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Several of these ‘firsts’ are profiled within the book. Please check the Index for references.

1768 Founder members of Royal Academy – Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser

1876 Blue Plaque unveiled – Sarah Siddons at 27 Upper Baker Street (since demolished)

1876 Qualified as a doctor – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

1885 Oldest surviving Blue Plaque – Fanny Burney at 11 Bolton Street

1893 Qualified as a surgeon – Dame Louise Aldrich-Blake

1895 Qualified as a dentist – Lilian Lindsay

1898 Admitted to Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – Ethel Charles

1907 Member of the Order of Merit – Florence Nightingale

1918 Elected to the House of Commons – Countess Markievicz

1919 Took her seat in the House of Commons – Nancy Astor

1919 Metropolitan Police Officer – Sofia Stanley

1922 Qualified as a barrister – Ivy Williams (did not practise)

1922 Qualified and practised as a solicitor – Carrie Morrison (three others qualified with Carrie but she passed her articles to be the first admitted)

1923 Practised as a barrister – Helena Normanton

1929 Appointed to the Cabinet (Minister of Labour) – Margaret Bondfield

1930 Flew solo from Britain to Australia – Amy Johnson

1945 Fellow of the Royal Society – Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson

1945 Worked in Central (Meat) Market, Smithfield – Joan Brown

1946 Awarded the George Cross – Odette Samson of the SOE

1949 King’s Counsel (KC) – Helena Normanton/Rose Heilbron

1953 Had a UK No. 1 hit – Lila Ross with How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

1958 Life peers in the House of Lords – Baroness Wootton of Abinger (Barbara Wootton), Baroness Swanborough (Stella Isaacs), Baroness Elliot of Harwood (Katharine Elliot) and Baroness Ravensdale of Kedleston (Irene Curzon)

1960 Won an Olympic Track and Field Gold Medal – Mary Rand in the Long Jump

1971 UK women’s refuge – established by Erin Pizzey in Chiswick

1973 Black MBE – Sybil Phoenix for community work, particularly with young women

1973 Members of the London Stock Exchange – Anthea Gaukroger, Audrey Geddes, Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, Hilary Root, Susan Shaw (first to set foot on the Stock Exchange floor), Muriel Wood

1975 Member of Lloyds of London – Liliana Archibald

1975 Rabbi – Jackie Tabick

1975 Depicted on a British banknote – Florence Nightingale (£10)

1975 British major political party leader – Margaret Thatcher (Conservative Party)

1977 London black cab driver – Marie White (see box below)

1978 London Underground train driver – Hannah Dadds

1979 Prime Minister/Head of State in the Western world – Margaret Thatcher

1981 A St James’s gentlemen’s club admitted women members – Reform Club

1981 Cox in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race – Sara Brown for Oxford

1983 Lord Mayor of the City of London – Mary Donaldson

1987 Black MP – Diane Abbott

1991 Travelled into space – Helen Sharman

1991 Director General of MI5 – Stella Rimington

1992 Speaker to the House of Commons – Betty Boothroyd

1995 Reached the top of Mount Everest without a partner or extra oxygen – Alison Jane Hargreaves

1997 Chief Executive of a Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 company - Marjorie Scardino at Pearson

1998 Muslim woman entered the House of Lords – Baroness Uddin

1999 MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), known as Lord’s, admitted ten female Members

1999 Chief Cashier at the Bank of England – Merlyn Lowther

2000 Controller of BBC1 – Lorraine Heggessey

TAXI!

Until 1977 the only people who could drive the iconic London black cabs were men. Trainee drivers study ‘the Knowledge’ for years, mastering the labyrinth of over 26,000 streets within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross. Only then can they gain the coveted London-wide Green Badge. In 1976 Marie White (died 1993), married to cab driver Jack, became the first woman to ‘learn the Knowledge’. She trained using a Mini rather than the usual moped for the first ten months and in 1977 became the proud owner of Badge 25292. She and Jack were the first married couple both to be licensed cab drivers. In 1983 she joined Dial-a-Cab (now Computer Cab) and in 1988 joined their Board of Management, the first woman to do so. Today however, 40 years after Marie’s achievement, it is estimated that just 2 per cent of London cab drivers are women.

Marie White

2001 Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange – Clara Furse

2004 Law Lord – Brenda Hale

2007 Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) at the Tower of London – Moira Cameron

2007 Chef to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars – Claire Smyth

2009 Pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea – Dorothy Hughes and Winifred Phillips

2009 Head Cutter in Savile Row – Kathryn Sargent (see box below)

2009 Poet Laureate – Carol Ann Duffy

2012 General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) – Frances O’Grady

2014 Master of a Livery Company – Debby Ounsted, Worshipful Company of Mercers

2014 Master of the Queen’s Music – Judith Weir

2015 Bishop – Libby Lane, Bishop of Stockport

2015 Bishop to take a seat in the House of Lords – Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester

2015 Chair of the National Gallery – Hannah Rothschild

2017 Metropolitan Police Commissioner – Cressida Dick

2017 President of the Supreme Court – Lady Brenda Hale

2017 Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade – Dany Cotton

THE CUTTING EDGE

In 2009 Kathryn Sargent (born 1974) became the first female to rise to the esteemed position of head cutter in the history of Savile Row, the historic street synonymous with gentlemen’s clothing. In April 2016 Kathryn continued to break through the ‘check ceiling’ when she opened her own bespoke tailoring seasonal store on ‘The Row’, the first female master tailor to do so. Her extensive training included 15 years at Gieves and Hawkes, where she later became Head Cutter, and in 1998 she was the recipient of the Golden Shears Award, a symbol of excellence awarded to industry newcomers. Discretion does not allow her to name individual clients, but they include British royalty and A-list celebrities. Today, more women than ever before are commissioning bespoke pieces, and now represent nearly 50 per cent of her client base – www.kathrynsargent.com.

Kathryn Sargent