Barbara Steel
Lady Barbara Steel (commonly known as Lady Steel; 1857 – 22 December 1943) was a Scottish social activist who actively campaigned for Women's Suffrage in both the United Kingdom and South Africa. She was the first woman to stand in an election for the Edinburgh Town Council, when she ran in the 1907 election. Steel moved to South Africa in 1911 and at the beginning of World War I founded an organization to provide aid to South African soldiers and their families. She was honored as an Officer in the Order of the British Empire for her civil service. In addition, she served as president of the Women's Enfranchisement Association of the Union from 1916 until 1930, fighting for women's right to vote in South Africa. Early life Barbara Joanna Paterson was born in 1857 in St John's Town of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland to Jane S. and Rev. Alexander A. Paterson. Her father was a United Presbyterian minister and her oldest brother James Alexander later became a Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis at New College, Edinburgh. She was raised and attended school in Dalry until the 1880s, when she moved with her brother, James, to Newington, Edinburgh, where