The Arran Saltire Society will begin its series of winter meetings next month, with a talk by Pat Lucie, a former law lecturer at the University of Glasgow and now researcher for the Centenary of Women in Law project. Below are more details of the event and the subject of the talk on Madge Easton Anderson, the first women lawyer in the UK and graduate of Glasgow University.
A talk by Pat Lucie, University of Glasgow
Glasgow’s Portia: Madge Easton Anderson and the first generation of women lawyers
Wednesday 26th October, Corrie and Sannox Village hall, 7 for 7.30 pm
100 YEARS OF WOMEN IN LAW
2019 marked the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 which paved the way for women to become lawyers for the first time.The University of Glasgow is proud that the first female lawyer in the UK was a graduate of the University. Madge Easton Anderson graduated on 8 November 1919 with a Bachelor in Law (BL) and went on to graduate the following year with an LLB. She was the first practising female law agent in Scotland and the first professional female lawyer in the UK. She later became the first woman to qualify in both jurisdictions of Scotland and England and Wales. To celebrate Madge and women in law, the School of Law held a series of events, exhibitions and projects throughout 2019 and 2020, including its flagship ‘100 voices for 100 years’ digital exhibition.
Pat Lucie writes, “When Maria Fletcher asked me if I’d be interested in doing a little digging into the life and times of Madge Easton Anderson, the first woman lawyer in the U.K. and a Glasgow graduate, for our ‘First 100 Years’ celebration, I jumped at the chance. Since retiring from the Law School I have been working as a volunteer in the University Archives and had already unearthed some interesting information about her activities as a ‘Poor Man’s Lawyer’ in the decade after she graduated. Through the Queen Margaret College Settlement in the 1920s she offered free advice, mainly to women in the impoverished tenements of Anderston, on problems arising from debt, family law, and housing. What struck all of us working on the ‘100 Years’ was how daunting the first steps were, what a heroic struggle the first generation undertook, and how glacial progress was. The Conference in April 2019 brought together the experience of three generations who agreed that equality was unfinished business.”
Read more about Pat Lucie and her research here
Keep up to date with details of the event on the Arran Saltire Society Facebook page