Iris de Freitas Brazao was the first female lawyer in the Caribbean. Iris studied a BA and then her Bachelor of Laws at Aberystwyth University. She also held a big role amongst the university’s community as Vice President of the University’s Students’ Representative Council and the President of the Women’s Sectional Council. Her story was only rediscovered during recent years after Alumni of Aberystwyth University came across a postcard of her on eBay.
1896
1989
British Guiana, which is now Guyana.
Guyanese
1919 – Enrolled in Aberystwyth University
1922 – Graduated with a BA
1927 – Qualified for the degree of LLB and then returned to the Caribbean and was admitted to the Bar
2016 – A room in Aberystwyth University was named after Iris de Freitas Brazao
Iris de Freitas Brazao was the daughter of a merchant in British Guiana. She studied in Toronto University for a short period before applying to Aberystwyth University in 1919.
Iris de Freitas Brazao studied botany, Latin and modern languages, law and jurisprudence at Aberystwyth University and lived in Alexandra Hall, which was the first purpose built university hall of residence for female students in the UK. During her time at University, she became Vice President of the University’s Students’ Representative Council and the President of the Women’s Sectional Council.
She graduated in 1922 with a BA, however she continued her association with the University and qualified for the degree of LLB in June 1927. She eventually returned to her home and was admitted to the Bar. Iris de Freitas Brazao became the first woman to practice law in the Caribbean and the first female prosecutor of a murder trial in the region.
Her story was only rediscovered by Aberystwyth University after the discovery of a postcard of Iris in her academic robes on eBay. Members of the University then pieced together her story and have contacted various members of the de Freitas family with the hopes of learning more about her life. In 2016 they also opened a study room in her honour, it is placed in the University’s Hugh Owen Library and named The Iris de Freitas Room. The postcard is also now available in the University’s archive. A link to images of the postcard and other documents on Iris are cited below. Tributes to Iris have described her as a pioneer and frontrunner of women who dared enter the exclusively male legal profession.
In 1937, Iris married Alfred Casimiro Brazao and she continued to practice law in Georgetown.
Links to wider Resources:
Primary sources on Iris 🡪 https://woww.narberthmuseum.co.uk/iris-de-freitas-brazao/
Women of West Wales, ‘Iris de Freitas Brazao’, Narberth Museum (Narberth Museum, revised 2016) < https://woww.narberthmuseum.co.uk/iris-de-freitas-brazao/ > [accessed 24 February]
Aberystwyth University, ‘Aberystwyth University honours first female lawyer in the Caribbean’ Aberystwyth University (Aberystwyth University, revised 2016) < https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2016/03/title-181429-en.html > [accessed 24 February]
