Lilian Barker

Dame Lilian Charlotte Barker, DBE, JP (21 February 1874 – 21 May 1955) was a British schoolteacher, prison governor and assistant prison commissioner. She was the first British woman to be appointed assistant prison commissioner and her work provided the basis for the modern day humanitarian prison system for female correctional facilities in Great Britain.

Early life Born in Islington, Barker and grew up in Kentish Town and was educated in the local primary school system. She was one of six children and her father, James Barker, who was a Kentish Town tobacconist and an alcoholic. She cared for her invalid mother, Caroline Barker ( She was a devout Christian

Career After leaving school, Barker attended teacher training at Whitelands College in Chelsea in the 1890s. She became a schoolteacher who specialised in "troubled" children, teaching classes of up to sixty children from the deprived areas of London. Her first role was as Commandant of the Women's Legion cooking section, She was then appointed Chief Welfare Superintendent of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, overseeing 30,000 women munitions workers. Her workers were surrounded by dangerous chemicals and TNT, but Barker organised canteens, first aid provision, recreational activities and rest rooms for the women. she was appointed governor of the Borstal Institution for Girls at the Women's Prison, Aylesbury, which held 100 female offenders between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one.

Damehood Barker was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1944 for her "services in connection with the welfare of women and girls".