Magistracy, Policing and Community
Amongst the UK’s earliest magistrates were Plymouth women – stalwarts of the local community and important activists, both inside and outside the courts. Plymouth was also early in the field of providing women police – during the Great War – and while they did not survive the prejudices of the local Watch Committee in the early 1920s, they made a welcome return in WW2, and have since made important contributions to the community.
Mrs John Buller-Kitson JP (1859-1944) Born Agnes Carus-Wilson, she married Rev John Buller-Kitson. She became one of the early women magistrates in the South West in 1922, serving as a Devon County magistrate before resigning in 1941. In 1926, she also became a Plymouth JP, taking… Read More »Agnes Buller-Kitson
Inspector Audrey Canney She was one of Plymouth’s earliest policewomen, and rose to become Inspector of the two-woman police department in the Plymouth City force which had been created in the Great War and survived until 1921, when it was ended as part of a cost-cutting measure… Read More »Audrey Canney
Mrs. Florence E. Drake JP (1878-1939) Another early magistrate, she was also an active member of the Plymouth Co-operative Society, especially working with the women’s branch.
Evelyn Elizabeth Latham Initially one of the Police Court Missionaries in Plymouth at the start of the interwar era, Miss Latham subsequently became a Plymouth Probation Officer for women and girls. A key theme she promoted through her work was that girls were not solely… Read More »Evelyn Elizabeth Latham
Eileen Normington (1917 to 2019) Plymouth born Eileen was one of the first women police officers in the revival of women police in the Plymouth force – joining shortly after declaration of war in 1939, aged 22. She worked throughout the war as one of the Women’s Auxiliary… Read More »Eileen Normington
Mrs Robert Simpson (1854-1941) (Sarah) Louise Simpson, known as Louie, was Plymouth’s first woman magistrate, and before the amalgamation of the Three Towns in 1914, she had been the first woman appointed to the old borough’s Board of Guardians, in 1898. The wife of Dr Robert… Read More »Louie Simpson
Miss Isobel Taylor One of the two policewomen in the Plymouth Women Police Department set up in the Great War, and dissolved as a cost-cutting measure in 1921 by the Watch Committee. She worked both in uniform and undercover as a detective.
Mrs Edith Wilmot OBE, JP The wife of Dr Wilmot, a well-known and respected Plymouth medical practitioner, she was first appointed a JP on the Plymouth Bench in 1923. During WWI, she had been the local divisional secretary of the Red Cross, and subsequently took… Read More »Edith Wilmot
Frances Anne Wyatt JP (d1933) Mrs F.A. Wyatt, of Osborne Place, The Hoe, was a noted local activist during both her marriage and widowhood (she was Mrs P. Wyatt initially), and with a record of public service behind her (including being a Poor Law Guardian) was,… Read More »Frances Anne Wyatt