Miss (Elizabeth) Mary Bayly (1870-1958)
A suffragist in her youth and middle years, she stood as an independent candidate for Plymouth Town Council on 1 November 1919 but lost by 20 votes, but later that month she was elected to a vacancy in the Mutley Ward. In 1927, she lost her place on the Town Council. However, she continued to serve as a magistrate on the Plymouth Bench, having first been appointed in 1923. She was devoted to Plymouth’s history and the welfare of its current inhabitants, working tirelessly in a variety of causes. A supporter of Lady Astor’s in her various efforts for Plymouth’s women in particular, she used her position on the Women’s Representative Council to join Lady Astor in lobbying for women police officers in Plymouth. She was also active in a range of local associations, including the Three Towns Nursing Association, the Plymouth branch of the Council for Social Service, and was President of the South Western Branch of the National Association of Probation Officers. Though so active, and so closely associated with Lady Astor’s work, including the day nurseries, and Virginia House, she was a political independent.