1920 |
The great Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931), becomes the first person to be heard on radio when she sings at the Marconi works in Chelmsford. |
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1920 |
Oxford University opens its degrees to women. |
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1920 |
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1920 |
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1920 |
Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) publishes her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. |
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1921 |
Unemployment benefit was extended to include allowances for wives. |
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1921 |
The diplomat and traveller Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) attends a conference in Egypt hosted by Winston Churchill and is invited to draw up the new boundaries for Iraq. |
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1921 |
Ivy Williams is the first woman to be called to the bar, but she declines. Instead, the first woman barrister is Helena Normanton (1883-1957) in 1922. |
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1921 |
Victoria Drummond is first woman member of the Institute of Marine Engineers. |
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1921 |
The Six Point Group is founded by Lady Rhondda (1883-1958), to push for women's equality on six points: political, occupational, moral, social, economic and legal. |
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1921 |
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1921 |
The American novelist Edith Wharton (1861-1937) is the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence. |
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1922 |
The first edition of Good Housekeeping, a new style of women's magazine, appears. Contributors to the first issue include Nancy Astor and Helena Normanton. |
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1922 |
The Law of Property Act enables both husband and wife to inherit property equally. |
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1922 |
The Infanticide Act is passed. If the state of a woman's mind was found to be unbalanced, she can no longer be hanged for killing her child. |
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1922 |
Carrie Morrison becomes the first woman solicitor. |
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1922 |
Aileen Cust becomes the first woman member of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. |
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1922 |
Irene Barclay is the first woman chartered surveyor. |
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1923 |
The Women's Advertising Club of London is set up with Marion Lyon, advertising manager at Punch, as its first president. |
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1923 |
Nancy Astor's first Private Members Bill restricts the sale of alcohol to young people under the age of 18. |
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1923 |
On 2 May Women's Hour (not to be confused with Woman's Hour), is first broadcast. The programme runs for less than two years. |
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1923 |
The Matrimonial Causes Bill is passed. For the first time a wife is eligible to petition for divorce on account of her husband's adultery. |
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1923 |
The entomologist, Lucy Evelyn Cheesman (1881-1969) becomes the first woman curator at London Zoo. |
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1924 |
The Electrical Association for Women is founded by Dame Caroline Haslett (1895-1957), to encourage the use of electricity in the home. |
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1925 |
The Guardianship of Infants Act gives parents equal claims over their children. |
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1925 |
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) makes her debut at the Revue Negre in the Champs Elysees in Paris. |
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1926 |
The style guru, Coco Chanel (c.1883-1971) introduces her "little black dress". For the first time, hemlines are on the knee. |
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1926 |
Queen Elizabeth II is born on 21 April. |
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1926 |
Hilda Matheson (1888-1940) is appointed as the BBC's first Director of Talks. |
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1926 |
The Women's Cricket Association is formed. |
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1927 |
Ethel Snowden becomes the first woman governor of the BBC. |
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1927 |
Mercedes Gleitze becomes the first Englishwoman to swim the English Channel on 7 October. |
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1927 |
Dorothy Buchanan becomes the first woman member of Institution of Civil Engineers and works on Sydney Harbour Bridge. |
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1927 |
Lady Mary Bailey (1890-1960) is the first woman to fly solo across the Irish Sea. |
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1928 |
The Equal Franchise Act is passed giving women equal voting rights with men. All women aged over 21 can now vote in elections more on women's votes |
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1928 |
The novelist Radclyffe Hall (1980-1943) publishes The Well of Loneliness, about a lesbian relationship. Within weeks, the book is declared obscene and is withdrawn from sale. Radclyffe Hall finds herself facing an obscenity trial. |
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1928 |
Elisabeth Scott (1898-1972) is announced winner of the competition to design the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford. |
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1928 |
Amelia Earhart (1898-1937) is the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger and log keeper. |
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1928 |
Dame Freya Stark (1893 - 1993), traveller extraordinaire, embarks on the first of her travels, to the Lebanon. |
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1928 |
The anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) publishes the first of her best-selling books Coming of Age in Samoa. |
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1929 |
On 30 May thousands of eager young women were allowed to vote for the first time. This General Election is sometimes referred to as the Flapper Election. |
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1929 |
A Week in Westminster is first broadcast on the BBC. It is the idea of Hilda Matheson, who wishes to inform the newly enfranchised women about the workings of parliament. |
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1929 |
The Townswoman's Guild holds its first meeting, at Hayward 's Heath in Sussex. |
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1929 |
Women become "persons" in their own right, by order of the Privy Council. |
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1929 |
Mother Theresa (1910-1997) starts her life as a missionary with the Loreto Nuns in Calcutta. |
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1929 |
Margaret Bondfield (1873-1953) is appointed Minister of Labour, making her the first woman cabinet minister. |
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1929 |
Maude Royden (1876-1956) sets up the Society for the Ministry of Women. |
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1929 |
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) publishes her most overtly feminist work A Room of One's Own. |
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1929 |
The ceramicists Susie Cooper (1902-1995) establishes her own pottery in Tunstall, Staffordshire. |
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1929 |
The speedway rider, Fay Taylour (1908-1983) represents Britain in the Australian Speedway Championships - and wins. |
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