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A brief history of female directors at Nationwide Building Society

By James Sherwin-SmithPosted on

An excellent article regarding Eliza Orme was published in The Times this week. She is believed to be one of the first women to become a director of a building society, when she co-founded the Nineteenth Century Building Society in 1880.

It inspired me to write this brief history of female directors at Nationwide Building Society, building off earlier research I had collated on the history of the board and director elections.

Based on my research, it wasn’t until over 100 years later that a woman was elected to the main board in 1984. But one by one, the glass ceilings have been broken, and Nationwide stands out as one of the more diverse boards in the country. It shows what can be done: Michael Cassell’s book “Inside Nationwide” concludes with a 1983 photo of the last all-male board, and a list of 68 former all-male directors.

Building societies in the nineteenth century were instrumental at the time in not only helping people to buy houses, but also being able to vote given the ‘property qualification’ still in force at the time under the Reform Act of 1832. The below Nationwide advert explains more about the history of the first mortgage and the society’s origins. 

The Times article references the work of the Nationwide archivist, Sara Kinsey, who came across Eliza Orme’s name in the ledgers of the society she co-founded with Mary Richardson and three others. The NCBS became part of Nationwide when it entered into a transfer of engagements to the Co-operative Permanent in 1942. The Co-operative Permanent changed its name to Nationwide when it formally left the co-operative movement in 1970. (The BSA maintains a ledger of post-1937 changes within the sector.)

As part of my research into the history of Nationwide, and director elections, I have compiled a list from different sources of all known directors of the society since its founding as the Co-operative Permanent in 1884. My history of Nationwide board appointments from 1884 to date (plus those not elected from 1979 to date) can be found here, drawing various available sources together.

Based on my findings from the information available, the first women elected to the main board (rather than of a society that was transferred into Nationwide) were Rosemary Day and Katharine Whithorn in 1984 – over 100 years since Orme and Richardson co-founded the NCBS. 

Women then began to be elected more frequently to the board of Nationwide. Sheila Heywood, I believe, was the first director in living memory to be elected as a member nominated (as opposed to board appointed) candidate in 1988 (see this 1993 article from The Independent). 

The number of women elected to the Nationwide board then grew consistently, with a considerable improvement in diversity vs the first 100 years (see the most recent annual report for more information on board composition). 

The executive director ‘glass ceiling’ was finally smashed at the society with Debbie Crosbie’s appointment as CEO in 2022.

For completeness, the list of female directors that I have identified is given chronologically below. The dates reflect the first and last year they were elected, noting the society moved from a 3-year term to an annual election for all directors in 2011.

For more information, see my write up of the recent board changes and history of board elections at Nationwide.

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