A Co Derry woman who formed the first Women's Institute in Northern Ireland has been honoured in her home town.
A blue plaque was unveiled yesterday in memory of Dorothea Florence Macausland in Garvagh to mark International Women's Day.
Her great niece Joanna Clark joined the Ulster History Circle for the event at St Paul’s Church of Ireland.
Born in India in 1888, Ms Macausland's father was a judge in the Indian Civil Service but she was educated in England and spent her holidays at the family's residence in Garvagh.
They moved to live in the Co Derry village following her father's retirement and Ms Macauland took a keen interest in parish life and taught in the local Sunday School.
She trained as a nurse during the First World War and was on board a troopship that was sunk by a torpedo.
She later trained as a health visitor in London and joined the Women's Institute, becoming Warwickshire county secretary.
On her return to Garvagh she formed the north's first WI in 1932. A meeting in the local hall was attended by 40 women, with the number having doubled just months later.
In later years Ms Macausland helped other areas form Women’s Institutes and she was federation chairman in 1946 and was made an honorary life member in 1950.
She died in 1970 and is buried in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, Garvagh.
Dr Myrtle Hill from the Ulster History Circle said it was "delighted to have this opportunity to acknowledge the central importance of the WI in the lives of women across the country, and to pay tribute to the woman whose vision and determination introduced the immense benefits of this organisation to communities across the region".
