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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

" the history of women's work in this country shows that legislation has been the only force which has improved the working conditions of any large number of women wage-earners"

Helen L Sumner (1876-1933) US government official and children's rights activist

Her name is Helen

* Helen Bater

.....  FIRST girl trade apprentice with the Army in August 1991 when she became the FIRST recruit in a national army initiative and enlisted for a two-year apprentice training scheme where she will study telecommunications along with the basic soldiering course

* Helen Blanchard

..... on August 19th 1873 she invented the FIRST zigzag stitch sewing machine - Massachusetts

* Helen Boosalis

.....  America's FIRST woman Mayor of a city with more than 100,000 residents and with Kay Orr  made it the FIRST time in the history of the US that the candidates for the state governor elections were a Democratic and Republican

* Helen Bright

..... died in 1850 when she became the FIRST fatality amongst animal trainers in a travelling show when after repeatedly flicking a tiger in the face with a whip, it attacked her, crushing her head in its jaws. She died soon after being rescued from the cage. She was working with a travelling  show - Wombwells Menagerie - that toured Britain during the FIRST half of the 19th century

* Helen Brown

..... in 1987 she stood as the FIRST ever Council Candidate for the Salford Green Party

* Helen Maud Cam

born 1885 died 1968

..... FIRST Zenmurray Radcliffe Professor of History at Harvard

* Helen Cattanach

born 21st June 1920 died 1994

..... FIRST QA officer in the recruiting branch of the War Office and FIRST Director of Studies with the QAR-ANC when she negotiated new opportunities for nursing staff.  She was Matron-in-Chief and Director of Army Nursing Services from 1973 to 1976 and in this role was responsible for setting up the regimental headquarters of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps

* Helen Chadwick

..... FIRST woman to be short-listed for the Turner Prize in 1987

* Helen Damico

..... wrote the FIRST book to examine Anglo-Saxon literature from a feminist perspective

* Helen Dobbs and Keren Gavaciuti

..... Britain's FIRST female Top Guns - July 1993. They received their wings after qualifying as fighter pilots after a 10-month training course at RAF Chivenor, Devon. Before joining frontline squadrons the girls still had a further six-month course to go through learning about the type of aircraft they will fly which could be Tornado or Jaguar fighters

* Helen Gardiner

..... the RAF's FIRST woman combat pilot to carry out a live intercept with unfriendly aircraft when she went into action in September 1996 to remove Russian intruders from Britain's skies after two maritime patrol aircraft were spotted off the Shetlands spying on a major NATO military exercise. As soon as the Russians spotted her jet they turned for home with Helen and her navigator escorting them out of the area

* Helen Gibson

..... American who was the FIRST stuntwoman when she doubled for Helen Holmes in the long running serial The Hazards of Helen which began in 1914

* Helen Hayes

..... FIRST  actress to win both a supporting award as well as a major acting Oscar when she won the award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Airport in 1970. Her Best Actress award was for The Sin of Madelon Claudet in 1931/32

* Helen Hull Jacobs

born August 6th 1908 died 1997

.....  American junior singles champion in 1924 and 1925 who was one of the FIRST to play tennis without wearing stockings and pioneered the wearing of shorts at Forest Hills in 1933

* Helen Keller

born June 27th

 ..... in 1882 at the age of two years she was stricken with a disease that robbed her of the ability to see and hear. Her parents tried everything they knew to communicate with her but without success. Eventually they made contact in Boston with Anne Sullivan, an expert in hand language and she came to stay as Helen's teacher thus beginning a remarkable relationship which was to last for almost fifty years.  She had to teach Helen everything right from the beginning and using a simple alphabet spelled out words on her fingers. she taught her to read Braille and Helen learned to understand what people were saying by lightly touching their lips.  She learned at an incredible rate and acquired a fine mastery of language. With the help of Anne Sullivan and sympathetic teachers she went to school and completed a full course of study. In 1900, at the age of twenty, she qualified for entry to Harvard University and after completing her degree course devoted much of her time to writing and speaking and visiting blind and deaf people. Her greatest gift was writing and she learned to type and wrote books and articles on many subjects.  During the Great War she visited injured soldiers and also again in the Second World War. She learned to ride horses and tandem bicycles and sought out famous people such as Charlie Chaplin, several US Presidents, Winston Churchill and Pandit Nehru. She lobbied Congress to get through important legislation affecting the disabled and would spend hours with children in schools and homes. In 1936 Anne Sullivan died and her place was taken by Polly Thomson and Helen's work continued until Polly died in 1959. Her mind remained active and alive until her own death in 1968. She was the FIRST deaf and blind person to graduate from a college when she completed her studies at Radcliffe in America

* Helen McGuinness

..... in June 1993 she was the FIRST 'golden girl' of the Greater Manchester Youth Games when she beat thousands of other youngsters to win a competition to design the medals for the event. Her design, made of silver, featured the Manchester 2000 bid logo and the words Greater Manchester Youth Games 1993 on one side and an Olympic torch on the other side

* Helen Meechie

..... in 1986 she was the FIRST woman to hold a senior staff appointment when appointed Brigadier at the Royal College of Defence Studies

* Helen Parry

..... FIRST woman director to work for the Short and Stocky Theatre Company in Manchester

* Helen Rollason

born March 11th 1956 died 1999

..... FIRST woman presenter on BBC television's Grandstand in 1990. Her success on the programme led to opportunities for further television presenting on Wimbledon, the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics in 1992 and 1996 and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada. In June 1999 she was appointed MBE for her services to sport, broadcasting and charities but sadly a few months later after a two year fight against cancer which won her the admiration of friends and colleagues

* Helen Sharman

born May 30th 1963

..... FIRST British astronaut when she was chosen from 13,000 hopefuls who had answered an advertisement which said "Astronaut wanted - no experience necessary". The runner-up was Major Timothy Mace. Helen was a scientist researching into the chemical and physical properties of chocolate for the Mars company in Slough. In May 1991 she joined a crew of male Soviet cosmonauts on an eight-day Anglo-Soviet Juno space mission after intensive training. Her job on the Mir space station was to carry out 20 scientific experiments dealing with biology, earth observation, the growth of crystals and the effects of space on he human body

* Helen Brannon Smith

..... FIRST woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing - 1964

* Helen Stephens

..... in March 2005 she became the FIRST woman to grace the porter's lodge of Jesus College (UK) since it was founded in 1496. It is one of Cambridge University's oldest and most famous colleges and only decided to accept female students in the 1970s

 * Helen Sweet

.....  FIRST Westerner to scale Mongolia's highest mountain, the 14,000 ft Munkharkhan even though she had never climbed a mountain before.  She was part of a group of two fellow climbers, a BBC cameraman and three Mongolians

* Helen Brooke Taussig

born 1898 died 1986

..... FIRST U.S. physician to warn of the impending danger of Thalidomide in 1962 and FIRST woman to be appointed a full professor in the John Hopkins Medical School.  She was the FIRST to demonstrate that changes in the heart and lungs could be diagnosed by x-rays. For 33 years from 1930 to 1963 she was in charge of the cardiac clinic of the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children where she specialised in congenital malformations of the heart. She received many honours during her lifetime including the US. Medal of Freedom and an honorary degree from Boston University. During most of her working life she came up against a lot of discrimination but because of her the cause of the condition known as 'blue baby' was found

* Helen Thayer

..... FIRST woman to make an unsupported solo journey to the North Magnetic Pole with just her husky dog Charlie for company, a journey of 364 miles and 27 days in 1988

* Helen Thomas

..... in 1992 she was elected as the FIRST female President of the Gridiron Dinner, a white-tie affair in which leading Washington journalists dress up in costumes and make fun of the current US administration. Women were not admitted until 1975 and so Eleanor Roosevelt used to throw "Gridiron Widows' " parties for excluded wives and female journalists

* Helen Vaughan

..... FIRST girl to play on the school football team at St John Fisher RC in Denton, Manchester, England in 1993. She was aged 11 years at the time and said " it's about time some boys came to terms with the fact that we girls can be just as good as the lads"

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