Oil painting of Margaret Beavan

This painting of Margaret Beavan, Liverpool’s first female Lord Mayor, shows her at a dinner held in her honour at the Lyceum Club, Bold Street on 19 December 1927. Significantly, this was the first occasion on which women were entertained within the gentleman’s club. Margaret was born in Liverpool in 1877. She briefly lived in America, studied maths at Royal Holloway, London, assisted at a boys’ school and became involved in the Invalid Child Association. In 1909 she was elected as Councillor for Princes Park. She worked tirelessly to improve child care. Following the 1918 Maternity and Child Welfare Act, which made local councils responsible for infants, she organised the Child Welfare Association. Margaret’s child welfare expertise saw her become one of Liverpool’s first women magistrates and in 1927 she became Liverpool's first woman Lord Mayor.