed on to tho Manchester School of Art, where in 1915 she won the Catherine Scarlett Scholarship. Subsequently she studied at the Sla'de. School and the' Centra' School of Arts and Crafts, Hor scholarship i»' tenable for thi'e* year*,

and is of the annual value of £250. It entails residence in Rome. ■ > . WHY WOMEN WIN. Some solace to discomfited malts is offered by the Daily Modi, which in the course of a leading article, remark*: "It ' is a case of a few exceptional women competing against a largo number of average men. That was boilnd U> be the Brat effect of lowering the barrier which excluded women from the professions. But ' every , career will remain open to the best effort. It ie quite improbable that the women who win are of a higher average ability than the .men they de-feat—-but they concentrate more on the goal. .Women gain their First Class in. the • Bar examination and their art scholarship at Rome because they, desire such prizes intensely, and spore no effort and diligence to realise their desire.". WOMEN'S HIGHER. EDUCATION. Miss Jex-Blake, until recently Principal of Girton, in outlining the progress of the movement, for the education of women since the 'titties, observed that in the'early days of girls- school*, matnein tbe owly days ol girls' aohoois, mathem»tic» lit universities ik>i had science mistoeaM* studied in a university laboratory. Sh* dad not my a migtren who bad not been to a university ooald not teaxih well, but proof of. the consequences of the difficulty women had found m getting a university. education was seen in the fact that it was still hard to find qualified mistresses in classics and science:- More places for women in the universities w«re needed if the shortage in the next generation was to be made good. Although the ebweios have been her joy through life, she would be scary to have it supposed that she thought they were the foundation of education. Plain English was the true foundation of education, and there ie no royal road to it. She had had experience of the beneficial results of university women: in commercial bouses; those result* had been .beneficial even if, they did no more than' show that many of the . stock phrases employed in business letter* weir* uhgranimatical and not English. University women had. also made many t«eful ■ and practical suggestions in t <xmmercial offices. She considered it mat-, tered very little what girl* learned at school as long aa they learned ii thoroughly: There were many more prof»» Bions open to women than formerly, and among them. were laboratory work, chemistry, and the law. , , IRISH LADY BARRISTERS.. , Two Irish ladies .have been colled to the' Bar «t the Four Courts, Dublin, by the Lord 'Chief Justice. One was Mis*. Prances C. Kyle, of Belfast, who has graduated at. the Dublin University, and in the King's Inns, Dublin, has won the'; John ■ Brooke Scholarship—-the blue riband of the Irish Law Schools. Miss Kyle "thus has achieve/ the double record of being the first lady to win : this scholarship and the flrst to be called to the Irish Bai. The second lady called was :Miss. Katherine S. peverill,: also a graduate of Dublin. University. With her was called her twin brother, Captain William . 8.-, DeveriU. The Lord Chief .Justice congratulated, the new lady barristers, on their success.