Joanne Mooney Eichacker

Not a Proper Person: the Courageous Story of Georgina Frost, the First Woman Elected to Political Office in England and Ireland and Her Battle with ... Women Equal Political and Economic Standing Joanne Mooney Eichacker

Georgina Frost sued the King of England in 1915 when she was unanimously elected to replace her father as Petty Sessions Clerk in Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus. When the British govenment in Dublin Castle discovered that a woman had been elected, they cited a 1686 law, which stated that a government position could not be held by a woman. Her legal team fought her case through Petition of Right in April 1917, the Irish Court of Appeal in November 1917, and to the House of Lords in 1918, where she won in April 1920. Her case was instrumental in and helped by the passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919. Georgina Frost lived in dramatic, chaotic, and changing times in the development of modern Ireland. She and Irish Republican women took parallel stands against the British Government in Ireland: Georgina for employment equality for women, the others for Irish freedom and the political advancement of women supported by the right to vote. Through their courage, tenacity, and sacrifices, the role and position of Irish women changed forever.