Helen Osborne, one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow was born in Beith on 23rd July 1920. Her father, Alexander, was a solicitor and she followed him into the profession. She began her studies in 1938 and sometimes struggled with academic Law, which was not uncommon given the demands of a concurrent apprenticeship. After a few attempts, however, she passed all the subjects required to graduate B.L., which she did in 1941. Like quite a few of her contemporaries she returned as a postgraduate candidate to sit conveyancing in 1944 and unlike many she passed first time. Helen continued to work as a law clerk and after fulfilling all the Law Society’s criteria she was admitted as a solicitor in 1947. She was in practice with the firm of Stewart and Osborne in Beith. Helen married James Kerr in 1968. She died in her home town in 1990, aged 69.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry and General Council Records
Scotlands People
Law Lists
CoSS Petitions List CS46 1947/12/75
