Cornelia Sorabji
November 15, 1866 — July 6, 1954 — Nashik, British India
Cornelia Sorabji was an Indian lawyer, activist, and writer who broke through formidable barriers of both gender and colonial race to become the first woman to study law at Oxford University, the first woman to sit the Bachelor of Civil Law examination, and ultimately one of the pioneering advocates for women's legal rights across the Indian subcontinent.
A Remarkable Family in British India
Born on November 15, 1866, in Nashik in British India, Sorabji came from an extraordinary family. Her father, Reverend Sorabji Karsedji, was a Parsi convert to Christianity who founded schools and championed education for girls; her mother, Francina Ford, ran several girls' schools and was the first woman in India to be awarded a royal honor (from Queen Victoria). Cornelia was one of nine children and grew up in an environment that explicitly valued education for daughters as well as sons — an attitude that was profoundly unusual in British India. She graduated top of her class at Deccan College in Pune in 1888, the first woman to achieve that distinction.
Oxford, the Bar, and the Purdahnashins
After a petition campaign, Sorabji was admitted to Somerville College, Oxford, in 1889, studying law — the first woman to do so. In 1892, she sat the Bachelor of Civil Law examination, though women were not permitted to be called to the bar or to receive the degree. Despite this exclusion, she returned to India and built a remarkable career advising women in purdah (purdahnashins — women kept in strict seclusion by custom or family rule) who could not appear in court themselves. For three decades she served as a court of first resort for thousands of vulnerable women across Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam, navigating the legal system on their behalf for matters of property and inheritance.
Did You Know?
When Cornelia Sorabji finally received her BCL degree from Oxford in 1922 — thirty years after she had sat the examination — it came as part of the admission of women to full Oxford degrees for the first time. She was then 55 years old. She was also called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in the same year, becoming the first woman barrister in India, and one of the very first in England. The three-decade delay captures, with painful precision, the institutional barriers placed before women of her era.
Writing, Advocacy, and Legacy
Sorabji also wrote extensively — contributing to British magazines and journals, and publishing memoirs including India Calling (1934) and India Recalled (1936), which brought Indian women's experiences to British readers. She retired to London in 1929 and remained active in literary and legal circles. She died in London on July 6, 1954. Her pioneering career is recognized today as foundational in the history of women in law on both sides of the former British Empire. A portrait of her hangs at Somerville College, Oxford, and her memoir India Calling was reprinted in the 21st century as her remarkable story reached new generations.