Ivy Williams

{{Short description|British barrister and law scholar (1877–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Ivy Williams | image = Ivy Williams - date and photographer unknown.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 7 September 1877 | birth_place = Newton Abbot, Devon, England | death_date = {{death date and age text|18 February 1966|7 September 1877}} | death_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = first woman called to the UK bar | education = Society of Oxford Home Students | employer = | occupation = law lecturer | spouse = | partner = | alma_mater = University of London (LLB, LLD)<br>St Anne's College, Oxford (DCL) | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Ivy Williams''' (7 September 1877 – 18 February 1966) was the first woman to be called to the English bar, in May 1922. She never practised, but she was the first woman to teach law at a British university.

==Education==

Williams studied law at the Society of Oxford Home Students (later St Anne's College), the third woman to study law at Oxford University.<ref name=Bell>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=Jo |title=On this day she : putting women back into history, one day at a time |date=2021 |others=Tania Hershman, Ailsa Holland |isbn=978-1-78946-271-5 |location=London |page=146 |oclc=1250378425}}</ref> By 1903, she had completed all her law examinations, but was prevented by the prevailing regulations concerning the qualification of women at Oxford from matriculating or receiving her BA, MA, and BCL until the regulations were reformed in 1920.<ref>_____, "Oxford–Saturday. Degrees for Women". Yorkshire Post, 1 November 1920. 9.</ref> She obtained Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London in 1901, and LLD from the same university in 1903.

After the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 came into force in December 1919, which abolished the prohibition on women becoming barristers, she joined the Inner Temple as a student on 26 January 1920 after Theodora Llewelyn Davies. Olive Clapham was the first woman to pass bar finals examinations (in May 1921), but she would not be called to the bar until 1924.<ref name="Clapham ODNB">{{Cite ODNB |first= Derry |last= Caroline |title= Clapham, Olive Catherine [married name Miles (1898–1973) |doi= 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112040 }}</ref> Williams became England's first female barrister when she was called to the bar on 10 May 1922,<ref name=Bell/><ref>England's First Woman Barrister. Miss Ivy Williams "Called.", The Times, Thursday, May 11, 1922; pg. 7; Issue 43028; col D</ref> having received a certificate of honour (first class) in her final bar examination in Michaelmas 1921 which excused her from keeping two terms of dinners. Her call to the bar was described by the ''Law Journal'' as "one of the most memorable days in the long annals of the legal profession".<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1922|title=(Law Journal, 57, 1922, 161).|journal=Law Journal}}</ref> She was soon followed by other women, including Helena Normanton and Jane Sissmore.

==Career==

Williams did not enter private practice, but taught law at the Society of Oxford Home Students from 1920 to 1945, making her the first woman to teach law at an English university.<ref name=Bell/> In 1923 she became the first woman to be awarded the degree of DCL (Doctor of Civil Law)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/feb/10/my-legal-hero-ivy-williams|title=My legal hero: Dr Ivy Williams {{!}} Heather Hallett|last=Hallett|first=Heather|date=2011-02-10|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-11-03|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> in Oxford for her published work, ''The Sources of Law in the Swiss Civil Code''. In 1956, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

==Personal and later life==

She enjoyed tennis, travelling, gardening, and driving. She learned to read Braille after she began to lose her sight in later life, and she wrote a Braille primer which was published by the National Institute for the Blind in 1948.<ref name=odnb/>

She died in Oxford in 1966.<ref name=odnb>Hazel Fox, 'Williams, Ivy (1877–1966)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 accessed 20 July 2012</ref>

==Dedications==

In 2020, barrister Karlia Lykourgou set up the first outfitter dedicated to offering courtwear for women. She named it Ivy & Normanton, in honour of Williams and Helena Normanton.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mehta|first=Amar|date=2020-06-18|title=After 100 years, female barristers finally get their own outfitter|url=https://www.thelawyer.com/after-100-years-female-barristers-finally-get-their-own-outfitter/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=The Lawyer {{!}} Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs|language=en}}</ref>

A blue plaque to her memory was installed on her home at 12 King Edward Street, Oxford on 21 September 2020.<ref>[http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/williams.html Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board]</ref>

==Family==

Williams was born in Newton Abbot in Devon and educated privately. Her parents were Emma and George St Swithin Williams. Her father was a solicitor. Her brother Winter Williams became a barrister, but died in an accident on 14 July 1903.<ref name=odnb/>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [http://www.city.ac.uk/icsl/ City University, London website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061017105912/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Ladies%201st%20-%20I.htm Ladies First website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ivy}} Category:1877 births Category:1921 in England Category:1966 deaths Category:British barristers Category:British legal scholars Category:British women lawyers Category:Alumni of University of London Worldwide Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Category:Fellows of St Anne's College, Oxford Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:People from Newton Abbot Category:British women legal scholars