Frances Farrer

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Dame Frances Farrer, DBE was appointed as General Secretary of the Women's Institute in 1929. She was the daughter of a senior civil servant. It is reported that she ran the office on civil service lines. Meriel Withall, one of her successors said 'it was a model of government'. Partly through her family connections she had a network of contacts which were very useful to NFWI as the organisation became increasingly active in lobbying government.

A founder member and first secretary of Abinger Women's Institute (started 1920) she later worked as a VCO in Surrey and was a member of the County Executive Committee. In 1926 she was appointed as one of the Regular Organisers of the NFWI and then, in 1928, she was promoted to Assistant Secretary followed by becoming General Secretary, a post she held until her retirement in 1959.

She played an especially important role during the Second World War when she kept the organisation together through the various evacuations of the office.

She was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1950.