Lyra Taylor
New Zealand lawyer and social worker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lyra Veronica Esmeralda Taylor OBE (11 July 1894 – 23 March 1979) was a New Zealand lawyer and social worker. She spent much of her career in Australia.
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Lyra Taylor, 1940 | |
| Born | 11 July 1894 |
| Died | 23 March 1979 (aged 84) |
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Taylor was born on 11 July 1894 in Stratford, New Zealand. She was one of four children of Robert Taylor, a farmer from England, and his New Zealand-born wife Mary, née Morrison. One of her siblings was Clara Taylor, who became a science teacher in England.[1][2] Another sister, Portia, became a doctor in England, and Taylor's only brother became a barrister.[3][4]
Taylor studied law at the Victoria University of Wellington, and was "called to the bar" in 1918,[5] the first woman to be a barrister in Wellington.[1] In 1919, Taylor was made partner at a law firm which duly renamed itself as Kirk, Wilson, and Taylor.[6]
In early 1940 Taylor was appointed general secretary of the Y.W.C.A. in New South Wales.[7] In 1944 she started work with the Australian Department of Social Services.[8] Taylor was sent on a 10 month study tour of England, Canada and the United States sponsored by the Carnegie Trust.[9][10]
Taylor was a founding member of the Australian Association of Social Workers.[1]
In the 1959 Queen's Birthday Honours, Taylor was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[11][12]