Meriel Talbot

Who was Meriel Talbot?

Dame Meriel Lucy Talbot DBE was a British public servant and women's welfare worker.

She was born in Westminster, the daughter of the politician John Gilbert Talbot and his wife, Meriel Sarah, daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton. She was educated at Kensington High School. From 1901 to 1916 she served as secretary to the Victoria League, and in this capacity travelled widely throughout the British Empire.

In 1915, she served on the official advisory committee for repatriating enemy aliens. The following year she was appointed the first woman inspector with the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and in 1917 she became director of the Women's Branch of the Board, in charge of the recruitment and co-ordination of the Women's Land Army. She stayed at the new Ministry of Agriculture after the First World War and was named adviser on women's employment in 1920.

She retired in 1921, but continued to perform public work, serving as intelligence officer for the Overseas Settlement Department and on a number of official committees, including the Royal Commission on Police Powers and Procedure in 1929.