Frances Kyle


Frances Christian Kyle was an Irish barrister and the first woman, together with Averil Deverell, to be admitted to the bar in Ireland on 1 November 1921. It not only made headlines in Dublin but also in New York, London, and India. It was almost a year before any woman was called to the English bar.

Biography

Kyle was born on 30 October 1893 to parents, Kathleen Frances Bates and Robert Alexander Kyle. She received her BA in French, in 1914, and her LLB, in 1916, at Trinity College, Dublin where she became the first woman to win the John Brooke Scholarship. At the time, The Irish Times described her being awarded the Scholarship as representing "a women’s invasion of the law." In January 1920, Frances and Averil were admitted as the first female students of law at King's Inns, Dublin. Frances came first in the Bar Entrance Examinations. In 1922, Frances was elected a member of the circuit of Northern Ireland at a meeting in Belfast, becoming the first female member of a circuit. Frances is reported in the Dublin Evening Telegraph in 1922 as having received eight briefs.
Frances struggled to find work as her last listing in Thoms Law Directory is in 1931. In 1937, she appeared in court to defend herself on a parking summons. By 1952, Frances was living in London with her sister Kathleen, who was married to a medical inspector, Dr. John McCloy. In 1930, Kathleen was described by the Belfast Newsletter as "very well known in Belfast" and "a delightful speaker".
Frances died on 12 February 1958, aged 64.