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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

" women must opt to be big, but the cost of that is that you may be less popular as a woman "

Fiona Shaw

HER NAME IS F..............

* Faith Boardman

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman collector of all indirect taxes, VAT and car tax for the Customs and Excise in the City of London in 1987.  The job had been done by a man for over 3 centuries

* Faith Brown

..... FIRST British singer to have her own television special behind the Iron Curtain when she appeared on Romanian television

* Fanny Blankers-Koen

  born 1918

..... nicknamed the Flying Dutchwoman, the world's most celebrated woman athlete she was the FIRST and only woman to win 4 gold medals in a single Olympics in 1948 in London when she won the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and anchored the sprint relay victory. This after being told that she was too old at thirty to compete and was criticised for pursuing her career after marrying and having children

* Fanny Jackson Coppin

  born 1836 died 1913

..... FIRST black woman to become head principal in American when appointed to the Institute for Coloured Youth (later Cheyney University) in Philadelphia in 1869, the FIRST black student-teacher at Oberlin College and one of the FIRST African-American women in the United States to receive a college degree

* Fanny Bullock Workman

..... one of the FIRST two women to read a paper before the Royal Geographical Society. The other one was Isabella Bird Bishop.  Fanny Workman was an American traveller and mountaineer and as "Queen" of the mountaineers accomplished many amazing travelling and climbing feats in North Africa, Palestine, Asia Minor, Egypt, India and many others. In 1906 she established an altitude record for a woman of 6930 metres on Pinnacle Peak and was pictured standing in the snow with her axe displaying a 'Votes for Women' poster

* Farah Khosravi

….. FIRST woman to stand for the Iranian presidency  - May 2000. She has twice failed to win a seat in parliament, but stood as a Jamiateh Iran Farda party member

* Farquharson  Mrs

..... FIRST escort agency in London was opened by her in 1937. The rates varied according to conditions of hire which were always of the utmost propriety. The younger son of a peer could be obtained for £3.00 an evening. Mrs Farquharson's services included presentations at Court for which the sum of £5, 000 would secure the patronage of a duchess and for £3, 000 that of a Marchioness

* Fat Birds UK

..... Britain's FIRST all-female professional cycling team

* Fatima Whitbread

 born 1961

..... English athlete, one of the most famous British sportswomen of her era she was javelin world champion and the FIRST woman to throw the javelin beyond 250 ft

* Fay Ashmore

  died 1997

..... on June 14th 1944 she became the FIRST woman ever to do the scoring at Lord's which she did in the match between a Sandhurst side and a Lords X1

..... FIRST to win Oscar nominations both as Best Actress in a leading role (White Banners 1938) and for Best Actress in a supporting role (Jezebel 1938 - which she won)

* Fay Kyle and Miss A.K.S Deverell

  ..... FIRST women to be called to the Irish Bar - November 1st 1921

* Faye MacRory

..... set up Britain's FIRST specialist service for HIV and drug addict mothers. Among her numerous awards was an MBE

* Felicia Browne

 died 1936

….. FIRST British woman to die in the Spanish Civil War 

* Felicitie Safou-Safouesse

..... FIRST Congolese female journalist (P/L)

* Felicity Anne Cumming

 aka the Randy Granny

  born 14th December 1917 died 27th August 1993

..... appeared on Britain's FIRST-ever Naked Chat Show on Valentine's Day having dragged herself from her sick bed to make the point that older people are sexual creatures too. Prior to that she had posed topless for the Sunday Sport

* Felicity Goodey

..... FIRST woman president in the 207-year history of Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the FIRST woman industrial correspondent with the BBC in the late seventies

* Fields Wicker-Miurin

..... director of finance and strategy at the Stock Exchange who was the FIRST finance director to also assume the role of 'strategy' when she was recruited to restructure the financial profile of the exchange and to help the board develop a competitive strategy

* Fiona Caldicott

..... in 1990 she was appointed the FIRST woman Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and in July 1993 became the college's  FIRST woman President. She believed that she was also the FIRST person to be President of a Medical Royal College who did their postgraduate training part-time to fit around the needs of their family

* Fiona Colquhoun - Lady Arran

..... FIRST woman to average 100 mph on water in an off-shore power boat - August 12th 1980

* Fiona Grant

..... Scottish woman who was the FIRST woman general administrator of the Scottish National Orchestra

* Fiona King

..... a lawyer who was appointed to head the FIRST recruitment team formed by the Crown Prosecution Service in 1989 when she was chosen to spearhead the drive for more and better staff. She hoped to improve the awareness of the CPS in schools and universities in that it offered a wealth of opportunities for the newly-qualified, mature professionals or those coming back to work after a break

* Fiona MacDonald

..... FIRST woman to hit a golf ball in the Cambridge/Oxford University match when she donned her Cambridge colours against Oxford and was among 150 men teeing off in the four-day matchplay tournament. She earned her Blue in the previous year being the FIRST girl to play in that needle match too

* Fiona McCoig

..... FIRST woman to represent Cambridge at croquet

* Fiona Moor

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman to win a Streetbike Series event in drag racing when she covered the quarter mile course in 9.1 seconds finishing at 165 mph. Motorbike drag racing is an acceleration race between two bikes along a quarter-of-a-mile straight track, organised as a knock-out competition of four, eight or sixteen bikes. The sport originated in America after World War 11 when bored youngsters raced souped-up cars and bikes through the main streets of local towns

* Fiona Reynolds

..... FIRST female director-general of the National Trust and in 1991 was the FIRST woman director on the Council for the Protection of Rural England. She had worked for the organisation since 1987 and was also its youngest director. She gained first-class honours in geography and land economy at Cambridge

* Fiona Smith

..... FIRST woman to command a graduation parade with the RAF when she called for order at RAF Cranwell in March 1991

* Fiona Stewart

..... in 1998 she was the FIRST female winner of the Sword of Honour, the top award given to a cadet at Sandhurst and marking out a junior officer for a successful military career.  Since the Academy was formed in 1946 by combining the 18th century Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and the 19th century Royal Military College, it has always been given to a man

* Fiona Thornewill

..... see Catharine Hartley

* Fiona Walkinshaw

..... FIRST woman to play against the Oxford University Divots in golf when she played in the Cambridge University team

* Fleur Lombard

..... tragically in 1996, she was the FIRST woman firefighter to die in service in Britain

* Fleur Swainey

..... in 1998 she became the FIRST head girl at Oundle School in Northamptonshire in its 450-year history, one of 250 girls among the 869 pupils. The school became co-educational in 1989. Aged 17 years Fleur edited the school newspaper, captained the hockey team, directed school plays and was an NCO in the school's Combined Cadet Force. She hoped to go on to Cambridge to read social and political science

* Flora Shaw Lugard

  born 1852 died 1929

..... born in Ireland, the daughter of a major-general in the British Army she became organizer of the FIRST co-operative venture in bulk buying in Woolwich and taught the local poor to read and write. She was the FIRST woman journalist to be taken on by The Times and the FIRST woman foreign correspondent of a British newspaper.  Within months she had become head of a department and changed its name from Foreign and Colonial to Overseas News. An enthusiastic feminist she thought women would never be recognized as citizens until they were trained to carry arms

* Flora MacDonald

  born 1926

..... FIRST woman Canadian Minister for External Affairs and the FIRST woman to graduate from Kingston's National Defence College

* Flora Nwapa

  born January 13th 1931 died October 16th 1993

 ..... FIRST Nigerian woman to have a novel published - Efuru in 1966

* Flora Sadler

 born 1912

..... FIRST woman scientist employed at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 1937 and from 1949-54 was the FIRST woman secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society

* Flora Annie Steel

  born 1847 died 1929

..... in 1884 she was the FIRST woman Inspector of Schools in India

* Flora Stevenson

..... Scottish woman who was the FIRST woman to be elected to Edinburgh School Board in 1873

* Florence 

* Florrie Illott

..... on April 14th 1934 she became the FIRST woman to beat the bell of Big Ben as she sprinted across Westminster Bridge. The challenge was to get to the other side before the bells struck twelve. It took her 40 seconds to cross the bridge and Big Ben had only got to ten when she crossed the finishing line. The following day the story of her feat was in all the newspapers and she became quite a celebrity

* Fran Fullenwider

  born November 16th 1945 died 1997

..... American who was one of the FIRST models to defiantly flaunt her generous proportions and the FIRST large lady to model lacy lingerie. Her advice to others was "go out there, be proud of those hips and shake those boobies". She was best known as an actress in Italy and starred in a series of highly popular romantic comedies. When Penthouse magazine offered her a nude centrefold she turned it down refusing to do anything that made fun of fat people. However she became the FIRST person to do a fully clothed centre spread in the magazine

* Fran Morrison

..... one of the FIRST women reporters to be sent to Northern Ireland and the FIRST woman presenter of Newsnight

* Fran Phillips

..... on April 5th 1971 she became the FIRST woman to set foot on the North Pole

* Frances

* Francesca Bertini

  nee Elena Vitiello

 born 1888

..... Italian star who was the FIRST screen diva. She was world famous and a major Italian star and was given great glamour roles and set fashion styles around the world. Dressmakers and perfume manufacturers named their products after her. In 1919 she signed the largest contract up to that time, 2 million lire for eight films. She made a small comeback in film in 1976

* Francesca Rojas

 ..... Argentinian who was the FIRST criminal to be convicted using fingerprint evidence in 1892. She had accused her neighbour of murdering her two children but fingerprint evidence, proved by Juan Vucetich, showed that she was in fact the murderer and eventually she confessed

* Francis Burney

 born 1752 died 1840

..... known as Fanny Burney or Madame d'Arblay she was the FIRST Englishwoman to write a novel when Evelina was published in 1778. It was based on an early work which had been destroyed. In 1782 her second novel Cecilia was published and she became quite a celebrity in London Society. Three years later she was made Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, wife of George111. In 1793, when she was over the age of 40 she married and had a son and her next novel Camilla was published three years later

* Francis Stewart

  born 1831 died 1874

..... FIRST grandmother to be executed for such a murder when she killed her infant grandchild in 1874. The reason why she did it was never explained and she was hanged at Newgate

* Franciska Plamnikova

  born 1875 died 1942

..... FIRST chairwoman of the Czech Council of Women. She campaigned for equal status for women in all professions including their eligibility as judges. She died in a concentration camp

* Francois Kythousa

 ..... FIRST female audio visual technician in the Congo

* Francoise Giroud

..... FIRST Minister for the Status of Women in France in 1974 as part of Giscard d'Estaing's government

( from Alan Mossman)

* Franky Bearman

….. FIRST woman in Britain to adopt so many children at the same time when she took on five children aged from 3 to 8 years through the children's charity Barnardo's

* Freda Birtles

….. FIRST Stockport Woman of the Year in 1995 as a tribute to her courage and care for others after a vicious hammer attack which left her for dead in 1987. She was one of 31 women nominated for the award by Soroptomist International. Her assailant Susan Whipday was jailed for ten years but was released after serving about two thirds of her sentence

* Freda Dean

..... American who was the FIRST woman elected onto a miners' lodge committee which she achieved at the Philadelphia colliery in May 1986. In the same year Patricia Curry became the second when she entered the male dominated arena of union rules and procedures at Murton Colliery in County Durham. They were fellow canteen workers and their elections were the most positive aspects of a 10 year fight to win equal status with male surface workers

* Fredrika Bremer

  born 1801 died 1865

.....  FIRST National Women's Association in Sweden was named after her, 20 years after her death. She was born in Abo, Finland and in 1804 the family moved to a country estate near Stockholm where she was brought up in a sheltered and repressive household. In   1820/21 she made a tour of Europe and on her return  involved herself with charity work. In 1828 "Sketches of Everyday Life"  was published anonymously to raise funds. It was successful and after her father died in 1830 she began to travel and write. In 1844 she was awarded a gold medal by the Swedish Academy and became actively involved in reform movements, organised women's charity associations and campaigned for rights to education and training, for the right to dispose of property and for the establishment of an age of majority for unmarried women. During the Stockholm cholera epidemic of 1853 she nursed the sick and later founded an orphanage and established a school to train

* Freema Agyeman

..... the FIRST black assistant in Dr Who in it's 43-year history when she takes on the role of Martha, a medical student and becomes the sidekick of the Doctor - 2007

* Freydis Eiriksdottir

..... the FIRST woman to give birth to a European child in North America

* Fuchsia Dunlop and Nicola Jenning

..... two of the FIRST 35 women undergraduates admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1988 breaking a 446-year-old men-only tradition

* Fusaye Ichikawa

 born 1893

..... Japan's most distinguished feminist and the FIRST woman member of the Japanese Diet. She was first a schoolteacher, then a stockbroker's clerk and finally a trade union worker. In 1918 she founded the New Women's Association with the aim of giving women the right to make political speeches at a time when they were forbidden to even listen to them. She has led a successful campaign against licensed prostitution, fought corruption in elections, opposed pay raises for members of the Diet and given part of her salary to women's causes

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