Bertha Bowness Fischer
Bertha Bowness Fischer born Bertha Bowness Foulkes was a British political agent.
Life
Fischer was born in Karaikal in 1875. Her family came originally from Germany but the she was a fourth generation person born in India. She was born in a part of India that was part of French India where her father, Thomas James Henry Bowness Fischer, was a British consular agent. Her mother was Henrietta Amelia who was born Stevenson. She was her parents second daughter born in Kariakal. Her father had briefly worked for the British East India Company but all of their interests were transferred to Britain after the 1857 disruptions.In 1902 she was accepted by Society of Certified and Associated Liberal Agents as a political agent. She was the first woman of any party to qualified in this way. This job carries a similar status to being a solicitor and the first woman solicitor was not until after 1919.
In 1905 she became the second women constituency political agent when she was given that job in Fareham. She was supporting the Liberal candidate, George Evatt, in what was a Conservative seat. She left to marry Eton-educated surgeon Captain Howard Foulkes FRCS in Portsea in July 1905 leaving her job as political agent and a poor law guardian.