Person    | Female  Born 27/11/1844  Died 7/8/1934

Mary Harris Smith

Categories: Gender Issues, Other

Accountant. Born in Kingsland, the area around where Dalston Junction station now is. She became interested in accounting by helping her father who was a banker. In 1887 she set up her own accounting firm, and applied to join the Society of Accountants and Auditors, but was rejected many times.

It wasn't until May 1920, when in her seventies, she was finally admitted to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, becoming a fellow and the first woman chartered accountant. During her lifetime she supported many causes devoted to furthering women's rights. Died in St Leonards-on-Sea.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales's booklet, 100 Years, Celebrating Women in Accountancy, quotes Smith: ‘Require of me what you would require of a man and I will fulfil it.’ Mary Harris Smith, The Woman’s Signal, 1895.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Mary Harris Smith

Commemorated ati

Mary Harris Smith

The plaque was scheduled for unveiling on 5 May 2020, exactly 100 years since...

Read More

Other Subjects

Peter Tatchell

Peter Tatchell

Campaigner for human rights, gay freedom and social justice. Co-founder of Outrage!. Born Australia and began his campaigning there. To avoid conscription he moved to London in 1971 and here began ...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Australia

1 memorial
Pamela Colman Smith

Pamela Colman Smith

A British-American occultist, artist, illustrator, writer and storyteller. Most famous for the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, first published 1910, she created the standard classic deck of the English-sp...

Person, Art, Craft / Design, Gender Issues, Literature, Paranormal, Jamaica, USA

1 memorial
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

Formed in 1984 by Mark Ashton and his friend Mike Jackson, this group was only wound down in 2015. The London group used the bookshop Gay's the Word as their HQ. The largest fund-raising event was ...

Group, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Mrs Hester Thrale (Piozzi)

Mrs Hester Thrale (Piozzi)

Writer and good friend to Samuel Johnson. Born near Bwlheli, Caernarvonshire, as Hester Salusbury. In 1763 was married for money to Henry Thrale, a wealthy London brewer. An unhappy marriage, with ...

Person, Gender Issues, Literature, Wales

2 memorials
Ellen Wilkinson

Ellen Wilkinson

NUWSS in Manchester, Labour MP for Jarrow. As Jarrow MP she played a prominent role in the 1936 Jarrow March. Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Born Manchester. Had a close per...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial