Ethel Benjamin

Ethel Benjamin

Ethel Rebecca Benjamin (19 January 1875 - 14 October 1943) was New Zealand’s first female lawyer. On 17 September 1897, she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court, representing a client for the recovery of a debt. She was the second woman in the Empire to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor, two months after Clara Brett Martin of Canada.]

In 1899, the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children made Ethel Benjamin honorary solicitor.

Marriage and relocations

Ethel Benjamin married Alfred Mark Ralph De Costa in 1907, and moved to live with him in Wellington. She continued her legal practice, in an office adjacent to her husband's. In 1908, the De Costas moved to England and during World War I Ethel De Costa managed a bank in Sheffield. Between the wars, the De Costas lived in southern France and Italy. Ethel was accidentally struck by a motor vehicle, and died of a fractured skull in Mount Vernon Hospital at Northwood, Middlesex, England, on 14 October 1943.

Legacy

The Ethel Benjamin Prize for women was established in 1997 by the New Zealand Law Foundation, to mark the centenary of the admission of Ethel Benjamin as New Zealand's first woman barrister and solicitor. As of 2007 the $20,000 NZD prize is awarded annually, to two female recipients.

Ethel Benjamin Place, a cul de sac across the road from the University of Otago Central Library, was named after the lawyer, during Suffrage Centennial Year 1993. [cite web|title=Historical Interest - Memories Alive For the Future|date=1999-10-26|url=http://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/?page=feat_memorials|work=Dunedin City Council|accessdate=2007-10-01]

ee also

*Cornelia Sorabji in India
*Eliza Orme in England
*Ivy Williams in England

References

External links

* [http://www.otago.ac.nz/law/about/welcome.html University of Otago Law Faculty welcome]
* [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/ethel-rebecca-benjamin New Zealand History online photo of Ethel Benjamin]
* [http://www.lawfoundation.org.nz/awards/index.html New Zealand Law Foundation Scholarship details]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Jews/2/ENZ-Resources/Biography/1/en Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand - Jews]
* [http://www.lawfoundation.org.nz/news/march-07-1.htm Ethel Benjamin address - early women lawyers]


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