Ethel Bright Ashford
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Ethel Bright Ashford (1883–1980) was an English politician and one of the first women barristers. She was a local councillor for Marylebone, and was involved in social work.[1]
She was born in Beckenham, Kent on March 18, 1883, the fourth of five children of Henry Bright Ashford and his wife Lydia, née Bridges.[2] She attended Croydon High School and gained a BA from the University of London in 1906, and then pursued postgraduate study in social work and history at Woodbrooke College, Birmingham, the London School of Economics, and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania from 1908 to 1912.[3]
Early career
In 1912, Ashford was appointed Assistant Inspector and Official Lecturer for the National Health Insurance Commission. This work was interrupted by World War I, when she became managing director of the family business, Ashford & Ashford hosiery manufacturers, between 1917 and 1919 while her brothers were at war.[4] During this time she became involved in the Women's Municipal Party, which advocated for women in politics and recommended that women be admitted to the bar; and she co-wrote A Handbook to Local Government (1918) with Edith Place.[5]
In 1919 she was elected to St Marylebone Borough Council as a councillor for Park Crescent Ward, a position she held until 1953.[3]