Mary Harris Smith

Mary Harris Smith (27 November 1844 – 13 October 1934) was an accountant and entrepreneur. She became the first woman to complete the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales qualification but was denied membership because she was a woman. When the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act was passed in 1919, Harris Smith became the world's first female Chartered Accountant.

Early life Mary Harris Smith was born to Susanna and Henry Smith in Kingsland, London in November 1844. She developed an interest in accounting from helping her banker father with bookkeeping work that he brought home. When Harris Smith was sixteen, she studied mathematics at King's College School. She went on to take some of the first bookkeeping classes run by the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) in 1860.

Harris Smith set up her own accounting firm in 1887, listing herself as 'M. Harris Smith, Accountant and Auditor' except in women's periodicals where she described herself as a 'lady accountant'.

Feminist campaigning Harris Smith supported various causes seeking to advance women, including the Parliamentary Committee for Women's Suffrage, the Society for the Return of Women as Poor Law Guardians, the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, the National Union of Women Workers, the Gentlewoman's Employment Club and the Soroptimist Club.

On 5 May 2020, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales announced the commissioning of a blue plaque in commemoration of Harris Smith, 100 years since the day that she became a member. It will be displayed on the City of London Magistrates' Court, at 1 Queen Victoria Street. close to the site of her now demolished office. It will be only the third blue plaque in the City of London to commemorate an individual woman.