Stella Jane Thomas (1906-1974) was the first West African woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Middle Temple. Called on 10 May 1933, by 1935 she had returned to West Africa and registered as a barrister at the Supreme Courts of both Sierra Leone (October 1935), and Nigeria (November 1935), thus enshrining her in history as the first woman lawyer in West Africa. Practising in her brother’s chambers until 1942/3, she then became the first woman in West Africa to accept a (quasi-) judicial appointment, when she was appointed as a magistrate.
The full version of this landmark is written by Judith Bourne.