Gwyneth Bebb was the claimant in Bebb v The Law Society, a test case in the opening of the legal profession to women in Britain.
17 Facts About Gwyneth Bebb
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Gwyneth Bebb was expected to be the first woman to be called to the bar in England; in the event, her early death prevented that, and Ivy Williams was the first woman to qualify as a barrister in England, in May 1922.
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Gwyneth Bebb was the third of seven children of Llewellyn John Montford Bebb, a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.
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Gwyneth Bebb moved to Wales with her family after her father was appointed principal of St David's College, Lampeter in 1898.
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Gwyneth Bebb was educated at St Mary's School in Paddington, London and then studied jurisprudence at St Hugh's College, Oxford, from 1908.
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Gwyneth Bebb was the sixth woman to study law at Oxford: her predecessors included Cornelia Sorabji and Ivy Williams.
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Gwyneth Bebb completed her studies with First-Class degree marks in 1911, but at that time women were not awarded degrees or allowed to graduate.
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Gwyneth Bebb became an investigating officer for the Board of Trade.
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Gwyneth Bebb's husband was born in 1872, the second son of Captain William Thomson of the 78th Highlanders.
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Gwyneth Bebb's husband had several brothers, including Henry Broughton Thomson, and William Montgomery Thomson of the Seaforth Highlanders.
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Gwyneth Bebb was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1921.
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Gwyneth Bebb had applied to join Lincoln's Inn as a student barrister in 1918, but she was refused.
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Gwyneth Bebb gave birth to a daughter, Diana, on 23 December 1919.
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Gwyneth Bebb applied again to join Lincoln's Inn that month, and was admitted as a student on 27 January 1920.
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Gwyneth Bebb attended a banquet at the House of Commons on 8 March 1920 to celebrate the passing of the Act, where she proposed a toast.
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Gwyneth Bebb was permitted with 51 other Oxford women, to graduate in 1920, then the only woman who had obtained a First Class Degree in Law.
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The premature baby died on 12 August, and Gwyneth Bebb herself died at a nursing home in Edgbaston on 9 October 1921, shortly before her 32nd birthday.