Ethel Colman

Ethel Mary Colman (12 February 1863 – 23 November 1948) was a philanthropist and a member of the Colman family who was Lord Mayor of Norwich in 1923–24. Colman is notable for having been the first woman to be a Lord Mayor in the United Kingdom. Early life Colman was born in 1863, the third of six children to Jeremiah James Colman and his wife Caroline Colman (née Cozens-Hardy). Her father was a member of the Colman family, and managed the Colman's mustard business. Her mother was a member of the Cozens-Hardy family, as established in law in Norwich as the Colmans were in business. Both families were, by religious temperament, non-conformist, and, by political inclination, Liberals. The older children were Laura and Russell; the younger children Helen, Alan and Florence. Colman's childhood was spent at Carrow House, a neoclassical mansion built in 1861 with internal woodwork carved by local sculptor James Minns. In 1878, when Colman was 15, the family bought Carrow Abbey, a 12th-century Benedictine convent. Once restoration was complete, the family moved from Carrow House to Carrow Abbey. The House then became the administration offices for Colman's mustard works (Carrow works). Meanwhile, at the age of 14, Colman had been sent to study in London, at Miss Hannah Pipe's School for Young Ladies in Clapham Park. She was soon joined by her sister Helen. The sisters, who would become lifelong companions, returned to Norwich and rejoined the social life expected of upper-class young ladies of the time.