Noreen Margaret Lowry (, 6 September 1925 – 30 March 2017) was a

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barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

, where she was the first permanent female judge.

Early life

Noreen Margaret Collins was born on 6 September 1925 at 82

Adelaide Road Adelaide Road is a street in London running east to west between Chalk Farm and Swiss Cottage. Located in the London Borough of Camden it is part of the longer B509 route which continues as Belsize Road through South Hampstead. The Belsize P ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

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. Noreen was the eldest daughter of John Edmund Collins (1895–1971), a paint salesman, and Hilda Grace () (1901–1984). Collins was educated at Bedford High School, a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for girls aged 7 to 18 in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

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. Collins was awarded a place at

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

, but wartime regulations prevented her from taking up the offer. Collins instead read law at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Barrister

Judge

Personal life

Collins married Edward Lucas Gardner (1912–2001), a barrister and

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, in 1950. They had a son and also a daughter, the writer

Sally Gardner Sally Gardner is a British children's literature writer and illustrator. She won both the Costa Book Award for Children's Book and the Carnegie Medal for '' Maggot Moon'' (Hot Key Books, 2012). Under her pseudonym Wray Delaney she has also w ...

.Blog Tour: Tinder by Sally Gardner
Retrieved 11/9/21. Noreen's marriage to Gardner was dissolved in 1962. Noreen married Richard John Lowry (1924–2001), a barrister, on 24 April 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Nina 1925 births 2017 deaths British barristers People from Hampstead People educated at Bedford High School, Bedfordshire Alumni of the University of Birmingham 20th-century English judges 20th-century British women lawyers 21st-century British women judges 20th-century British women judges