Elizabeth Williams Berry

Elizabeth Williams Berry (died March 26, 1969), who became known as Mother Berry some time after 1900, was an Australian-born jockey who rode in multiple nations disguised as a man, using the name Jack Williams. After moving to the United States about 1900, she married, and gained the nickname "Mother" after being granted custody of a runaway boy. She retired from jockeying to become a horse trainer. Berry and her husband settled in Helena, Montana, where Berry lived until her death in 1969.

Biography Berry's family were Welsh and had settled in Australia. Her exact age, however, isn't exactly clear. Berry started racing horses at roughly age six. Her father provided tutors to come to her home twice a week to provide for Berry's education. In order to look the part of a boy, she wore traditional racing silks on the track, and off the track donned a Bowler derby and smoked cigars. She went on to race, disguised as a man, for more than 24 years as a jockey in Australia, England, France, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa. During her jockeying career, she was and weighed . A judge in Colorado gave her the nickname "Mother" when awarding her legal custody of a runaway boy she had taken in and taught horse racing skills. Doc Berry died in 1927.

In February 1969, a few days before the groundbreaking ride of Diane Crump as the first woman in America to ride openly as a licensed female jockey in a parimutuel race, the Lexington Herald-Leader reviewed the history of women riding as jockeys, describing Berry as "probably the only lady jockey to compete successfully against men for any length of time." Berry died in her home in Helena on 26 March 1969. She was buried in Resurrection Cemetery. In Helena, a horse race named in her honor, The Mother Berry Memorial, ran during the 1970s.