Nina Lowry


Noreen Margaret Lowry was a British barrister and judge at the Old Bailey, where she was the first permanent female judge.

Early life

Noreen Margaret Collins was born on 6 September 1925 at 82 Adelaide Road in Hampstead, London. Noreen was the eldest daughter of John Edmund Collins, a paint salesman, and Hilda Grace .
Collins was educated at Bedford High School, a private school for girls aged 7 to 18 in Bedford, England. Collins was awarded a place at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, but wartime regulations prevented her from taking up the offer. Collins instead read law at the University of Birmingham.

Barrister

Judge

Personal life

Collins married Edward Lucas Gardner, a barrister and recorder, in 1950. They had a son and also a daughter, the writer Sally Gardner. Noreen's marriage to Gardner was dissolved in 1962. Noreen married Richard John Lowry, a barrister, on 24 April 1963.