22 Facts About Isabel Darlington

Isabel Darlington was an American lawyer and the first woman to gain admittance to the bar and practice law in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Isabel Darlington was the sole woman practicing law in Chester County for 45 years.

Isabel Darlington was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on June 22,1865.

Isabel Darlington's father was Smedley Darlington, a two-term Republican congressman, banker, and oil and real estate investor.

Isabel Darlington was one of eleven children, four of whom died in infancy.

Isabel Darlington attended Darlington Seminary, a girls' school in East Bradford Township owned by her father.

Isabel Darlington accompanied him on business trips to Western states where he owned extensive lands.

Isabel Darlington completed the three-year Bachelor of Laws program in 18 months and graduated at the top of her class, overcoming reluctance from faculty members who had been reluctant to admit her, let alone confer a degree.

Isabel Darlington gained admittance to the Chester County Bar on October 4,1897.

Isabel Darlington became the second woman to graduate from Penn Law and the first woman to practice law in Chester County.

Isabel Darlington eventually rose to partner in Butler's West Chester law firm.

Isabel Darlington gained admittance to practice before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1902 and before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1907, though she generally avoided courtroom trials.

Isabel Darlington was the second woman lawyer ever to practice before these courts, following Carrie Burnham Kilgore.

Isabel Darlington became the nation's first woman bank receiver at Parkesburg National Bank from 1924 to 1926.

Isabel Darlington was elected president of the Chester County Bar Association on January 14,1941, becoming the first woman to attain such an office in Pennsylvania.

Isabel Darlington practiced law for a total of 53 years, including 45 years as the only woman lawyer in Chester County.

Isabel Darlington was active in the local Republican Party and served as secretary and treasurer of the Fire Creek Colliers Company and trustee of West Chester State Normal School.

Isabel Darlington served as director of the poor in Chester County, president of the Wentworth Home in West Chester, and vice president of the Chester County Historical Society.

Isabel Darlington chaired Wellesley College's alumna committee as of 1907 and served on the endowment committee.

Isabel Darlington never married and lived quietly with her sister at the family home of Faunbrook, a Victorian mansion in West Chester built in 1860 and purchased by their father in 1867.

Isabel Darlington died of heart failure at Faunbrook on Saturday, June 24,1950, at the age of 85.

Isabel Darlington was buried in Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester.