Niche question for #CofEPeeps: when were women first allowed to become Churchwardens? Got a funeral coming up for a woman whose family think she said she was among the first in this diocese... But neither they nor I know if that can be true.
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It is my understanding it was never actually forbidden for women to serve as churchwardens but they only started being regularly appointed as such from the mid-20th century.
This is v helpful thank you. Sources not needed. Think I'll stick with saying that she was proud of being the first female CW in the parish, which is certainly true. (It's a post-war church, we have all the records.)
I found the 1964 CW measure which didn't mention gender.
I've known female sidesmen (in their 80s a decade ago) who I think held to being sidesmen because they were amongst the first women to take on that role
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I've known female sidesmen (in their 80s a decade ago) who I think held to being sidesmen because they were amongst the first women to take on that role