Averil Deverell

Averil Katherine Statter Deverell (2 January 1893 – 11 February 1979) was one of the first two women barristers in the UK and Ireland.

Biography

Deverell was born on 2 January 1893 in Dublin. Her father, William Deverell was a solicitor who would become Clerk of the Crown and Peace for County Wicklow, and her mother was Kate Statter Carr. Growing up in Greystones, she was taught by her governess until she attended the French School, Bray, while socialising with Irish aristocracy at home.[1]

Deverell attended Trinity College, Dublin in 1911, a few years after it opened its doors to women in 1904 and was awarded a law degree from in 1915.[2] She drove an ambulance in France during the first World War before the law changed in 1919 to allow women to become barristers.[3] When she and her friend Frances Kyle were called to the bar on 1 November 1921, the admission of two women made international headlines.[1][4]

Deverell was the first woman to appear in the Supreme Court of Ireland and the Court of Criminal Appeal in Ireland, and in 1928 she became the first Irish woman barrister to appear before the Privy Council in London.[5] In addition, as she was called in November 1921, which pre-dated the Anglo-Irish treaty, and her first case being in January 1922 before the treaty was implemented, she was officially the first woman to act as a barrister in the United Kingdom.[1]

As a financial supplement to her work, she bought a cairn terrier with her first fee, and went on to set up a kennels, becoming a breeder of the dogs.[1]

See also

First women lawyers around the world

References
  1. Goldthrope, Liz (15 February 2018). "Deverell, Averil Katherine Statter (1893–1979)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  2. First 100 Years, https://first100years.org.uk/averil-deverell/, Accessed 15 June 2018
  3. "Trove belonging to Averil Deverell, Ireland's first female barrister, is saved". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  4. Harford, Judith; Rush, Claire (2010). Have Women Made a Difference?: Women in Irish Universities, 1850-2010. Peter Lang. ISBN 9783034301169.
  5. First 100 Years, https://first100years.org.uk/averil-deverell/, accessed 15 June 2018
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