Helena Normanton was born in London in 1882 to Jane and William Normanton. Sadly, her father died when she was four years old and her mother was compelled to raise Helena and her younger sister Ethel by herself in their home in Woolwich, letting rooms to maintain an income. Later they moved to Brighton to run a grocery store and a boarding house.
In her autobiography, Helena says that as a twelve-year-old, she once visited a solicitor with her mother and because her mother could not understand the advice they were given, she witnessed first-hand the male-dominated environment of the legal profession. It was then she decided to become a lawyer, principally because she realised there was a deficit of legal advice which was being offered to women.
At the age of 14, Helena won a scholarship to the York Place Science School in Brighton, then she went on to train as a teacher at Edge Hill College, Liverpool. At the same time while in Liverpool, she studied modern history as an external student at the University of London, graduating with 1st class honors. She utilized that qualification and knowledge, to become a lecturer in history at Glasgow and London Universities. After one faltered first attempt at becoming a barrister in 1918, she succeeded at her second attempt and in 1919 joined the Middle Temple as a trainee advocate; she was eventually called to the Bar in November 1922, shortly after Ivy Williams, who we wrote of in the first issue of this magazine. Helena was the first female council to lead in a case at the high court and the first woman to run a trial at the Old Bailey. In 1949 she was one of only two women, the other being Rose Heilbron, to be appointed as King’s Counsel at the English Bar.
Throughout her life Helena Normanton was a fervent campaigner for women’s rights and women’s suffrage. She was the first woman in Britain to retain a passport in her maiden name, and not that of her husband, Gavin Clark, and as an independently minded woman believed that men and women should keep their own money and property separately.
In 1929 she gave a speech in which she derided the position of women in society. At that time women were excluded from certain positions of power and influence in English society, the majority of which were exclusively occupied by men. She said then “While any woman was held back from the position to which her talents drew her, the whole of womanhood was lowered”. On one occasion, too strident in her feminist vision, she was described as ‘anti-man’ by the Married Women’s Association and left them only to form a breakaway body of her own, the Council of Married Women. In addition, in her later years, she founded the Magna Carta Society, and was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and took part in demonstrations against the nuclear bomb.
Helena Normanton died in October 1957 at the age of 74. She left an impressive legacy and one which has inspired and encouraged other women to join the legal profession. As recognition for her achievements, English Heritage erected a blue plaque in 2021 at her former residence at 22 Mecklenburgh Square in London. Then another was unveiled in 2022 at 4 Clifton Place, Brighton where she lived as a child. The latter was the result of a campaign by two local schoolgirls who, when researching about blue plaques, discovered that there were very few designated to women, especially in Brighton. The girls were inspired by Helena’s campaigns for equal pay for women, and raised awareness and finances to have this latest blue plaque emblem established in her name.
The more young women know about Helena Normanton, her life story, the more they may in the future be inspired and empowered to follow her example and pursue a career in the legal profession.
by Ian Smith
April 2024
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