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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O PQ R S T U V W XYZ

"the emancipation of women is probably the greatest egoistic movement of the nineteenth century and the most intense affirmation of the right of the self that history has yet seen "

 Ellen Kay (Karolina Sofia Key 1849-1926).... Swedish writer

HER NAME IS E...............

* E.G.McGill

..... FIRST woman to qualify as an aeronautical engineer in Canada

* Edward Butler - Mrs

... (Christian name not known) from Erith in Kent, in 1888 she became the FIRST woman rider of a motorcycle after her husband patented a motor tricycle in 1884 and which was built 1887-88

* Edina Proctor

..... FIRST midwife at the maternity unit at Wythenshawe Hospital in1965. She retired in 2002 after delivering more than 1000 babies in her 37 years service

* Edith

 * Edmee Frisch de Fells,

 Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld

  born 1895 died 1991

..... leader of the French suffragette movement who was the FIRST woman of her class in France to take a lead in the demand for female suffrage 

* Edmonia Lewis

  born 1843 died c1900

..... African- American who was the FIRST black woman to be acknowledged as a sculptor she was one of America's first widely recognized African-American artists.  Each of her sculptors tells a story and her most famous one is Forever Free, a study of a black man greeting freedom. She also created busts of famous people who fought to end slavery i e John Brown, Charles Sumner, Robert Gould Shaw and William Story

* Edna Annie Crichton

..... FIRST woman Alderman of York and in 1941- 42  was the FIRST woman Lord Mayor of York

* Edwina Currie

..... FIRST woman to be named Speaker of the Year by the Association of Speakers Clubs. Subsequent women speakers were Kate Adie and Betty Boothroyd. She was also the FIRST Tory Minister to be interviewed by Marxist Today , the Euro-Communist Discussion magazine and the FIRST Tory Minister to be interviewed by New Musical Express, the rock musical society

* Edwina Parcell

..... FIRST woman President of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters

* Eileen Ascroft

 ..... in 1937 she wrote a weekly 'charm' lesson in the Daily Mirror and went on to set up the FIRST women's page at the Evening Standard

* Eileen Bennett

..... in July 1933 she was the FIRST Englishwoman to appear on the tennis courts in shorts when she attended a party given by Lady Crosfield in London

* Eileen Collins

..... in 1995 she was the FIRST woman to pilot a space shuttle when the space shuttle Discovery went into orbit. The craft was due to rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir and carried the FIRST Briton to walk in space, Dr Michael Foale. Four years later was the FIRST woman to lead a US space flight

* Eileen Connolly

 died 1996

..... FIRST woman to be given honorary life membership of County Longford Golf Club

* Eileen Cullen

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman secretary of a major clearing bank when appointed secretary of the National Westminster Bank which she had joined as a junior clerk at the age of 16 straight from school. At the time of her appointment she was aged 54 years

* Eileen Joel

..... FIRST woman jockey to win an open race. Her father was the millionaire racehorse owner, Solly Joel, and it was in the 4 mile Newmarket Town Plate on October 8th 1925 that she achieved her historic win wearing a cloche hat and riding on Hogier. The Newmarket Town Plate is unusual in being held under its own rules which were originally drawn up in 1665 at the request of King Charles 11. The articles stated that 'the race is to be open to any amateur rider' and since the word 'rider' is not defined by sex it was successfully contended that this could be interpreted to include women

* Eileen Langsley

..... FIRST woman chairperson of the Professional Sports Photographers Association in January 1990

* Eileen Molyneux

..... in 1989 she was the patient in the FIRST successful heart operation after being kept awake during surgery

* Eileen Scholes

neé Lennox

..... FIRST woman to be elected President of an Athletic Union in a British University - Keele 1970

* Eileen Sheridan

..... FIRST woman to turn professional in cycling

* Eirine Lloyd White

  nee Jones

 born November 7th 1909 died 1999

..... Irishwoman who became the FIRST woman Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in a Labour government in Britain in 1966. After she had been at the Foreign Office for a year she was moved nearer to her home in Wales and became Minister of State for Wales, a post she held until 1970 when she was created a life peer

* Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova

  born 1743 died 1810

..... Russian princess and author who was an influential patroness of the literary arts in 18th century Russia and in 1783 became the FIRST President of the Russian Academy, the foundation of which she had suggested

* Ekaterina Fursteva

 born 1910 died 1974

..... Russian who was the FIRST woman member of the Praesidium in 1956. In 1960 she became Minister of Culture even though she did not approve of modern art

* Ekua Bayunu

..... FIRST black audience development worker for live art events in the North West of Manchester in 1995

* Elaine Burton ( later Baroness)

..... FIRST sportswoman to wear shorts when she appeared at the England Northern Counties Ladies' Athletics Championships in 1919

* Elaine Edmonson

..... in 2004, with Trevor Kawome, became the FIRST cabin crew students in the country to receive the Passport to Enterprise initiative which they received at Eccles College (UK). The BTEC cabin crew course aimed to provide employers with a snapshot of student's achievements

* Elaine Greene

  nee Elaine Ruth Gilbert

  born November 27th 1920 died 1995

..... American who was the FIRST secretary of the Association of Author's Rights. She was of London's outstanding literary agents who formed her own agency and whose American clients included Arthur Miller and Theodor S Geisel (Dr  Seuss) and she was also the agent of P D James for over 30 years

* Elaine Haydon

..... FIRST woman in South Wales to be chosen by National Welsh to take the wheel of a long distance bus service in 1988

* Elaine May

..... American who was the FIRST woman Director-writer-star when she made A New Leaf in the US in 1970

* Elaine Pearson

..... in 1991 she was the FIRST Veterinary Nurse of the Year. The new award was given by the National Canine Defence League and Intervet for showing 'exceptional kindness, understanding and education'

* Elaine Rassaby

..... in 1998 she was appointed the FIRST independent adjudicator to handle complaints against Ofsted. She was an expert on the rights and care of the mentally ill and was chosen from 246 applicants for the part-time post

* Elaine Simpson

..... in December 1994 she was the FIRST female sergeant to work on the motorway network patrolled by Greater Manchester Police in England

* Elaine Vogel

..... French woman who was the FIRST full-time woman teacher at Eton in its 540-year history

* Eleanor Adams

  born 1948

..... ultra-distance runner who was the FIRST woman to complete 1000 miles on the road

* Eleanor Davies

..... FIRST woman admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1911 when there were 477 women doctors in the U.K. 

* Eleanor Grey, Rebecca Rendle, Louise Goss-Custard

..... FIRST all-women team to be in charge of the Oxford University Students Union in its 14-year history

* Eleanor Holm

born December 6th 1913 died 2004

..... American swimmer who was the FIRST American to be selected for three Olympics. She was unbeaten for seven years in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke, in which she also set world records

* Eleanor Lambert

..... New-York based fashion expert who FIRST published the annual list of the world's 12 Best Dressed Women in 1940

* Eleanor Mears

  born December 9th 1917 died 1992

..... FIRST medical secretary to the Family Planning Association

* Eleanor McLaughlin

..... FIRST woman Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1988

* Eleanor Holmes Norton

  born 1937

..... American who was the FIRST woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the FIRST woman and second person elected to represent the District of Columbia in the U.S House of Representatives in November 1990.  A civil rights lawyer she was born and raised in Washington D.C. She became an attorney and spent five years working with the American Civil Liberties Union to help to protect the basic constitutional rights of all Americans. For seven years she was chairperson of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.  Being black and female she had many obstacles to face but used her own experiences as a black woman to speak passionately for her clients, for civil rights and for the betterment of her country

* Eleanor Oldroyd

..... in 1995 she was the FIRST woman to present Radio 5 Live's Sport on Five since it was launched in 1947. She was a regular Radio 5 Live sports reporter and on this occasion stood in for the regular reporter Ian Payne.  She was scheduled to present the programme again at the end of the year

* Eleanor Ormerod

  born 1828 died 1901

..... entomologist who easily overcame all the hurdles facing would-be women scientists by being born into the British upper class with a considerable private income and was the FIRST woman to use her studies of insects in a professional capacity. In 1870 she received the Silver Flora medal for her services to the Royal Horticultural Society and in 1872 received a gold medal from Moscow University. In 1878 she was the FIRST woman member of the Royal Meteorological Society and was also the FIRST woman to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree. She was born in Cheshire the daughter of George Ormerod, the historian and was renowned for her common sense remedies. Her ‘ dab of cart grease and sulphur applied to the infected part of the hide’ saved half the cows in England from maggot infestation. In 1882-92 she was consulting entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society. Her works include Manual of Injurious Insects (1881) and Guide to the Methods of Insect Life ( 1884)

* Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick

  born March 11th 1846 died February 10th 1936

..... with her husband were pioneers of education for women and through their efforts Newnham College was founded. From 1880 to 1882 she was its Vice-Principal and its Principal from 1892 to 1910. In 1894 she was the FIRST woman to serve on a Royal Commission - that on secondary education

* Eleanor Sykes MBE

neé Schill

born 1904 died 2006

..... born in Manchester (UK), she studied at Manchester University and became one of England's FIRST women doctors. She was a founder member of the Marriage Guidance Council and later became its vice chairman

* Eleanora Sears

   born 1881 died 1968

..... American who was the FIRST woman known to have adopted trousers for sporting purposes when in 1909 she appeared on the polo ground of the Burlingame Country Club in jacket and trousers and asked to be allowed to participate in a match. She was promptly ordered to leave the field

* Elena Bond

 ..... FIRST woman in London to take up competitive Olympic weight-lifting (P/L) 

* Elena Cornaro Piscopia

   born 1646 died 1684

..... Italian who was the FIRST woman doctor of philosophy in Europe. She was born into Venetian nobility and beside her native Italian, spoke French, Spanish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic. At the age of 28 she applied to become a student at the University of Padua and four years later, having completely won over those who had opposed her, she was unanimously acclaimed a doctor of philosophy when she presented her thesis to an audience of learned men - June 25th 1678

..... former dog handler at Ravensbruck concentration camp, she was the 133rd Nazi unmasked living on American soil by the tenacious Nazi hunter Eli Rosenbaum and the FIRST woman against whom legal action was taken by the Office of Special Investigations which was et up in 1979 to track down Nazi war criminals

* Elinor Glyn

..... FIRST woman producer of a talkie when she produced and directed Knowing Men in colour and in different language versions, French and English, for the British company Talkicolor in 1929

* Elisabeth Croft

 born September 22nd 1907 died January 13th 2003

..... English actress who achieved fame as the warm-hearted Miss Tatum in the television soap Crossroads which was her first and biggest screen role. The character was first seen in 1966 and the part had been written specially for her. She was born in Kendal, Cumbria and was the FIRST child in the town to travel to her christening by car, appropriately registered EC1 

* Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre

..... in 1687 she published her Les Pièces de Clavecin (Works for Harpsichord) the FIRST by a woman

* Elisabeth Hodges

..... Surgeon Commander who was the FIRST woman to complete the diploma in aviation medicine at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough and the FIRST woman doctor to be promoted Commander. She was the FIRST woman in the Royal Navy to be granted a full commission and  to learn to fly and wanted to be the first to go to sea but was beaten to it by the Wrens

* Elisabeth Kopp

..... FIRST woman to become a member of the Federal Council, Switzerland's seven-member government.  The Federal Council is the highest political body in Switzerland and her election was the most dramatic breakthrough since the Confederation was formed in 1848. A Zurich lawyer, she described her triumph as a success for all Swiss women

* Elisabeth Welch

born 27th February 1904 died 15th July 2003

..... in 1988 she received a special award from the Variety Club of Great Britain and in 1989 became the FIRST black film personality to be recognized for making a contribution to British cinema when she was honoured by America's Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame

* Elise Deroche

..... French woman who was the FIRST qualified woman pilot in the world in 1910. On October 22nd 1909 at Chalons, she made her first solo flight of 300 yards in a Voisin biplane. "It is infinitely more charming than motoring" she said. A plane crash in 1910 ( in which she received dreadful injuries) and a car crash in 1912 failed to deter her. After many unsuccessful attempts to join the French Air Force she died in a plane crash in 1919

* Elissa Baker

..... FIRST professional woman toastmaster in the North West of England - 2002

* Eliza Dunlop

   born 1796 died 1880

..... FIRST Australian poet to transliterate Aborigine songs

* Eliza Heywood

   born c1685 died 1756

..... produced the FIRST periodical for women that was actually edited by a woman The Female Spectator, which was produced between 1744 and 1746. It did not offer recipes or household hints and its avowed aim was to reform the manners and morals of a degenerate age. Her topics ranged from the conduct of military gentlemen (deplorable) to the immoderate use of tea

* Eliza Walton

..... one of the FIRST trainees at the Salford and Pendleton Dispensary (later Salford Royal), England in 1866. Under her guidance the dispensary set up its own training scheme for nurses, one of the FIRST to do so outside London where Florence Nightingale had established a school at St Thomas's

* Elizabeth

* Ella Grasso

  born 1919 died 1981

..... FIRST woman to become a governor in her own right rather than in succession to her husband  when in 1974, she won in a landslide victory in Connecticut. Her first political membership was with the League of Women Voters although she was not a member of the women's movement. She said "it had done a great deal in a short time to provide equal opportunity for women and I fell I've been a beneficiary"

* Ella Katharine Maillart

  born 20th February 1903 died 1997

..... who made her name with a series of journeys to remote regions of Asia in the 1930s and who was the FIRST European to reach the sacred lake of Gosainkund near the frontier with Tibet. In 1934while still at school she founded Switzerland's FIRST hockey club

* Ellen Church

..... FIRST American air hostess  when she welcomed 11 passengers aboard at Oakland Airport, California on May 15th 1930. She was a private pilot who became a cabin attendant with United Airlines. The girls had to be qualified nurses, under 25 years of age, weigh less than 115lb and be under 5' 4" in height. They had to serve meals, help to push the airplane out of the hangar and to refuel it, collect tickets and clean the inside after every flight

* Ellen DeGeneres

 ..... FIRST openly gay sitcom star in America

* Ellen Richards

   born 1842 died 1911

..... FIRST woman science graduate of the U.S.A. FIRST woman to graduate in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the FIRST woman faculty member of a laboratory for sanitary chemists at MIT. She taught the analysis of water, sewage and air and effectively launched the science of ecology. From 1890 she formed the home economics movement, established public kitchens and also founded the Journal of Home Economics and in 1910 was awarded an honorary DSc. Her book ' Food Materials and their Adulterations' published in 1885, influenced the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act

* Ellen Schneider-Lenne

..... German who was the FIRST woman and second foreigner to reach the board of Imperial Chemical Industries in 1992. She was a banker and was chosen for her ability and without regard to race, colour, creed or sex

* Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  

..... Liberia's FIRST female President and Africa's FIRST democratically elected female Head of State

* Ellen Mary Stawel-Brown

..... great grandmother of Tim Henman in 1901 she was the FIRST woman to serve over-arm at Wimbledon

* Ellen Alicia Terry

  born February 27th 1847 died July 18th 1928

..... she came from a famous theatrical family  and created a sensation in 1875 when she appeared as Portia in the Merchant of Venice. In 1906, fifty years after her first stage appearance, the event was celebrated at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She received an honorary LL.D in 1922 and in 1925 became became one of the FIRST three English actresses to receive the GBE - the Grand Cross of the Order of the  British Empire. The others were Dame Millicent Fawcett and Dame Louisa Aldrich Blake

* Ellen Wilkinson

 born 1891 died February 6th 1947

..... one of the FIRST women to win a place at Manchester University and the FIRST woman organizer of the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees now known as USDAW.  She is remembered among other things for leading the Jarrow Crusade in which 200 marched to London protest against unemployment. In 1945 she was appointed Britain's FIRST Minister of Education by Clement Attlee but within a year of her appointment collapsed during the harsh winter of 1947 and died soon afterwards. Ellen was a tireless fighter for the underprivileged and there is an Ellen Wilkinson High School in Ardwick, Manchester, the area in which she was born

* Ellen Taafe Zwilich

  born 1939

..... American who was the FIRST woman to receive a doctorate from the Juilliard School of Music in 1975 and in 1983 became the FIRST woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music

* Elsa Schiaparelli

  born September 10th 1890 died November 13th 1973

..... her couture house in Paris was the FIRST to have a boutique and she was the FIRST designer to use man made fibres and zips. She began by designing sweaters and originates separates and spectacular sportswear. She introduced tweeds for town wear, trouser suits and evening sweaters and also encouraged manufacturers to produce daring materials and brought a sense of fun to fashion with outrageous hats and coloured wigs. The colour 'shocking pink' is beholden to her. She said "a dress cannot just hang like a painting on a wall, or, like a book, remain intact and live a long and sheltered life. A dress has no life of its own unless it is worn and as soon as this happens another personality takes over from you and animates it, or tries to, glorifies or destroys it, or makes it into a song of beauty"

* Elsie Beyer

..... on 3rd February 1948 she became the FIRST woman general manager of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford

* Elsie Booth

..... FIRST woman in the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians who marked 50 years as a member in the year 2000. She spent many years as a joiner and at the outbreak of the Second World War became a welder at the Royal Ordnance factory in Patricroft, Eccles, England. She later turned her hand to joinery, painting and assembling

* Elsie Bowerman

born 1889 died 1973

..... FIRST woman barrister to appear at the Old Bailey and the FIRST woman head of the United Nations Department on the Advancement of women ( from Helena Wojtczak - http://www.hastingspress.co.uk)

* Elsie Dorothea Chamberlain

  born March 3rd 1910 died 1991

..... pioneering Congregational minister and leader of worship for the radio she was the FIRST woman Chaplain to the Armed Forces when appointed in 1946. She served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force at Cranwell where she met and married her husband. She was later the FIRST woman presenter of Radio 4's Daily Service

* Elsie Cohen

..... established the FIRST Arts cinema in Britain in 1929 when she took over the Palais de Luxe, Great Windmill Street, London. A year later it became the Windmill Theatre

* Elsie Inglis

  born 1864 died November 26th 1917

..... one of the FIRST women medical students at Edinburgh and Glasgow. She attended the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women which was founded and run by Sophia Jex-Blake, but she found the organization too high-handed and so went to Glasgow where, with her father's support, she promoted a rival Medical College for Women and won the right to study medicine with men. In 1892 she passed the Scottish Triple qualification and seven years later gained her MD from Edinburgh. With Jessie MacGregor she founded the only maternity centre run by women in Scotland which became the Elsie Inglis Hospital.  A keen suffragette she was honorary secretary of the Federated Women's Suffrage Society of Scotland from 1906 to 1914. When the First World War broke out she raised £25,000 in one month and founded the Scottish Women's Hospitals whose teams were entirely female. The British War Office did not take the organization seriously but two teams were sent to France by the French and Elsie's unit went to Serbia. For a number of years she and her team cared for Serbian and Austrian wounded until sent back to England in 1916. However she soon organized their return in order to continue to care for the Serbs

* Elsie Janis

..... American who was the FIRST woman to produce a Hollywood talkie, Paramount on Parade in 1930

* Elsie Stephenson

  born 1916 died 1967

..... FIRST Director of University Nursing Studies in Europe at the University of Edinburgh in 1956, the FIRST such appointment in the UK

* Elsie and Doris Waters

..... sisters who formed Gert and Daisy, a new form of comedy which made them hugely popular for over 25 years. During the 1940s and 1950s they were the top female double act in radio and variety and developed a new style of comedy by just chatting away to each other about their own lives, friend and neighbours and the world in general. In 1927 they made their debut on the radio and two years later made their first gramophone record. On one side of it was a humorous conversation about the weddings of two friends named Gert and Daisy  and after it was played on radio audiences everywhere were beginning to want more of Gert and Daisy. The worked the variety circuit and later toured with their own show although Gert and Daisy only formed part of their act at this time. The radio turned them into stars and they appeared on many shows. Their brother was Jack Warner, who played George Dixon of Dock Green. In April 1940 the sisters were the FIRST variety artists to give their services for nothing, as part of the war effort, when they did a series of five minute radio broadcasts for the Ministry of Food

* Elsie de Wolfe

  born 1865 died 1950

..... the FIRST woman interior decorator and the FIRST woman of note to dye her greying hair blue. Known as 'The Chintz Lady' she was the FIRST designer to bring the interior of American homes out of the 19th century into the 20th. She dominated her profession during her career and her innovations continued to dominate American interior design some forty years after her death at the age of 85 years. " a woman's environment will speak for her life, whether she likes it or not. A house is a dead giveaway"

* Elsijane Roy

 ..... FIRST woman appointed to the federal bench in Arkansas

* Elspeth Howe

..... FIRST deputy chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission when appointed by a Labour government in the 70s to demonstrate that equality could attract cross-party support

* Elzire Dionne

..... on May 28th 1934 she gave birth to the world's FIRST surviving quintuplets. Annette, Marie, Yvonne, Cecile and Emilie weighed only 10lb 5oz between them and they instantly became the number one tourist attraction. The farmhouse was invaded by sightseers and sideshows and stalls sprang up all around, but the Canadian government stepped in when their father agreed to exhibit the girls at the Chicago World's Fair. The quins were isolated from the outside world and their mother said " I have to ring a bell like a stranger if I want to see them". A rift developed between parents and children which was never properly healed. The quins found themselves wealthy when they grew up thanks to shrewd investments on their behalf.  Although 33 cases of quins had previously been recorded around the world, all had died at birth

..... French scientific writer who independently produced the FIRST (and only) French translation of Newton's Principia Mathematica, which was published posthumously in 1759

* Emilie Charlotte Le Breton

stage name  Lillie Langtry ' The Jersey Lily'

 born October 13th 1853 died February 12th 1929

 ..... FIRST society woman to go on stage when she played Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer at the Haymarket Theatre. At the age of 21 she married Edward Langtry to gain admission to London society and eventually became the FIRST publicly acknowledged mistress of the Prince of Wales. When she took to the stage she scandalized society with her numerous conquests. She was admired by Gladstone and Disraeli and had a child by Prince Louis of Battenburg, a cousin of the Prince of Wales

* Emilie Monima

 ..... FIRST woman in the Congolese government

* Emilie Peacocke

  born 1883 died 1964

..... one of the FIRST women reporters in Fleet Street when in March 1904 she became the FIRST woman reporter on the Daily Express and later the FIRST on the Daily Mail

* Emily

* Emma Jane Ball and Margaret Marshall

..... FIRST two women appointed for police duties in Manchester, England but they had no powers of arrest. In 1940 Emma became the FIRST woman to hold the rank of Sergeant in Manchester (P/L from the Greater Manchester Police Museum)

* Emma Bonino

..... Italian who was the FIRST woman to announce her candidacy in the presidential elections in Italy in 1999 in a race for which there had never been a campaign or even official contenders

* Emma Cons

  born 1838 died 1912

..... FIRST person to bring Shakespeare and opera to the working classes through her theatre The Old Vic. In 1908 she was the FIRST woman to speak at the Institute of Directors when she spoke on behalf of the South London Dwellings Company and was also the FIRST woman Alderman. In 1892 she was among the FIRST women agricultural students

* Emma Fowler

..... FIRST British woman to race in the biathlon in the winter Olympics - Turin 2006

* Emma John

..... cross-country runner who became the FIRST undergraduate to be admitted to Oxford University on the strength of an A-level in physical education in 1990

* Emma Martin

..... FIRST female warrant officer with 1148 Penarth (Wales) Squadron Air Cadets. She was one of the first girls to join the squadron in 1988

* Emma Nutt

..... on September 1st 1878 she became the FIRST woman telephone operator in America when she began working for Edwin Holme's Telephone Despatch Co. Exchange at Boston, Massachusetts. By the mid 1880s most exchanges employed women as they were found to be less quarrelsome than men

 * Emma Paterson

    born 1846 died 1886

..... one of the FIRST women delegates to a Trades Union Congress in 1875. The other one was Edith Simcox. In 1874 Emma Paterson formed the Women's Protective and Provident League to start trade unions for women workers. Although women's trade unions died out she did much to gain greater equality for women in the union movement and also campaigned for women factory inspectors to be appointed. By the time she died over 30 societies had been formed in dress-making, book-binding and other trades. The Women's Protective and Provident League was changed to the Women's Trade Union League in 1890

* Emma Quaeck

 ..... FIRST ever Cardiac Rehabilitation Co-ordinator in Porthmadog, Wales, where she will work with 'Calon Lân' and Leisure Centre management to develop the scheme further in the community by training leisure centre staff - 2005

* Emma Richards

..... FIRST woman to complete a single-handed west-to-east transatlantic crossing in a monohull vessel when she arrived in Torbay Devon on September 29th 2002 after a journey on the first stage of a round-the-world race which began in New York on September 15th. She was the only woman in a field of 13 taking part in the Around Alone race which circumnavigates the globe on a 29,000 mile route.  In May 2003 she became the FIRST woman and the youngest person to complete the Around Alone solo round-the-world race. After eight months at sea she arrived at Rhode Island on 5th May 2003

* Emma Thompson

..... FIRST British actress to be nominated for Oscars for writing and starring in the same film, Sense and Sensibility in 1996

* Emma Tomlinson

..... FIRST woman Captain of the Cambridge polo team when appointed on 26th April 1994

* Ena Agius

..... feted as the FIRST couture model in the1920s

* Enid Lyons

  born 1897

..... FIRST woman member of the House of Representatives for Darwin, Tasmania from 1943 to 51 and FIRST woman member of a Federal Cabinet as Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1949 to 51. Until 1961 she was a member of the Board of Control of Australian Broadcasting

* Enid Ralphs

..... FIRST woman chairman of the Council of Magistrates Association in the 1980s since its foundation in 1920

* Enid Mary Russell-Smith

  born March 3rd 1903 died 1989

..... in 1925 she became the FIRST woman to enter the administrative class of the Civil Service by competitive examination. She was also one of the few female holders of the Black Belt of the third Dan and a senior member of Kennington Budokwai Judo Club

* Erika Rowe

..... FIRST sports 'streaker' when she ran across the ground at the England v Australia rugby match on January 4th 1982 waving her bra in the air

* Erin Pizzey

..... founded the FIRST refuge for battered wives in Chiswick. One of her publications is The Wicked World of Women

* Erna Low

  born July 28th 1909 died 2002

..... businesswoman born in Vienna, she is credited with creating the FIRST package holidays in Britain. Her first advertisement ran in The Morning Post in January 1932 and that year she managed to find five clients.  Their £15 bought them German lessons, ski hire and instruction, rail travel and 10 days full board in the Austrian Otztal. Her tours to Austria, France and Switzerland quickly became successful and by the end of the war she had expanded her trips.  Charter flights eventually followed in 1954

* Ernestine Clarke 

neé Elizabeth Laura Clarke

  born October 16th 1921 died 2000

..... American bareback rider and trapeze artist who was descended from many generations of circus performers. Her English born father Ernest was the first man to accomplish the triple somersault on the flying trapeze and Ernestine took after both her parents. In 1967 she was elected to the International Circus Hall of Fame thus becoming the FIRST daughter to follow a father into its register

* Ertha Pascall-Trouillot

..... in 1990 she became the FIRST woman President in Haiti in its 186-year history. A distinguished lawyer and women's rights advocate she was also the country's FIRST female Supreme Justice and the only woman in the Supreme Court at the time.

* Esme Havelock Hadfield

   born February 27th 1921 died 1992

..... in 1966 she was the FIRST to describe a form of nasal cancer which then became known as Hadfields Disease. She was an ear, nose and throat surgeon and identified this type of cancer in a paper published in 1968 and also established a link between it and working in the furniture manufacturing industry and it is now a notifiable industrial disease

* Estelle Morris

..... with her uncle Alfred, Lord Morris of Manchester, they became the FIRST uncle and niece in the Upper House, House of Lords - June 2005

* Estelle Winwood

   born January 24th 1883

 ..... screen artiste who claimed to be the FIRST woman in America to wear lipstick in public

* Esther

..... FIRST notable woman in the Bible who lived outside Palestine

* Esther Morris

..... FIRST woman magistrate in America when made Justice of the Peace for South Pass, Wyoming on 17th February 1870. During her tenure of office she tried 70 cases

* Esther Ocloo

..... entrepreneur who provided opportunities for many Ghanians and who was the FIRST woman executive chairperson of the Ghana National Food and Nutrition Board and FIRST woman President of the Ghana Manufacturers Association. She was involved in the food industry and began her career with 12 jars of marmalade that she made herself and which in 1943, were the start of the FIRST large industrial food-processing plant in Ghana.  She was joint winner of the US$100,000 prize, sometimes known as 'Africa's Nobel Prize'  for her leadership and for generating opportunities for low-income people, particularly women. She trained women from many countries in food processing and was a key founder of Women's World Banking, an international bank designed to provide credit for women

* Ethel Barrymore

  died June 18th 1959

..... won the FIRST award for best supporting actress in 1944 for the film None But The Lonely Heart and in October 1995, when her Oscar was offered for sale, it was the FIRST time that one had been in an auction in Europe. As her brother Lionel had won an Oscar in 1931 it made them the FIRST brother and sister to win the award

* Ethel Cain

..... the FIRST 'speaking clock' voice when the service was launched in Britain on July 24th 1936, the first country in the world to give this service. She was chosen after a nationwide competition among 15,000 women telephonists and was awarded ten guineas. The recording of her voice was used for 20 years. She went on to become announcer for Henry Hall during one of his broadcast concerts and was offered a film part by Columbia Pictures under the name of Jane Cain

* Ethel Mary Charles

..... FIRST woman architect in England. She sat her finals in June 1898 and was elected an Associate Member of RIBA in December. From 1892 she was articled for three years to the firm of Sir Ernest George and Peto and subsequently to a Mr Walter Cave. She toured England to study Gothic and domestic architecture and was registered as practicing in York St Chambers in London

* Ethel Gordon Fenwick

  born 1857 died 1947

..... President of the FIRST International Council of Nurses, the FIRST such organization among health professions or professional women. She was the leader of a group of lady pupils in a move to form a professional organization and they eventually founded the British Nurses Association (BNA) with her as president. It contained the elite of their profession. In 1893 the BNA was granted a Royal Charter but in the election which followed Ethel was deposed. A year later she started the Matron's Council of Great Britain and Ireland for matron's who wanted state registration and between 1904 and 1914 lobbied Parliament for registration bills. When the International Council of Women met in London in 1899 she took the opportunity, through the Matron's Council, to organize the International Council of Nurses. In 1926 she and her husband founded the British College of Nurses

..... FIRST British woman to swim the English Channel and it was third time lucky for her when she swam from Cap Griz Nez near Calais to St Margaret's Bay in 15 hours 41 mins. A second cousin of the painter L S Lowry she joined the Victoria Ladies swimming club in the 1920s and made her first Channel bid in 1932. The following year she made a second attempt but was unsuccessful but eventually succeeded in 1933. In March 2000 she was part of a campaign to restore the swimming baths in Manchester at which she trained and in the same year became the FIRST president of the Channel Swimmers' Association. She was also the FIRST person to teach disabled people to swim and received a Distinguished Service Cross for life-saving work. When she made her swim across the Channel in 1933 she wore a red cotton two-piece swimsuit, possibly the FIRST bikini, long before the 1946 French one

* Ethel Ayres Purdie

..... on 13th May 1909 she became the FIRST woman to be admitted to the membership of an accountancy body when admitted to the Council of the Association. In April 1914 she accepted Miss Nora Laughton as an articled clerk, the FIRST woman to be so accepted

* Ethel Rosenberg

 born 1916 died June 19th 1953

..... when she and her husband became the FIRST married couple to suffer the death penalty in the US and the FIRST civilians to be put to death for espionage after they had conspired to give secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel grew up in New York's lower East Side and was interested in singing and dancing and dramatics. She graduated from high school aged 15 and became the youngest member of the Schola Cantorum. After that she worked in various places as a stenographer and typist. She died with her husband, Julius, two years, two months and 14 days after sentence had been passed and after various appeals had been turned down. For two years she was the only woman prisoner in Sing Sing

* Ethel Mary Smyth

  born April 23rd 1858 died May 9th 1944

..... composer of The March of the Women, the suffragists internationale, which, in 1911, she conducted through the windows of her cell in Holloway, using a toothbrush. She was the  FIRST woman to gain recognition as a composer of operas, oratorios and concertos and in the late 1920s was the FIRST woman to conduct in a Proms Concert. In 1926 she was the FIRST woman to receive an honorary degree at Oxford and received similar degrees from other universities. She was appointed DBE in 1922

* Ethel Snowden

..... in 1927 she was appointed the FIRST woman governor of the BBC

* Ethelda Bleibtrey

..... in the 1920 Olympics she became the FIRST woman in the world to win 3 gold medals and was the only woman ever to win all the women's swimming events at any Olympic Games

* Eugenia Charles

.....  the first woman Prime Minister in the Caribbean when made Prime Minister of Dominica

* Eugenia Chigic-Vronscaia

..... FIRST Russian at the Royal College of Art in 1991. At the age of nine she had studied icon painting and her work embraced the contradictions and influences of both the Russian and western worlds

* Eugenie Brazier

..... FIRST woman to win two sets of three Michelin stars at her two Lyonnais restaurants. The foundations for the region's long-standing worldwide fame were laid by a generation of women chefs, known as les meres, during the first half of the 20th century. Marie Bourgeois and Elisa Blanc were two of these les meres

* Eugenie Mikhailovna Shakhovskaya - Princess

..... the FIRST Russian woman to serve as a military pilot and probably the first in the world. She gained her certificate at Johannisthal, Germany, on 16th August 1911 and at the outbreak of WW1 made a personal request to the Tsar that she be allowed to serve as a military pilot. In November 1914 she was posted to the 1st Field Air Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot. She survived both the war and the Revolution and subsequently served in the Cheka ( Bolshevik secret police) at Kiev, in the post of chief executioner - unusual work for a young woman of noble birth

* Eulalie Evan Spicer

  born April 20th 1906 died 1997

..... one of the FIRST salaried solicitors when appointed to the newly-established Services Divorce Department of the Law Society which had been set up at the request of the War Office to deal with the many matrimonial problems caused by the war. She was one of the FIRST women to come to prominence in the profession was one of the founders of the Legal Aid scheme and one of its principal administrators

* Eulie Chowdbury

  born 1923

..... FIRST Indian woman to qualify as an architect and the FIRST Indian woman to be elected to the Royal Institute of British Architects and also the Indian Institute of Architects

* Eunice Hunton Carter

 ..... FIRST black woman District Attorney in New York

* Eunice Gayson

   ..... the very FIRST "Bond girl" when she played the part of Sylvia Trench in the 1962 film Dr No

* Euzham Palcy

  born 1957

..... Caribbean filmmaker who was the FIRST black woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood studio when she directed A Dry White Season for MGM in 1989

* Eva Handley

..... FIRST female member of the honorary visiting staff of a general London hospital when the Royal College of Surgeons (England) opened its doors in 1910 and marked a new era in the profession of dentistry. Prior to this the qualifications of the Scottish and Irish colleges were the ones generally taken by women. To women engaged in this profession, the opportunity existed for them to have an income of £300 to £500 per year. This was a much higher salary than that of women engaged in teaching or library work, which also required a first class University education and high degrees. There was also the prospect that they would not be able to obtain a post. In dentistry there was a wider scope and it was not difficult to obtain a post as an assistant or to make an income by the making and repairing of artificial teeth. The training course was approximately four years but some need five or six years. Students paid for the cost of examination fees and the license and could well spend a total of £200 for the complete training

* Eva Shain

..... FIRST woman to judge a heavyweight boxing championship fight and on 29th September 1977 was one of the judges of the Muhammad Ali-Ernie Shavers fight

* Eva Turner

 born March 10th 1892 died 1990

..... born at Oldham, the daughter of an engineer in the cotton industry she became one of the most renowned singers in Britain and Britain's FIRST international opera star. At the age of 56 she retired from the stage and turned to teaching and in 1950 took up an appointment at the University of Oklahoma. From 1959 to 1966 she was a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and thereafter gave private tuition. In 1962 she was appointed DBE

* Evangeline Cary Booth

  born December 25th 1865 died 1950

..... seventh child of William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army and in 1934 was the FIRST woman General of the Salvation Army when she was chosen as General of International Forces.

* Eve Arnold

..... photographer, who in 1951 submitted her portfolio to the Magnum agency's New York office and became its FIRST woman member. She worked both for magazines and on public relations assignments in 1978 her book Flashback :The Fifties, a graphic black and white study which stands as a major post-war photo-journalistic document

* Eve Boswell

  nee Eva Edith Keleti

  born May 11th 1924 died 1998

..... popular singer in the 1950s with songs such as Sugarbush, Blue Star and Young and Foolish. In 1955 she was the FIRST woman singer to have her own series on independent television when she signed a contract with Associated Rediffusion to appear in a series of 15-minute programmes for 39 weeks

* Eve Branson

..... mother of Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines, she was the FIRST woman glider instructor

* Eve Gardiner

 nee Evelyn Grace Rochfort Gardiner

  born November 14th 1913 died 1992

..... former director of cosmetics at Max Factor and a pioneer in the use of make-up to disguise facial scars. In 1937 she was the FIRST make-up artist at the FIRST Max Factor beauty salon in London. The salon closed during the war but reopened again in 1945 and she became head of the salon and subsequently became a director of beauty. She also helped with camouflage make-up for those disfigured in the war and her work became the foundation of all the cosmetic remedial work carried out by the British Red Cross

* Eve Hardman

..... FIRST woman in Britain to achieve a Law Degree using Braille

* Eve Jackson

..... FIRST person to fly in a ultra-light aircraft from Britain to Australia in 1984. The 12,000 mile journey took 15 months. She said that she had done the longest journey but not the most interesting. She landed at Sydney's Bankstown airport in her craft Gertie after a trip which included being shot at over Yugoslavia, arrested in Czechoslovakia and meeting King Hussein in Jordan

* Eve Nissiotis

..... in 1990 she was winner of the FIRST gymnastics scholarship awarded by the International Olympic Committee

* Eve Pitts

 ..... FIRST black woman Anglican priest in Britain

* Eve Pollard

 ..... FIRST woman to edit a Sunday newspaper on the level of the Sunday Express

* Evelien Brink

..... on September 3rd 1986 she made the FIRST transatlantic balloon crossing by a woman when with her husband Henk and fighter pilot Willem Hageman they became the FIRST Europeans to cross the Atlantic by balloon. The crossing from Newfoundland to Almere in Holland took 51 hours 15 minutes and Evelien declared that it was horrible and that she would never do it again

* Evelita Juanita Spinnelli

  born 1889

..... when she died on November 21st 1941 she became the FIRST woman to be enter the gas chamber in California and the FIRST woman ever to be officially executed in that state. She was vicious, cold-blooded and utterly ruthless and was called 'the Duchesse' by the underworld characters of San Francisco and recruited her own gang of young thugs. She was executed for the murder of one of her gang members  who she felt was ready to go to the police about the murder of the owner of a barbecue stand which the gang had held up

* Evelyn Anthony

 ..... on 6th April 1994 she became the FIRST woman High Sheriff of Essex

* Evelyn Ashford

  born 1957

..... African-American who was the FIRST woman to run the 100 meters in under 11 secs in the Olympic Games - 1984

* Evelyn Capel

..... in 1939 she was the FIRST British woman priest of the Christian Community ( a movement for religious renewal)

* Evelyn Herbert

..... FIRST person in 3000 years to set eyes on the fabulous treasures in the tomb of Tutankhamen when, as the smallest member of the party of Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, she crawled through a small aperture which had been dug

* Evelyn Lieberman

..... FIRST woman to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House and was subsequently appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs under Madeleine Albright

* Evelyn Beatrice Longman

  born 1874 died 1954

..... FIRST woman elected to the National Academy of Design 

* Evelyn Miller- Barstow

  nee Evelyn Jackson-Barstow

  born January 12th 1890 died 1996

..... who devoted her life to voluntary work. She worked for SSAFA (Soldiers' Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association) and was also involved with the St John Ambulance Brigade where she was made a Commander in 1977.    In 1914 she was the FIRST woman to be elected a playing member of the Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club and was the only woman councillors among 100 men in 1922 when she won election to Somerset County Council. She was appointed MBE in 1943 and OBE in 1963 and in 1983 she was made a Dame of Grace of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem

* Evelyn Redgrave

..... FIRST woman chairman of the Contract Design Association which was founded in 1981

* Evelyn Rose

 ..... FIRST woman commissioner of the Meat and Livestock Commission

* Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout

  born 1906 died 2003

..... pilot who took part in the FIRST women's transcontinental air race, the Powder Puff Derby of 1929, and became the FIRST woman to log an all-night flight.  She also took part in the FIRST all-woman in-air refueling, leaning out of the plane to catch bags of food, motor oil and a gasoline hose lowered from the refueling plane

* Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley

  born 1951

..... FIRST Australian aborigine to play international tennis and in 1980 became the FIRST mother to take the Wimbledon title since Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1914. It was also the FIRST Wimbledon singles final to end in a tie-break

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