A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O PQ R S T U V W XYZ
Her Name Is Agnes
* Agnes Arber
born 1879 died 1960
..... English botanist who was the FIRST woman botanist to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1946. In 1948 she received the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society. Her interest in botany developed at school in London and at Cambridge University. Her first book Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution was published in 1912 and became the standard work about early printed herbals
* Agnes Gonxha Bejaxhia
born 26th August 1910 died 1997
..... most famously known as Mother Teresa she was born of Albanian parents in Skopje and because of her work with the sick and poor, the FIRST mobile leprosy clinic was launched in September 1957 in India. In 1962 she became the FIRST person who was not Indian by birth to receive the prestigious Padma Shri award from the President of India. In 1975 she was awarded the FIRST Albert Schweitzer International Prize. Her work is known throughout the world when after leaving her convent she trained as a nurse and then worked in the slums, took in abandoned babies, lepers, gave refuge to the dying, the lonely and the hungry. In 1978 she was given an Honorary OBE (Honorary because she was not a citizen of the UK) and in 1979 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Four years later she was given the Honorary Order of Merit which is the most prestigious award that Queen Elizabeth 11 could give and which can only be held by 24 people at one time
* Agnes Curran
..... FIRST woman governor of a male prison when put in charge at Dungavel in Scotland in 1979
* Agnes Grossman
..... FIRST female artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir when she was appointed in 1996 to head the 500-year old choir. In 1998 she resigned after complaining that she had been prevented from carrying out her pledges of change
* Agnes Haddock
..... in January 2007 she won the sum of £688,620.00 and so became the FIRST person in the UK to win such a sum on a bet. Fred Done bookmakers paid up with a smile
* Agnes McLaren
born 1837 died 1913
..... FIRST woman graduate in medicine at Montpelier in 1878 and in 1910 she founded the FIRST Catholic medical mission in India
* Agnes MacPhail
born 1890 died 1954
..... FIRST woman MP in Canada from 1921 to 1940 as MP for the United Farmers of Ontario for South East Gray. After that she was a member of the Ontario legislature until 1951
* Agnes de Mille
born 1905 died 1995
..... American who brought ballet to musical comedy for the FIRST time, she choreographed '49' one of the FIRST dances to make use of American folk material on the concert stage and was also the choreographer of 'Black Ritual' the FIRST ballet performed entirely with black dancers in a classic American ballet company. She was also the FIRST woman president of a labour union in the United States and was on the FIRST National Advisory Council on the Arts. She was the FIRST non-Russian to be given the job of choreographer with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo
* Agnes Maude Royden
born November 23rd 1876 died July 30th 1956
..... FIRST woman to declare publicly that she hoped to become an Anglican priest. Because women could not become priests at this time (1920s) she became an assistant preacher at the City Temple in London and then formed her own place of worship called The Guildhouse. Here she could preach from the pulpit as much as she liked. The culmination of all this activity came in 1929 when she founded the Society for the Ministry of Women and became its FIRST president. It was not until 40 years after her death that the first female vicar was appointed
* Agnes Siyiankoi
….. a Masai woman who struck fear into the hearts of men throughout Kenya when she became the FIRST woman to defy tribal tradition and took her husband to court for wife-beating in 1997. Men were brought up to believe that beating their wife (or wives) was their traditional right and that women must learn to submit. However 31 year old Ms Siyiankoi challenged this tradition and hoped that it could inspire others to do the same. When she was 18 years old she entered an arranged marriage with Moita Risa, the wealthy owner by Masai standards of 150 cows and two wives. He denied the charge brought against him. After one particularly bad night of being beaten she had him arrested and locked up overnight in a police cell. She then had to move out of their village due to the hostility of family and neighbours. The case was heard in the courtroom at Kajiado, 90 miles south of the capital of Nairobi and she was backed by the Kenyan chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). FIDA campaigned to outlaw wife-beating and wanted it to be made a specific criminal charge, separate from the general charge of assault
* Agnes Sorel
born C1422 died 1450
..... French lady who was the FIRST mistress of a King to be officially acknowledged when from 1444 she was the mistress of Charles V11 of France. Known as Dame de Beauté she was born in Fromenteau, Touraine, the daughter of Seigneur de St Gerard and was noted for her extreme beauty and intellectual accomplishments. She was appointed Maid of Honour to Isabella of Lorraine, Duchess of Anjou, but on a visit to the French court of King Charles V11 he became very attracted to her and appointed her Maid of Honour to his Queen, Mary of Anjou. For some time she resisted his advances but eventually gave in to his demands and he abandoned his government affairs entirely so as to spend all his time with her. Finding that she possessed such a strong influence over him she used it to make him attack the English forces which had overrun and devastated France. The success of these battles added to the favours bestowed on her including estates and chateaux. Later, because of a disagreement between her and the dauphin, subsequently Louis X1, she returned to Loches, one of the residences given to her by the King. She died soon after the birth of her fourth child of dysentry, although poison was suspected