The British Federation of University Women was founded in 1907, in Manchester, "to afford a means of communication and of united action in matters affecting the interests of women". Ida Smedley, Sarah Burstall, Dr Catherine Chisholm, Dr Merry Smith and Miss Coignou were the first to set up BFUW in order to support the progress of women in medicine, academia and public life. Other notable women who were part of BFWG in its early years included Winifred Cullis, Rose Sidgwick and Caroline Spurgeon. Associations were set up across Britain to pursue these aims by lobbying government and by fulfilling the BFUW motto: "Let us perfect the art of friendship". During World War I, BFUW compiled a register of university women offering themselves for public service which was used by the Board of Trade. After the war there was still the need to work for the opening of the professions to women, though a few members gained places in local government, notably Sybil Campbell, Monica Mary Geikie Cobb (the first woman barrister to hold a brief), Margaret Kydd (one of the first women to take silk), and Rose Heilbron. Equal pay was an important focus between the wars, particularly with relation to teaching and the civil service; as was the abolition of the marriage bar for working women. Before and during World War II, BFUW supported refugees from fascism.
