Mary Sykes

Mary Elaine Sykes (1896-1981) was a British solicitor.[1]

In 1922 she and Mary Pickup, Carrie Morrison, and Maud Crofts became the first women in England to qualify as solicitors; Morrison was the first of them to finish her articles, and was the first woman admitted to the role of solicitor.[2] Sykes was admitted as such in 1923.[1] She worked for her father’s firm until 1930, when she set up her own firm, Mary Sykes & Co.[1]

In 1935 she became the only woman on the Huddersfield Town Council; at that time she was also Huddersfield’s only practicing woman solicitor.[1] In 1937 she became Huddersfield’s first woman alderman, and in 1945 she became the first woman to be elected as Lord Mayor of Huddersfield.[1]

She married in 1953.[1]

She was a member of the Labour Party and served as President of the Huddersfield Labour Party. [1]

She was also a Soroptimist.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Mary Elaine Sykes, "The Wise Little Owl" - First 100 Years". first100years.org.uk.
  2. ↑ "BBC News | UK | 75 years of women solicitors". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  3. ↑ "Mary Elizabeth Pickup". first100years.org.uk.
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