Frances Lilian Fish QC (December 18, 1888 – October 27, 1975), the daughter of

Charles Elijah Fish Charles Elijah Fish (January 5, 1857 – July 3, 1933) was a businessman and political figure in New Brunswick, Canada. He represented Northumberland County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1899 to 1903 and Northumberland i ...

, was the first female law school graduate and lawyer in Nova Scotia, the first woman to run for office in the New Brunswick legislature, and a prominent lawyer in

Newcastle, New Brunswick Newcastle is an urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, it was an incorporated town and the shire town of Northumberland County. Situated on the north bank of the Miramichi R ...

. Fish, a B.A. graduate of University of New Brunswick (1910), obtained an M.A. in classics from University of Chicago (about 1913), before completing her law degree at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

in 1918. On September 10, 1918 she was the first woman called to the bar in Nova Scotia. At the time, women were not considered to be "persons" under the law. (see

Persons Case ''Edwards v Canada (AG)''also known as the ''Persons Case'' (french: l'Affaire « personne »)is a famous Canadian constitutional case that decided in 1929 that women were eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada. The legal case was put forward b ...

) Although she lived in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto, she returned to Newcastle following her father's death in 1933. She was among the first six female lawyers in the province. She ran as the

Reconstruction Party The Reconstruction Party was a Canadian political party founded by Henry Herbert Stevens, a long-time Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). Stevens served as Minister of Trade in the Arthur Meighen government of 1921, and as Minister of Trad ...

candidate for the Northumberland riding in the 1935 federal election, but was defeated by Liberal

John Patrick Barry John Patrick Barry (December 23, 1893 – August 17, 1946) was a Canadian politician and lawyer. Defeating candidates Frances Fish and John Adams Creaghan, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1935 election as a Member of t ...

. She also ran as an unsuccessful Conservative Party candidate in the 1935 New Brunswick provincial election. In 1947 she was named New Brunswick's first female deputy county magistrate, and was appointed a QC in 1972. The Frances Fish Women Lawyers Achievement Award, presented biennially by the Nova Scotia Association of Women and the Law, commemorates her achievements.

References

Lawyers in Nova Scotia Women in New Brunswick politics Canadian King's Counsel {{NewBrunswick-politician-stub