Carrie Morrison: Difference between revisions
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In 1927, she married fellow solicitor [[Ambrose Appelbe]], who was 15 years her junior, but shared her socialist views. Their non-conformist views led them to be 'watched' by MI5, during the 1930s.<ref name=":0" /> Her husband went on to found a firm in London that is still active. Morrison refused to use her married name and petitioned court officials to be refer in court records, to her profession not her marital status. |
In 1927, she married fellow solicitor [[Ambrose Appelbe]], who was 15 years her junior, but shared her socialist views. Their non-conformist views led them to be 'watched' by MI5, during the 1930s.<ref name=":0" /> Her husband went on to found a firm in London that is still active. Morrison refused to use her married name and petitioned court officials to be refer in court records, to her profession not her marital status. |
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Morrison was said to 'set high standard of determination and dedication to her profession for the women who came after her.'<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Carrie Morrison {{!}} First 100 Years|url=https://first100years.org.uk/carrie-morrison/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=first100years.org.uk}}</ref> Morrison took on cases which were considered socially challenging, such as acting for prostitutes in court, acted for the Women and Children’s’ Protection Society and the Becontree Estate protesters in 1932. Keen to see reform of divorce laws, she had a modern attitude to gender equality, and was not supportive of women taking advantage of their husbands or men who mistreated their wives. She was said to have taken steps 'to shield her 17 year old male articled clerk from the details of the more brutal and salacious cases that she dealt with.'<ref name=":2" /> |
Morrison was said to 'set high standard of determination and dedication to her profession for the women who came after her.'<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Carrie Morrison {{!}} First 100 Years|url=https://first100years.org.uk/carrie-morrison/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=first100years.org.uk}}</ref> Morrison took on cases which were considered socially challenging, such as acting for prostitutes in court, acted for the Women and Children’s’ Protection Society and the Becontree Estate protesters in 1932. Keen to see reform of divorce laws, she had a modern attitude to gender equality, and was not supportive of women taking advantage of their husbands or men who mistreated their wives. She was said to have taken steps 'to shield her 17 year old male articled clerk from the details of the more brutal and salacious cases that she dealt with.'<ref name=":2" /> The ''[[The Daily Telegraph|Daily Telegraph]]'' (26 May 1928) reported the judge Lord Meredith remarked on unusual situation of a divorce decree nisi petitioner being represented by a woman.<ref name=":2" /> |
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On an official form question about 'suffering from any physical disability?' Morrison put 'No, except being a woman'.<ref name=":0" /> They later divorced, but Morrison, unconventionally, continued to work with him professionally, and worked until her death in [[Hertford]], age 62.<ref>''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995''</ref> |
On an official form question about 'suffering from any physical disability?' Morrison put 'No, except being a woman'.<ref name=":0" /> They later divorced, but Morrison, unconventionally, continued to work with him professionally, and worked until her death in [[Hertford]], age 62.<ref>''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995''</ref> |
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Revision as of 14:41, 7 September 2020
Carol Morrison (3 February 1888 – 20 February 1950) was the first woman to be admitted as a solicitor in England.[1][2][3] [4]
Carrie Morrison | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 February 1888 Richmond, Surrey |
| Died | 20 February 1950 Hereford |
| Education | Manchester High School for Girls |
| Alma mater | Girton College, Cambridge (not allowed to graduate as a woman) |
| Occupation | solicitor |
| Known for | in 1922 one of the first women lawyers in England |
Morrison was born in Richmond, Surrey to father Thomas Morrison (1834–1901), son of a Scottish innkeeper [3] who worked as a copper and metal broker in Spain and elsewhere, a wealthy company director,[2] and mother Judith Wakefield Morrison (1856 – 1924), from Lincolnshire, from an illiterate labourer's family.[2][5] Due to her father's work involving travel, Morrison's early education to the age of 15 was in four different countries, at five schools[2] before she studied at Manchester High School for Girls from 1904 to 1907,[3] and awarded an exhibition. Morrison went on to graduate in 1910, again with an exhibition, from Girton College, Cambridge with First Class Honours in Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos,[2] but she was not allowed a degree because she was a woman.[4]
Morrison languages career was then trying teaching at schools in Penarth, Wales and East Putney, London, then working for MI5 eventually in Constantinople, attached to the Army of the Black Sea, in 1919.[2] Through a contact there, Alfred Baker, Morrison was taken on as clerk and then after the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, permitted women to train as solicitors, after the First World War, when attitudes to women and work began to change, and there were 3000 fewer (all male) solicitors than when the war began. Baker sponsored her to take her articles.[2]
Legal Career
In 1922 she and Mary Pickup, Mary Sykes, and Maud Crofts became the first women in England to qualify as solicitors; Morrison was the first of them to finish her articles, and was the first woman admitted to the role of solicitor,[4] at the Supreme Court of England.[2] Morrison worked as a 'Poor Man's Lawyer', providing pro bono or low fee services to people in London's East End, at Toynbee Hall.[2]
In 1927, she married fellow solicitor Ambrose Appelbe, who was 15 years her junior, but shared her socialist views. Their non-conformist views led them to be 'watched' by MI5, during the 1930s.[2] Her husband went on to found a firm in London that is still active. Morrison refused to use her married name and petitioned court officials to be refer in court records, to her profession not her marital status.
Morrison was said to 'set high standard of determination and dedication to her profession for the women who came after her.'[6] Morrison took on cases which were considered socially challenging, such as acting for prostitutes in court, acted for the Women and Children’s’ Protection Society and the Becontree Estate protesters in 1932. Keen to see reform of divorce laws, she had a modern attitude to gender equality, and was not supportive of women taking advantage of their husbands or men who mistreated their wives. She was said to have taken steps 'to shield her 17 year old male articled clerk from the details of the more brutal and salacious cases that she dealt with.'[6] The Daily Telegraph (26 May 1928) reported the judge Lord Meredith remarked on unusual situation of a divorce decree nisi petitioner being represented by a woman.[6]
On an official form question about 'suffering from any physical disability?' Morrison put 'No, except being a woman'.[2] They later divorced, but Morrison, unconventionally, continued to work with him professionally, and worked until her death in Hertford, age 62.[7]
She was also a Soroptimist.[8]
See also
References
- ^ Mary Jane Mossman (31 May 2006). The First Women Lawyers: A Comparative Study of Gender, Law and the Legal Professions. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 118–. ISBN 978-1-84731-095-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "First Woman Solicitor in England and Wales, Carrie Morrison, 1922", Women’s Legal Landmarks : Celebrating the History of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland, Hart Publishing, 2019, doi:10.5040/9781782259800.ch-024, ISBN 978-1-78225-977-0
- ^ a b c Elizabeth Cruickshank and Carrie de Silva, 'Morrison [married name Appelbe], Carrie (1888–1950)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2018 [1]
- ^ a b c "BBC News | UK | 75 years of women solicitors". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
- ^ Girton College Register: 1869-1946. Girton College, Cambridge. 1948. p. 187. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ a b c "Carrie Morrison | First 100 Years". first100years.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
- ^ "Mary Elizabeth Pickup". first100years.org.uk.