TRINBAGONIAN WOMEN WHO MADE HISTORY IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

From the blog of Patricia Bissessarsingh Feb 22 2024.
Women's History Month is the perfect time to reflect on some of our lesser-known heroines out there. Women who are not household names , but women everyone should know about because of their incredible contributions in different field of endeavours. Today’s blog shines the spotlight of attention on;
The first Woman Lawyer to be admitted to the Bar in Trinidad
Did you know that women were not allowed to practice in the Courts of Trinidad and Tobago until well over a hundred years after our first Civil High Courts were established in 1822?
In 1939, Mona Marjorie Rigsby became the first Trinidad and Tobago-born female attorney-at-law to be admitted to practise in the local Courts and the youngest barrister across the British Empire. Ms. Rigsby was born in Port of Spain in 1918 and in 1935, she wrote and passed the entrance examination for London University. She then attended Middle Hall, where she secured honours in the fields of Roman Law and Criminal Law and Procedure. She was called to the Bar in England in June 1939 at the age of twenty-one. At that time, upon her call, she was the youngest barrister, male or female, across the entire British Empire. Ms. Rigsby returned to Trinidad and Tobago and was admitted to practice in the local Courts in September 1939.
Mona Marjorie Rigsby and other women barrister like her not only paved the way for women in enter the male dominated legal fraternity but they also deserve our respect, admiration and remembrance.
TRIVIA QUESTION
Who was the First female judge in Trinidad and Tobago ?
Credit to the following sources :
· Mona Marjorie Rigsby: Photo courtesy of the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian published on September 6, 1939, which is part of the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago Newspaper https://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivestt/photos
· https://civilwatch.wordpress.com/2021/08/02/who-were-the-first-women-to-practise-in-the-courts-of-trinidad