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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

" for you'll never mend your fortunes, nor help the just cause

by the breaking of windows or breaking of laws "

Hannah More

HER NAME IS H...................

* Halide Edib

 born 1884 died 1964

..... Turkish woman who was the FIRST Muslim woman to graduate from the American College for Girls in Istanbul and in 1939 was the FIRST Muslim woman to be a university lecturer. She was also the FIRST Muslim woman to be a Member of Parliament when elected in 1950

* Halina Konopacka

..... FIRST Polish female to win gold in an Olympics with her record-breaking throw in the discus event in Amsterdam in 1928

* Halle Berry

born 14th August 1966

..... FIRST black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress - March 2002. In May 2003 she was the FIRST black recipient of the FHM Magazine honour when she took top place in the FHM 100 sexiest women in the world poll

* Hammasa Kohistani

..... at the age of 18 years she became the FIRST Muslim to be crowned Miss England after being selected from 40 other entrants - September 2005

* Hanging Cloud

..... the FIRST and only woman to become a full warrior under the Ojibwa tribe

* Hanna Gray

 born 1930

..... German-American who was the FIRST woman to head a major university in the United States of America when made president of the University of Chicago in 1978

* Hanna Reitsch

born 1912 died 24th August 1979

..... claimed in Germany to be the world's most successful woman pilot she was the world's FIRST woman test pilot, FIRST woman to fly jet aircraft, Germany's FIRST woman helicopter pilot and the only woman to win the Iron Cross, first and second class. The Doodlebugs, the V1 flying bombs, had to be launched from under the Heinkel bomber and her job was to test these even though the first two test pilots of this particular machine had been badly injured. Ultimately ten pilots were trained for this and turned into a suicide squad. She was close to the Nazi leadership during the Third Reich and flew the last German plane out of Berlin under anti-aircraft fire before the city fell to the Russians in 1945. She was the FIRST woman to be made an honorary flight captain, the FIRST woman to cross the Alps in a glider and founded the FIRST black African national gliding school when she lived in Ghana between 1962 and 1966

* Hanna Suchocka

.....  FIRST woman Prime Minister in Poland in July 10th 1992.  She was Poland's fifth Prime Minister , was a member of the Democratic Union and an anti-abortionist

* Hannah Adams

 born 1755 died 1831

 .....  often described as the FIRST professional author to emerge in the USA

* Hannah Arendt

born 1906 died 1975

.....  FIRST woman to become a full professor at Princeton University (1959). She was one of the most powerful and controversial political philosophers of the 20th century. Born to Jewish parents in Germany she fled to Paris in 1933 where she took up social work for Jewish youth for four years before fleeing once again, this time to New York. She held posts in several American universities - Chicago, Berkeley and Columbia and her last one was as Professor of Political Philosophy at New York City School for Social Research

* Hannah Ball

 born March 13th 1734 died 1792

..... in 1769 she began one of England's FIRST known Sunday Schools at High Wycombe, an informal gathering which met every Sunday and Monday. She remained its Superintendent until her death *

Hannah Bolton Barlow

 born 1870 died 1913

..... FIRST woman artist to work for the Doulton Pottery Company

* Hannah Crafts

..... believed to be the FIRST black woman novelist when a 150-year old manuscript was published in 2002. The Bondswoman's Narrative tells the apparently autobiographical story of her life as a young slave in North Carolina and ends in her flight to freedom to New Jersey

* Hannah Duston

..... FIRST woman in the United States to be honoured with a statue

* Hannah Green

..... FIRST recorded fatality of the use of chloroform in the 1850s

* Hannah Ringland

..... FIRST schoolgirl cox in the Head of the River race - King's School, Canterbury

* Hannah Slater

..... 1793 - Rhode Island, America - FIRST woman to file for a patent in the USA for her invention of a new way to spin thread

* Hannelore Schmatz

.....  FIRST woman and FIRST German to die on Everest. She was with an American, Raymond Genet , who also died after bad weather had forced them to bivouac at 27,552' on their way down from the summit. She was the fourth woman to reach the top of Everest and at the age of 39 years was also the oldest woman. Her husband, the expedition leader, was also the oldest man

* Harding Mrs

 .....  Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman bank manager in Britain in 1958

* Harriet Stanton Blatch

 born 1856 died 1940

..... the FIRST big suffrage parade in New York City in 1910 was led by her. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and like her mother became a leader of the women's suffrage movement both in America and in England where she lived for 20 years. She graduated from Vassar College in 1878 in maths and in 1881 wrote the long account of the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1882 she married and moved to England where she was impressed by the popular basis of the Women's Franchise League campaigns in the 1890s. She became a member of the Fabian Society and on her return to America founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women and then in 1908 the Women's Political Union. She also advocated 'motherhood pensions' in recognition of female productivity and labour. Her daughter Nora was the FIRST American woman to graduate in Civil Engineering

* Harriet Boyd

..... American who was the FIRST woman to have directed a major archaeological dig in Greece and the FIRST woman to have addressed members of the American Archaeological Institute

..... published Interpreter, the FIRST magazine in Australia published by women.  In 1865 Harriet became one of America's FIRST women physicians. She died on April 30th 1931

* Harriet Harman

 born 1950

..... FIRST Labour front bencher in the British Parliament to take maternity leave. In 2001 she was the FIRST woman Solicitor-General in England and Wales

* Harriet Morison

died August 19th 1925

..... feminist and trade unionist who established New Zealand's FIRST trade union for women in 1888. In 1906 she was the FIRST woman inspector of factories

* Harriet Morrison Irwin

..... American who was the FIRST woman in the US to patent an architectural innovation - August 24th 1869 - when she submitted a plan for a hexagonal building. It still stands in Charlotte, North Carolina on West Fifth Street and each room is connected in a continuous circular pattern. This use of form and function came to be known as ergonomics. Before she died in 1897 she designed her own hexagonal tombstone

* Harriet Martineau

died 27th June 1876

..... the FIRST woman journalist in Britain to get a major job on a London newspaper when she became a leader writer on the Daily News in 1852

* Harriet Monkhouse

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman assistant editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanac. ( I have received an e-mail from Harriet who says that her predecessor, Christine Forrest, was assistant editor for many years but for various reasons never formally held the title. Maybe this would then make her the first and not Harriet but I have decided to leave them both in )

* Harriet Russell Morison

 born 1862 died 1925

..... New Zealander who organised the FIRST women's union, the Tailoresses' Union in 1889

* Harriet Quimby

 born 1882 died 1912

.....  FIRST woman pilot in America when she received her certificate in 1911 and the FIRST woman to fly the English Channel when she took off from Deal in a Blériot monoplane on 16th April 1912

* Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe

born June 13th 1811 died 1st July 1896

..... wrote the FIRST genuine American best-seller, Uncle Tom's Cabin, eliminating former Puritan prejudice against fiction as worthless entertainment. Published in 1982 the first edition sold 5,000 copies in two days and in less than three weeks 20,000 copies were sold. It was estimated that 3 million copies of the book were eventually sold in the United states alone. The book appeared in forty different editions and was translated into many foreign languages and was described as " the most valuable addition America has made to English literature" by the English historian Thomas Macaulay. She was the daughter of Lyman Beecher and sister to Catherine Beecher and Henry Ward Beecher.  Her famous novel exposed the horrors of slavery and did much to advance the cause of abolition, although she herself was not an abolitionist. In 1853 she wrote Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin in an attempt to show that she had relied on factual evidence. At the height of her fame, she went to England where she was well received and on her return to America wrote Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands. She once again returned to England and was honoured by Queen Victoria. In 1869, in England, she met Lady Byron from whom she received the information she published in Lady Byron Vindicated (1870). Her charge that Byron had had incestuous relationships with his sister caused her to be accused of scandal mongering and a great part of the English public turned against her

* Harriet W.R Strong

born 1844

….. American who was the FIRST person to introduce winter irrigation at her orchard in Southern California. Her first crop was walnuts and then citrus fruits, pomegranates and pampas grass. Eventually her orchard became the largest in the world ( 25 miles long). Her irrigation system was adopted by other engineers and it became responsible for the rapid growth of the food-producing regions in Southern California. She was also the FIRST woman elected to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the FIRST President of the new feminist Business League of America

* Harue Kitamura

..... FIRST woman Mayor in Japan when elected on April 21st 1991 as mayor of Ashiya City, near Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. It has a population of 87,700. She was a lawyer and was involved in education problems as a chairperson of the Board of Education of Ashiya City and was supported by both housewives and working women. At this time women had only succeeded in becoming mayors of towns and villages

* Hatsheput

 born c1560 died 1482BC

..... FIRST woman Pharoah, breaking a 2000 year tradition of masculine rule. She ruled Egypt for more than 20 years and in spite of opposition from generals and priests her reign was a peaceful one. She married her half brother when he succeeded to the throne and had two daughters. When her husband died his son and heir ( born to a concubine) was only six and so Hatsheput became first regent and then Queen. She always wore men's clothes and was addressed as His Majesty. She restored religious rites, erected two magnificent obelisks at Karnak, encourage agriculture and inspired a voyage of exploration to the Land of Punt ( Somalia)

* Hattie Alexander

..... American who was among the FIRST to demonstrate the new theory that DNA has an influence on genetic character. She was the scientist who developed a cure for meningococcal disease which afflicts children between the ages of three months and adolescence and was the FIRST woman to head a National Medical Society when appointed President of the American Paediatrics Society

* Hattie Wyatt Caraway

 born 1878 died 1950

 ..... American who was the FIRST woman elected to the US Senate - January 12th 1932 and in 1933 was the FIRST woman to chair a senate committee - the Committee on Enrolled Bills

* Hattie Jacques

..... in November 1995 the FIRST Comic Heritage plaque for an actress was unveiled at the house in Earl's Court, London where she had lived for 35 years

* Hattie McDaniel

born June 10th 1895 died  October 26th 1952

..... the FIRST black woman to sing on the radio and after many performances was in over 300 films. In 1939 she was the FIRST black performer to receive an Academy Award  when she was voted best supporting actress for her role as Mammy in the film Gone With The Wind although when the film was premiered in Atlanta she was not included in the official celebrations. She was also the FIRST black person to attend an Academy banquet as a guest rather than a waitress. When she died she asked in her will that she be buried at the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery but the cemetery did not take coloured people.  On the 47th anniversary of her death the new owners of the Hollywood cemetery installed a grey and pink granite monument as a memorial to her

* Haviva Avi-Guy

..... Israeli who was the FIRST woman to sit on the council that elected the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv - August 1988. After a two-year legal battle the Israeli High Court of Justice stated that she could not be barred on grounds that she was a woman from the council that elected the chief rabbi

* Hazel Aronson

..... made Scottish legal history when she became the FIRST woman to be elevated to the Supreme Court Bench in Scotland in 1996

* Hazel Blears

..... FIRST woman born and bred in Salford to be elected as Salford's Member of Parliament for Labour in 1997

* Hazel Bryan

..... awarded the FIRST ever bursary from Manchester's Boddingtons Brewery - March 2001

* Hazel Douglas

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman divisional director of Oxfam , the overseas development agency in 1997. She joined the agency as Director of Personnel and was part of the senior management team as well as being responsible for more than 1,200 staff in Britain and overseas. She had extensive experience of implementing equal opportunity policies, having worked previously as personnel officer in charge of employee planning and recruitment in the London Borough of Camden

* Hazel Johnson

...... FIRST black woman General in the American Army when she was appointed as head of the Army Nurse Corps in 1979

* Hazel Vivienne

..... FIRST woman head of music staff in any British Opera House when she joined Sadlers Wells in 1959. She was chorus administrator and conducted some performances each season and also ensured that the principal singers were prepared in their operatic roles

* He Xiangning (Ho Hsiang-Ming)

 born 1880 died 1972

..... one of the FIRST Chinese women to publicly advocate nationalism, revolution and female emancipation and one of the FIRST Chinese women to have her hair cut short

* Heather Couper

..... FIRST woman President of the British Astronomical Society when she succeeded Patrick Moore as leader of the 94-year-old association

* Heather Erxleben

..... FIRST female Canadian infantry soldier

* Heather Hallett

.....  FIRST woman chairman of the Bar Council and the FIRST working mother to take over at the helm when she took over on January 1st 1998. She took silk in 1989, became a Crown Court recorder the same year and in 1995 was appointed to sit as a deputy High Court judge. Since 1995 she was leader of the South Eastern Circuit

* Heather Hilton and Gill Georges

.....  FIRST all-female team to be appointed by brewers Greenall Whitley when they took over the Royal Oak in Macclesfield.  All the staff employed by them at the pub were women

* Heather Kerswell

..... FIRST woman director of planning and development with Ealing Council in London. Her management team included three other women who were responsible for helping the borough's 14,000 registered unemployed. She said "Fighting inequality - in the workplace, in training, through grant schemes and in the general environment, will be a priority for me and my department

* Heather Shaw

..... FIRST franchisee of the British School of Motoring when she took over the Luton branch which she had previously been managing

* Heather Whitestone

 ..... FIRST deaf Miss America

* Hedy Lamarr

 neé Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler

 born  November 9th 1915 died 1999

.....  leading lady of the 1933 Czech film Extase which was the FIRST film in which the sexual act was depicted. The film won the Grand Prize at the 1934 Vienna Film festival. Under her real name she was a technologist who, along with the composer George Antheil, invented a classified communications system especially suitable for submarines which was patented on June 10th 1941

* Heidi Falconer

..... English child who was the FIRST woman to be born in the UK with aquagenic urticaria (a severe allergy to water), one of 30 people in the world who have the condition. The disease means that her skin blisters if she comes into contact with water and she is even allergic to her own sweat

* Heidi Greenwood

..... FIRST woman railway station master in West Yorkshire. Based at Harrogate she was responsible for the 70 miles of line between Leeds and York

* Heidi Sparks

..... one of the FIRST women to join the Gurkhas. As Second Lieutenant she had command of about 50 men from the Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment based at Colchester in Essex - June 2001

* Heidi Mowforth

..... a former nurse who qualified as the FIRST woman senior fireman on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex in 1991. With her husband and children Heidi lived in one of the six railway cottages at Horsted Keynes which overlooked the Bluebell Railway, a preserved steam railway. It owned three stations along the old Lewes, East Grinstead line, Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and Kingscote

* Helen

* Helena Normanton

 born 1883 died 1957

.....  FIRST woman to be accepted by the Inns of  Court, FIRST woman to be elected to the General Council of the Bar and one of the FIRST women to be made a King's Counsel in England - April 12th 1949.  She was the second woman after Ivy Williams to be called to the Bar in England and practised mainly in the Central Criminal court

* Helena Rubinstein

 born December 25th 1870 died April 1st 1965

..... Polish-born American businesswoman  who founded a cosmetics empire and was the FIRST in the world to open a beauty salon. She was born in Poland and at the age of 18 ran away to Australia following a family quarrel with 12 jars of cream given to her by her mother to counteract the harsh Australian climate. When she found herself sending home for more pots for her friends she decided to import the chemist responsible and opened her first beauty salon in Melbourne. Her first products Crème Valaze was from from a Hungarian herbal recipe and is still in production under the name of Skin Clearing Cream. Her empire soon spread to Paris, New York and other parts of the world and as she moved on she left one of her eight sisters in charge of each new salon. She introduced the use of pure silk into cosmetics and was the pioneer of coloured face powder and foundation. She also introduced the health farm for beauty and launched one of the first men’s cosmetic ranges. In 1953 she set up the Helena Rubinstein Foundation which gave many donations and grants and awarded scholarships to enable young women to take up higher education and follow non-traditional careers. She said " My fortune comes from women and should benefit them and their children, to better their quality of life" When she died in 1965 her cosmetics industry was worth £350,000,000

* Helena Wojtczak

..... on March 23rd 1978 she became the FIRST woman British Rail train guard and in 1983 FIRST woman to represent train guards as a shop steward. She was also the FIRST woman delegate to a British Rail Guards conference and the  FIRST woman elected as Health and Safety Representative for Guards within the National Union of Railwaymen (P/L)

* Helene Ahrweiler

 born 1916

..... FIRST woman head of the Department of History at the Sorbonne in 1967 and in 1976 was the FIRST woman President of the Sorbonne in its 700-year history. She was born in Athens and studied and taught medieval history and archaeology before moving to France in 1950

* Helene Deutsch

 born 1884 died 1982

..... Polish-American who was one of the FIRST 4 women analysed by Freud and the second woman to he admitted to the Vienna PsychoAnalytical Society. As a teenager she studied in secret and later with another suffragette she won the admission of women to law school. She gained her MD and undertook seven years neurological and psychiatric training. During WW1 she headed the civilian women's section of the psychiatric department at Vienna. In 1916 she discovered Sigmund Freud and his Interpretation of Dreams. From 1925 to 1933 she was director of the University PsychoAnalytical Institute and then left for America. Her two volume The Psychology of Women' broke new ground in constructing a comprehensive psychology of the life-cycle of women and exploring their emotional life

* Helene Dutrieu

 ..... FIRST Belgian woman pilot when she received licence number 27 on 25th November 1910. In the same year she was the FIRST winner of the Coupe Femina and was reportedly the FIRST female pilot to carry a passenger in flight on 19th April 1910. She was the FIRST woman to remain airborne for more than an hour and in 1911 beat all the male pilots when she won the King of Italy Cup. In 1913 she became the FIRST female pilot to be awarded the French Legion d'Honneur  ( from Dave Lam)

* Helene Madison

 born 1913 died 1970

..... American who was a triple god medallist at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and who was the FIRST woman to swim 100 yards in one minute. In 1930,31 and 32 she won every women's freestyle event at the American championships and in 1932 set a new world record in the 400m free style

* Helga Pederson

 born 1911

..... Danish woman who was the FIRST woman judge at the European Council of Rights  in 1971. Her main causes were an improvement in the legal status of women and prison and penal reform

* Helke Sander

 born 1937

..... FIRST International Women's Film workshop was organised and conducted by her in 1973 and she was the founding editor of the FIRST European feminist film journal Frauen Und Film

* Henny Porten

..... German lady who was the FIRST performer to have her name appear on the credits

* Henrietta Robley Browne

.....  FIRST policewoman in Britain in 1914. She was one of the original recruits to a volunteer organisation of policewomen formed by the feminist leader Miss Nina Boyle and wore a costume of her own design

* Henrietta Dugdale

born 1826 died 1918

.....  President of the FIRST women's suffrage society in Victoria, Australia 

* Henrietta Lacks

 born August 18th 1920

..... FIRST time scientists had a self-renewing supply of almost normal human tissue (known as HeLa) and in effect this made her the FIRST woman in space when her tissue cells were put on the Discoverer XVII satellite

* Henrietta Leakey

 neé Henrietta Wilfrida Avern

 born 1902 died 1993

..... first wife of the distinguished archaeologist Louis Leakey and with whom she spent eight years in Tanzania while he was excavating for evidence of Early Man. Although she was not trained in archaeology she accompanied her husband on his expeditions and at one time discovered a branching gully containing some of the earliest stone tools. This key anthropological site was named FLK after her - Frida Leakey Karongo (Gully) She also accompanied him on his 1931 expedition to the Olduvai Gorge, the 25 mile dry canyon in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa where many significant finds were made. However she did not agree with her husband that Africa was a suitable place to bring up their children and in 1936 the marriage broke down and she returned to England where she raised her son and daughter at Girton, near Cambridge. She made frequent broadcasts for the BBC on her archaeological experiences and on traditional African medical practices. She founded an infant welfare centre - the FIRST in the county- and during the Second World War worked on the 'home front'. She was a county councillor, chairman of the Impington Village College . From 1952 to 1955 she was chairman of the Cambridgeshire Federation of Women's Institutes and was a keen supporter of adult education. She never remarried and with her sister brought up their six children together

* Henrietta Richardson Robertson

 born 1870 died 1946

..... wrote the FIRST novel published in England to treat homosexuality openly - Maurice Guest. She was born in Melbourne, the daughter of an Irish doctor who had emigrated there during the 1850 gold rush. Her father died in 1879 and she and her sister were brought up by their mother who was then a postmistress. In 1887 she went to Leipzig Conservatoire to study the piano and became interested in German romantic literature and later in the works of Freud and Nietzsche. She married in 1895 and from 1896 to 1904 lived with her husband in Strasbourg. Henrietta wrote articles and in 1908 her first novel Maurice Guest was published and it was based on her student experiences. She used the pseudonym of Henry Handel Richardson. Her husband eventually became the FIRST Professor of Germanic and Scandinavian languages at London University, a post which he held until his death in 1933. She stayed on in London leading a solitary life and concentrating on her writings. In 1912 she went to Australia to gather information for her major work The Fortunes of Richard Mahony ~ a trilogy about life in the goldfields

* Henrietta Shaw

..... FIRST woman to have steered Cambridge in the Boat Race

* Henrietta Szold

born 1860 died 1945

….. American, born in Baltimore, the eldest of eight daughters, she constantly met with discrimination because of her sex in the many Jewish and Zionist activities in which she was concerned. Her insistence on equal rights for women kept her from being elected to leadership positions until she was 67 years old. In 1910 she became Secretary of the Federation of American Zionists and organized the women's body Hadasseh, in 1912. During the 1920s and 30s she arranged passage for many immigrants and helped the work of the Youth Aliyah which sent Jewish children out of fascist Germany. Before WW2 she became the FIRST President of the League of Jewish Women. She was also the FIRST woman to attend the Jewish Theological Society , but only after promising that she would not attempt to become a Rabbi. In 1927 she was the FIRST woman elected to the World Zionist Organization

* Henriette D' Angeville

 born 1795 died 1871

..... Frenchwoman who was the FIRST woman to organise and undertake her own climb of Mont Blanc. She made the climb on September 4th 1838, it took her 3 days and she wore knickerbockers, an alpenstock and a veil. She made 21 other ascents over the next 25 years and climbed the Oldenhorn in the Alps in 1964 in a crinoline. In the year of her death (1871) the Matterhorn was FIRST climbed by a woman. ( Lucy Walker )

* Henshall Miss

 ..... the FIRST Matron of Salford Royal Hospital which opened in 1827

* Herrad of Hohenbourg

born 1130 died 1195

..... Frenchwoman who was the FIRST woman to organise the compilation of an encyclopaedia - Hortus Deliciarum

* Hertha Marks Ayrton

..... FIRST woman nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (1902) but denied because she was married

* Hester Lucy Stanhope

 born March 12th 1776 died 1839

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST European woman to visit a city of the past when she went to Palmyra - a journey which had been foretold in 1795. Known as the Queen of the East' she was the niece of William Pith, Prime Minister of England. The fulfilment of the prophecy in 1795 made her one of the most remarkable women of her time. She never returned to England and when she died she was deeply mourned by the Arabs who held her in great awe

* Hilary Briggs

..... one of the FIRST 9 women in Britain to win a new science study award aimed especially at women - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council ( BBSRC ) Science Study Award. Her award entitled her to a grant of around £250 to aid her studies and with the other eight women will study a variety of topics ranging from the new UHT process for milk to the misuse of antibiotics and the issues involved in genetic engineering

* Hilary Elsworth

..... FIRST specialist  plastic surgery nurse in Britain, trained to carry out minor surgery under local anaesthetic or to help surgeons in more serious operations under general anaesthetic in 1999

* Hilary Hotchin

..... one of the FIRST women priests to be ordained into the Anglican Church

* Hilary Lister

..... on 23rd August 2005 she became the FIRST quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel. She achieved this by using controls powered by her breath to navigate her boats and made the crossing in six hours thirteen minutes

* Hilda Brown's mother (name not known)

..... Englishwoman who was the FIRST woman to get a degree in science at Manchester University

* Hilda Marjorie Haggie

 neé Hanford

 born October 30th 1904 died 2000

..... notable breeder of Boran cattle in Kenya she was the FIRST schoolgirl member of the Surrey Cricket Club

* Hilda Beatrice Hewlett

born 1864

..... FIRST woman to gain a pilot's licence in Britain when she qualified on a Henry Farman biplane at Brooklands Race Track for Certificate No 122 on 29th August 1911. The previous year Hilda and her business partner Gustave Biondeau had opened Britain's FIRST flying school at Brooklands. When the First World War broke out they went into the aircraft business in Bedfordshire and produced ten different types of planes. She later left England for New Zealand. Her husband Maurice, from whom she had separated in 1914, is recorded as saying "Women will never be as successful as men in aviation. They have not the right kind of nerve"..... how wrong he was

* Hilda Kari

..... FIRST woman Member of Parliament in the Solomon Islands

* Hilda Spurl

 ..... FIRST woman to win the French Tennis title 3 years running

* Hilda White

died 2001

..... on 17th June 2000 she celebrated the award of an MBE on behalf of her work in Salford.  In 1969 she moved to her council home at Thorn Court, Pendleton and since then has worked tirelessly for the estate. In 1970 she formed the FIRST tenants' association in the city . Before there were entrance security systems in the tower block she would patrol the 22 floors last thing at night checking for intruders. The tower block now has state of the art security system, community rooms, attractive gardens maintained by residents, a conservatory and a gym and sauna. In 1993 she was honoured by Salford Council with their Golden Heart award

* Hillary Clinton

 nee Rodham

..... in January 1996 she was the FIRST First Lady in America to appear before the Federal Grand Jury and in February 2000 she became the FIRST president's wife to run for office when she launched her senate campaign in New York. In September 2000 she became the FIRST First Lady to be elected to the US government when she won a Senate seat in New York State on November 6th 2000. She was also the FIRST woman partner at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas and later was the FIRST First Lady to be a lead witness on a major administration legislative initiative when she appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee on September 28th 1993. She was also the FIRST First Lady to deliver a televised primetime address at a national political convention although Eleanor Roosevelt was the FIRST to address a national political convention ( not televised at this stage)

* Hollie Anderson

..... at the age of 13 years she became the FIRST girl in Britain to be vaccinated against cervical cancer when her mother paid for her to have a course of three injections after seeing her own mother battle against the disease. The vaccine, Gardasil, was launched in Britain in October 2006 and protects against the main viruses that cause the cancer

* Holly Reich

.... born in America she was the FIRST Siamese twin to survive after an operation to separate her from her sister Carly ( who died on April 10th 1985) in March 1985

* Honoretta Pratt

 died September 25th 1769

..... FIRST recorded cremation in Britain when she was burnt in her open grave at St. George's Burial Ground in Hanover Square, West London. Her monument states that she believed that " the vapours rising from the graves in the churchyard were hurtful to others " and she ordered that her body be burnt in the hope that others would follow her example. The legality of cremation was not accepted by a court of law until 1884 but she was sufficiently well connected to have her dying wishes accepted

* Hrosvitha von Gandersheim

born c935 died 972

..... distinguished as the FIRST female German writer through her plays and poetry in Latin. In AD959 she entered a Benedictine convent for Saxon and German women of high birth. The abbess encouraged her to write dramatisations of lives of the saints, both comic and tragic, for the nuns to act, besides religious narrative poems and historical chronicles. Her work was very popular in convents all over Europe long after her death

* Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash

..... Iraqui woman who was the FIRST and only woman elected to the highest policy making body in the Baath Party, the regional command, in 2001

* Hypatia of Alexandria

 born c370 died 415

..... FIRST and possible only woman mathematician of ancient times. She taught geometry, astronomy and the new science of algebra and also invented several instruments. Although she received enormous acclaim she died after being dragged from her chariot by a mob and tortured to death

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