Bertha Cave

Bertha Cave (1881–1951) was a legal campaigner who fought, unsuccessfully, to be accepted to the bar.

Biography

Cave was born in Sundridge, Kent on 14 November 1881. Her father, James Thomas Cave was a butler and her mother, Annie, née Barker was also a servant.[1]

On 3 March 1903, Cave applied to become the first female member of the Gray's Inn to allow her to be called to the bar. She was mistakenly accepted which was soon changed and she was rejected on the basis of her gender.[2] Cave appealed and in December of the same year, the case was heard, in proceedings that lasted 10 minutes,[3] in the House of Lords. It was argued that women "were under a disability by reason of their sex".[4] Again, she was unsuccessful, however, undeterred she continued her campaign alongside Christabel Pankhurst.[1][5]

In November 1904 she attempted to represent her father in court (regarding non-payment of a bicycle) however, objections were raised regarding her gender and she was forced to move from the counsel benches.[1]

Cave unofficially married Ali Altaf (or Altof), a barrister, on 1 December 1905 and they lived together in Kensington until he left to go back to India, where he was born in 1913.[1]

Cave (then known as Bertha Altof) became a fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society and worked as a bacteriologist in Nova Scotia in 1920. Her final years were spent in Toronto where she died in 1951.[1]

References
  1. Bourne, Judith (8 November 2018). "Cave [married name Altof], Bertha (1881–1951)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. Schultz, Ulrike; Shaw, Gisela; Nelken, David; Hunter, Rosemary, eds. (2003). "The status of Women Lawyers in the United Kingdom". Women in the World's Legal Professions. Hart Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 9781841133195. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. Andrus, R. Blain (2009). Lawyer: A Brief 5,000-year History. American Bar Association. p. 403. ISBN 9781604425987.
  4. Bourne, Judith (2016). "Closed doors at the Inns of Court". Helena Normanton and the Opening of the Bar to Women. Waterside Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 9781909976320. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. Wade, Stephen (2015). "The Justice Women". The Justice Women: The Female Presence in the Criminal Justice System 1800-1970. Pen and Sword. p. 20. ISBN 9781473843653. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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