Cornelia Sorabji (1866-1954), Barrister and Social Reformer

Sitter in 2 portraits
In 1886 Sorabji received a first-class degree from Deccan College, Poona. She was the first woman to be a admitted to the college, but because of her gender she was unable to take up a scholarship to a British university. Instead she taught at Gujarat College, but in 1888 she went to Somerville Hall, Oxford. She read the Bachelor of Civil Law and in 1892 became the first woman to sit for the examination. Although it was not possible for women to become barristers until 1919, she continued to read law with a solicitors' firm at Lincoln's Inn, until she was called to the bar in 1922. Her publications included India Calling (1934) and India Recalled (1936) and helped edit Queen Mary`s Book for India (1943).