Iris de Freitas Brazao
Iris de Freitas Brazao | |
|---|---|
 Postcard from Aberystwyth University | |
| Born | 29 October 1896 Barbados |
| Died | 1989 (aged 92–93) Georgetown, Guyana |
| Education | Aberystwyth University Honourable Society of the Inner Temple |
| Occupation | Barrister-at-Law |
| Known for | First Female Barrister in the Commonwealth Caribbean |
| Spouse | Alfred Brazao |
Iris de Freitas Brazao (1896 – 1989) was the first female Barrister-at-Law (Lawyer) in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Life
Iris de Freitas Brazao was born in Barbados and from childhood resided in Guyana (then British Guiana).[1][2][3][4][5] Iris de Freitas Brazao's father M. G. de Freitas, was a merchant of Madeiran Portuguese descent and her mother was Barbadian.[1]
Iris de Freitas Brazao's academic life was stellar. After a short period of study at the University of Toronto in Canada in 1918, she enrolled at Aberystwyth University in Wales. She graduated with a BA and an LL.B in the 1920s from that university.[6]
Iris went on to study at the University of Oxford from 1923 and the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in England. In 1929 she was admitted to the Bar as the first woman Barrister-at-Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean. She was also the first female prosecutor of a murder trial in Guyana.[6][1]
In 1937 she married Alfred Brazao who was also a Barrister-a-Law. They lived in Georgetown, British Guiana where she continued to work as a Barrister-at-Law.[7] Iris died in 1989 in Georgetown, Guyana having achieved many firsts in her legal career.[8]
Legacy
In 2014, research on Iris de Freitas Brazao was featured in Dr. Joanne Collins-Gonsalves Gonsalves' PhD dissertation.[9]
In 2016, staff at her alma mater came across a postcard that featured her. Investigations revealed that she was a graduate of Aberystwyth University. Along with Iris' Aberystwyth University records and information provided by Dr. Joanne Collins-Gonsalves and Mrs. Joan Brathwaite, additional information on Iris' life was revealed. On International Women's Day in 2016, her university named a room in the university's Hugh Owen Library in her honour.[6]
In 2018, to celebrate Black History Month in the United Kingdom, she was included in a list of 100 "Brilliant, Black and Welsh" people.[10]
In 2021, the Caribbean Court of Justice honored Iris as one of the Pioneering Caribbean Women Jurists[11][12]
In 2023, the first full length book on Iris de Freitas Brazao, a scholarly biography titled: Iris de Freitas Brazao, Legal Luminary and Trailblazer: Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England 1896-1989 was published by Dr. Joanne Collins-Gonsalves (Edmonton: Atlantic Academic Publishing Inc, 2023).[1][13][14][15]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 Collins-Gonsalves, Joanne (2023-12-13). Iris de Freitas Brazao, Legal Luminary and Trailblazer: Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England 1896-1989. Atlantic Academic Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1-7380837-0-1.
- ↑ "New Publication - Iris de Freitas Brazao, Legal Luminary and Trailblazer: Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England 1896-1989 by Dr. Joanne Collins-Gonsalves". Historical Research International Inc. February 29, 2024.
- ↑ Brereton, Bridget (April 11, 2024). "A Trailblazing Caribbean Woman". Trinidad and Tobago Express.
- ↑ de Silva, Mark (June 28, 2024). "The Story of Iris de Freitas Brazao: The First Female Lawyer in the Commonwealth Caribbean - A look at a Biography of an Outstanding Caribbean Professional with Vincentian Connection". The News (St. Vincent). p. 5.
- ↑ "DE FREITAS BRAZAO, IRIS (1896 - 1989), lawyer | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
- 1 2 3 "Aberystwyth University honours first female lawyer in the Caribbean". Aberystwyth University. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ↑ "Iris de Freitas Brazao". Narberth Museum. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ↑ Collins-Gonsalves, Dr Joanne. "Celebrating a Caribbean pioneer". Law Gazette. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
- ↑ Collins-Gonsalves, Joanne (2014). "Dissertation: The entrepreneurship of the Portuguese of Georgetown, British Guiana 1840-1940. University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus".
- ↑ Wightwick, Abbie (28 September 2018). "Brilliant, Black and Welsh: A celebration of 100 African Caribbean and African Welsh people". WalesOnline. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ↑ Winston Anderson; M. Ragnauth-Lee, eds. (2021). Pioneering Caribbean Women Jurists. Port of Spain: Caribbean Court of Law, Academy of Law.
- ↑ "Former Chancellor Désirée Bernard, 2 other Guyanese Recognised as Pioneering C'bean Women Jurists". Guyana Times. October 18, 2021.
- ↑ "Book Launch: Iris de Freitas Brazao Legal Luminary and Trailblazer: Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England 1896-1989 by Dr. Joanne Collins-Gonsalves". Historical Research International Inc. March 12, 2024.
- ↑ "Academics Laud New Book on Iris de Freitas Brazao at Book Launch". Historical Research International Inc. July 4, 2024.
- ↑ Collins, Justine K (2025). "Iris De Freitas Brazao: Legal Luminary and Trailblazer, Caribbean, Canada, Wales, England, 1896–1989 by Joanne Collins-Gonsalves". Journal of Indentureship and Its Legacies. 5 (1). doi:10.13169/jofstudindentleg.5.1.0007. ISSN 2634-1999.