#memory
#law
#history
Cornelia Sorabji.
15 November is the birth anniversary of Cornelia Sorabji ( 1866 – 1954), the first woman to practice Law in the British Empire including India.
Cornelia was born in Nashik in the British Presidency. Her father
a Parsee, but had converted to Christianity.
Cornelia became the first woman to graduate ( in literature ) from the Bombay University, the first Indian woman to study abroad, the first Indian woman to study Law in Oxford, and the first female Advocate in India.
Cornelia returned to India in 1894 with a Bachelor in Civil Law from the University of Oxford, but was not allowed to practice. She had to wait till the existing law was changed in 1923. Meanwhile she took an LLB from the Bombay University in 1897, and passed the pleadership examination of the Allahabad University in 1899.
Cornelia Sorabji devoted her entire life to the emancipation of women, particularly the Pardha nashins ( Hindu woman forced to observe purdah), child brides and widows .
Cornelia retired in 1929 and lived in England till her death in 1954.
She was honoured by the Oxford University by erecting a bust, a first Indian woman in it’s history to be so honoured.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
