Letitia Alice Walkington

Letitia Alice Walkington (c. 1857 – 28 May 1918) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer who was the first woman to graduate with a degree of Bachelor of Laws in Great Britain or Ireland, which she received from the Royal University of Ireland.[2][3]

Letitia Alice Walkington
Born1857[1]
Belfast, Ireland
Died28 May 1918
Belfast, Ireland
NationalityIrish, British
EducationRoyal University of Ireland

Biography

Walkington was born about 1857[1] in Belfast and lived most of her life on Belmont Road in Strandtown.[4] She was the daughter of Thomas R. Walkington and Letitia Walkington (née Von Heyn). She had at least one sister, Edith. The family were well connected in the city; Edith and Letitia were both left money by Gustav Wilhelm Wolff of Harland and Wolff.[5] She did not attend school until she was 16, instead being educated at home by governess. Then she went to a boarding school and to school in Paris.[6]

Finally she attended the Royal University of Ireland in Dublin and matriculated in 1882. She studied at Methodist College Belfast[7] and law at Queen's College, Belfast. Her mentor was the barrister Mr. Thomas Harrison, She completed her BA. degree in 1885, her M.A. in 1886, the LL.B. in 1888 and her LL.D in 1889 becoming the first woman to complete the last 3 degrees.[6][8]

Unable to obtain a suitable position as a solicitor or get to join the bar, Walkington coached other young women for examinations since there were limited opportunities for them in the schools. In 1889 Walkington took part in the "Congres International des (Euvres et Institutions Feminines," in connection with the Paris Exhibition. She attended as part of the Dublin Women's Suffrage Committee. Walkington also worked on a device for embossing Braille.[9][10][11]

References
  1. Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958
  2. "8th Report on the Royal University of Ireland(FOR 1889,)".
  3. "Nov. 28, 1897".
  4. Census Details for 1901 and 1911
  5. "The Will of Gustav Wolff, Public Record Office, Kew (England) ref: FO917/1624 (document no.204)". Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  6. "Dictionary of Contemporaries".
  7. "THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MB EXAMINATION" (21591). The Belfast News Letter. 4 October 1884.
  8. "Aspen Daily Times, July 14, 1892".
  9. Mary Jane Mossman. The First Women Lawyers: A Comparative Study of Gender, Law and the Legal Professions. Bloomsbury Publishing, 31 May 2006. p. 342.
  10. "Harlow N. Higinbotham, President World's Columbian Exposition. The World's Congress Of Representative Women".
  11. "Newspaper discussing refusal to join the Bar, Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue 9436, 7 September 1907, Page 3".
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