Nancy Bailey

Nancy Bailey (1863–1913) was an English indexer and pioneer in the development of indexing as a profession, particularly for women, through her indexing agency office in London. She was official indexer of the Hansard parliamentary debates, The Times newspaper and Pearson's Weekly magazine.

Early life Nancy Bailey (aka Nancie Baily) was born as Edith Alice Bailey in 1863 in Dawley, Shropshire, the fourth of five children of Robert and Susannah Bailey. Her father was made bankrupt in the year Nancy was born and he died in 1867, forcing a family move to the village of St George's, now a parish of Telford. She and her sisters apprenticed as seamstresses and she was working as a live-in dressmaker at Edward Nye's drapery in Preston, Lancashire in 1881. She moved to London in around 1882–1883 and from this time favoured the name of Nancy. She focused just on indexing services, unlike her indexing contemporary Mary Petherbridge and her Secretarial Bureau (founded in 1895), who offered instruction both in "Technical Indexing" and secretarial services.

She was also interviewed by American journalist Mary Temple Bayard in 1893 for the Ladies Home Journal. A letter from newspaper editor W. T. Stead quoted in this 1894 issue congratulated and thanked Bailey for her "noble service" on indexing Hansard.

By 1900, Bailey's indexing business was working from larger offices at 5 Great College Street, eventually settling at 12 Little College Street, London. The indexing office's contracts included indexes for The Artist, Gentlewoman, the Journal of Finance, The Ladies' Field, the Liberal Magazine, the Morning Leader and Truth. helping to pave the way for modern indexing societies such as the Society of Indexers.

Publications 'Indexing: a profession for women' in Progress in women's education in the British Empire (ed. Countess of Warwick, book of conference proceedings)