Norah Dunphy

Norah Dunphy was the first woman to graduate with a degree in architecture in the UK, in 1926. She was employed as a town planner, the first woman in the UK in this role, and later taught planning.

Career
Dunphy studied architecture at the University of Liverpool and was awarded a B. Arch. degree (RIBA Part 1), the first woman on the UK to achieve this. She subsequently studied Civic Design and gained a first-class Certificate in Civic Design. The head of the School of Architecture, Charles Herbert Reilly, was supportive of women studying architecture. After graduating she was appointed as a town planning assistant to the Tynemouth and North Shields Corporation in 1931. After marriage she changed to teaching planning.

Personal life
Dunphy initially lived in Llandudno and attended John Bright School. She later married and was then called Norah Roberts.

Legacy
The Norah Dunphy Gold Award for Architecture is made by the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Twenty-eight of her architectural drawings, made while she was a student and when employed in Tynemouth and North Shields, are held in the archives of University of Liverpool.