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 Clara
* Clara Barton
born 1821 died 1912
..... FIRST regularly appointed woman civil servant when appointed as a clerk in the Patents Office in America. She was the founder of one of New Jersey's FIRST 'free' or public schools but after a man was assigned over her she resigned in protest and took the job at the Patents Office. After teaching school in New Jersey she went to Washington DC in 1853 where at the outbreak of the Civil War she organised supply and nursing services for sick and wounded Union Troops. In 1864 she acted as superintendent of nurses under the authority of General Butler and after the war (1865 to 1869) was in charge of a government sponsored search for missing soldiers. During the Franco-Prussian war she was active in relief activities in association with the International Red Cross at Geneva. When she returned to the USA she undertook to establish an American Red Cross and it was through her efforts that a National Society of the Red Cross was organised in 1881 and she served as its FIRST president until 1904. She was active in relieving suffering caused by wars and disasters such as the Spanish-American war, the Boer war and the Galveston Flood of 1900. In 1884 she was responsible for the introduction of the ‘American Amendment’ at the Geneva International Conference specifying that in extreme peacetime emergencies the Red Cross should carry out humanitarian work similar to that assumed by it during any wars. At the age of 77 she rode mule wagons as a nurse in the Spanish-American war, received numerous medals and honours and
was acclaimed a war heroine
* Clara Ellen Butt
..... born February 1st 1872 died 1936
..... in 1902 she was the FIRST to sing Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory " and in 1916 "Spirit of England". From 1890 she studied at the Royal College of Music in London and made her debut there in 1892. However it was as a concert artist that she gained renown. In 1899 and 1913 she toured America and made a world tour with her husband delighting audiences with her performances of English ballads. "Sea Pictures" was written for her by Elgar and she became strongly identified with his music. Her performances for war charities earned her the DBE in 1920, the FIRST English musician to so appointed
* Clara Calamai
born September 7th 1915 died 1998
..... Italian film star who was the FIRST leading lady of neo-realism, the influential movement that dominated world cinema in the early post-war years. She was chosen by the director Luchino Visconti for his first film in 1942 Ossessione, which is now universally acknowledged as the beginning of the new realist tradition in Italian cinema. She gave the film an earthy eroticism not encountered before in the cinema and it outraged Mussolini. The Italians had not paid any royalties to the novel's American author and because of this the film could not, when peace was restored, be shown overseas for many years. As a
result of this her greatest work was largely unknown
* Clara Freeman
..... FIRST woman executive director at Marks and Spencer in 1967. Nine years earlier Baroness Young had been appointed its first female director but there had not been a female on its 18-member board. She had been with the company for 21 years and her career had spanned buying and personnel
* Clara Furse
….. FIRST female chief executive of the 200 year old London Stock Exchange - January 2001
* Clara Rackham
born 1875 died 1965
..... one of the FIRST women factory inspectors in 1915
* Clara Stuart
..... in 1952 she was the FIRST person ever granted a licence to operate a television set in a pub in the city of Salford whilst landlady of the Wellington Inn, New Bailey Street
* Clara A Swain
born 1834 died 1910
..... American who founded the FIRST women's hospital in India in 1874 and was the FIRST female Western missionary doctor in India
* Clara Walkden
..... FIRST known sworn-in policewoman in the Greater Manchester area when she joined the Oldham Borough force on May 9th 1921. She was also one of the FIRST officers to have her own visiting card and served in office until 17th June 1940 when she was pensioned off due to ill-health
* Clara Zetkin
born 1857 died 1933
..... celebrated Marxist law reformer, pacifist and political activist who was one of the FIRST woman to train as a teacher in Leipzig