# First female judge in the United Kingdom?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244 "2007-12-16T21:27:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/1 "2007-12-16T21:27:25Z")

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Who was the first female judge in England & Wales? What about Scotland and Northern Ireland?

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/2 "2007-12-16T21:51:36Z")

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You may have to be a bit more specific. What level in the judicial hierarchy? Are you including magistrates?

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/3 "2007-12-16T22:16:10Z")

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Sibyl Campbell was one. She held the office of Metropolitan Magistrate between 1945 and 1961.

Elizabeth Lane was appointed the first female judge in the County Court in 1962 and of the High Court in 1965.

Rose Heilbron was appointed as the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in 1972.

Brenda Hale is presently a justice of the Supreme Court of the UK, which was created in 2005, and replaces the House of Lords (and high courts in northern Ireland and Scotland) as the highest court in the land.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/4 "2007-12-17T11:08:45Z")

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Emily Murphy was the first in the British Empire - she became a police magistrate in Alberta in 1916.  
Only in Canada, eh? Pity.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/5 "2007-12-17T12:34:57Z")

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Ms Murphy may have been the first woman in the colonies to wear a silly wig, but the England had first dibs in 1913 with another Emily - [Emily Duncan](http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=92&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0) - on the 26th of June to be exact.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-judge-in-the-united-kingdom/430244/6 "2007-12-17T18:15:36Z")

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What the…?! I was lied to by a Heritage Minute!