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 Edith
* Edith Bülbring
born December 27th 1903 died 1990
..... professor of pharmacology at Oxford University who conducted significant research into the physiology and pharmacology of smooth muscle and was the FIRST to record its electrical activity - 1951-53
* Edith Louisa Cavell
born 4th December 1865 died 12th October 1915
..... FIRST statue to any great female war hero was erected in her memory at St Martin's Place, London in 1923. In 1907 she was the FIRST matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Belgium. She was a nurse who helped several hundred British, French and Belgian soldiers to escape into Holland. In August 1915 she was arrested and after a trial in which she admitted what she had done she was executed by a firing squad
* Edith Maud Cook
..... FIRST British woman to fly solo in an airplane when she performed various aerial acts under the name of Miss "Spencer Kavanagh". She achieved several solo flights on Blériot monoplanes with the Grahame-White flying school at Pau in the Pyrenees in 1910. She was also a professional parachute jumper but sadly was killed after making a jump from a balloon near Coventry, England in July 1910
* Edith Cresson
born January 27th 1934
..... FIRST woman Prime Minister in France. She was legendary in French politics for her temper and her reputation as a tireless worker and came to power by a hard-fought political road. She was not happy with the lot of the female politician in France and bemoaned the misogyny and machismo that permeated French politics
* Edith Hamilton
born 1865 died 1963
..... American who was the FIRST woman admitted to the University of Munich in 1895. She was one of the finest classical scholars of her day in America and had learned Latin and Greek at an early age. She was educated privately and took a degree at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania where for more than 15 years she was head. In 1922 she retired and devoted herself to writing and when she was 62 published a book which made her famous The Greek Way (1930) and followed this in 1933 with The Roman Way. At the age of 90 years she was made an honorary Greek citizen by the Mayor of Athens
* Edith Head
born 1897 died 1981
..... the most recognized costume designer in the history of film she was the FIRST woman to head a studio design department when appointed at Paramount from 1938 to 1967 and until her retirement in the 1970s at Universal. She also worked for other studios and with her team was nominated every year from the inception of the Best Costume Design award in 1948 until 1966. In nine of those years she was nominated twice and in 1963 three times. In all she was nominated for 33 Academy Awards, receiving eight
* Edith How-Martyn
born 1880 died 1954
..... FIRST play centre in Hampstead Garden Suburb was founded by her and in 1919 she became the FIRST woman member of Middlesex County Council
* Edith Jones
..... FIRST surrogate grandmother in Britain
* Edith Sampson
born 1901 died 1980
..... in 1925 she received her bachelor of laws degree and two years later she became the FIRST woman to receive her master of laws degree from Loyola University in Illinois. After her graduation she established her own law practice in Chicago and became a probation officer and referee on the juvenile court of Cook County, positions she held for 18 years while she continued to practice law. In 1950 she became the FIRST African-American to serve as alternate delegate to the UN General Assembly when appointed by President Harry Truman
* Edith Somerville
born 1858 died 1949
..... Irish woman who was the FIRST woman Master of Foxhounds in 1903. From 1912-1919 she was Master of the West Carberry Pack and in 1933 was a founder member of the Irish Academy of Letters
* Edith Stein
..... FIRST Jewish born saint of the modern era when canonized in October 1998. Her feast day is August 9th. She was a great intellect, a doctor of philosophy and a renowned speaker during the 1920s and 1930s. She converted to the Catholic faith after reading the life of St Teresa of Avila and was baptised and received into the Catholic church on January 1st 1922. On April 15th 1935 she became a "bride of Christ" within the Carmelite order and took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. A year later her sister Rosa was also baptised and received into the Catholic faith. During the second world war both sisters were arrested by the Gestapo and sent possibly to Auschwitz. They were never heard of again. It is believed that they were both gassed either on August 9th or 10th 1942 and their bodies burned
* Edith Taggart
nee Edith Ashover Hind
born November 11th 1909 died 1997
..... FIRST and only woman to serve as a Senator in the Northern Ireland Parliament. In 1972, with the advent of direct rule from Westminster, the Senate was suspended and she concentrated on working for charity. She joined the WVS during the Second World War and in 1940 joined the Belfast Charitable Society. After the war she threw herself into public work and in 1964 was appointed OBE. In 1976 she was one of the founders of Age Concern in Northern Ireland
* Edith Wharton
born 1862 died 1937
..... FIRST woman to receive an honorary Litt D from Yale in 1923. She was a member of a distinguished New York family and was privately educated in America and abroad. During the First World War she organised American relief for refugees and the Children of Flanders Rescue committee for 600 orphans fleeing from Belgium. In 1916 she received the Cross of the Legion d'Honneur and in 1919 the Order of Leopold. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 and 1935 and in 1930 became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters