Who was the first British Police woman?

Answer 1

The first woman Police Officer of Special Patrols was Met Superintendent Sophia Stanley, at the beginning of 1917.

The Women's Police had been brought about in 1914 by two women, Margaret Damer Dawson, an anti-white slavery campaigner, and Nina Boyle, a militant suffragette journalist. These early volunteer women did not have the same arrest powers as male officers and were given tasks of looking after children, or patrolling where women were soliciting their services, among other menial tasks. They were unpaid Women Police Volunteers (WPV's)

In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Removal Act was passed which allowed women into professions unheard of before. Police Women Patrols came into service on 17th February 1919. The first paid officers were recruited from the Special patrols.

Sophia Stanley led the team assisted by Elinor Robinson. The first women Sergeants were Grace Russell, Patty Alliot and Lilian Wyles. London was divided up into 3 sections and each Sergeant was given an area. Their contracts were for 1 year and they had no powers of arrest.

It wasn't until 1923 before women were sworn in as Women Police Constables (WPC's) and given the full power of arrest.

The first black woman police officer was Sislin Fay Allenin 1968.

The first woman police officer to die on duty was Bertha Massey Gleghorn. Bertha joined the service at the Met on January 8 1940 and was killed by an enemy bomb dropped from a German Luftwaffe plane at Tottenham Court Road Police Station on June 19 1944.