Celia Fitzhugh
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
Cecilia Fitzhugh, always known in Coventry as Celia Grew, Solicitor, was born in 1937 with dysplasia of both hips and dislocation of the right hip. Until her mid teens she was in and out of hospital, plaster of Paris and callipers.
Educated at home until she was nine years old, at eleven she passed the scholarship exam to Kings High School, Warwick. She left at eighteen with A levels and no idea what to do next. University in those days was only for the brilliantly academic girls of wealthy parents, and Celia admits that she fitted into neither of those categories. Familiar with the hospital environment, she drifted into orthoptics where she admits she was a failure.
Changing direction, she took a three month shorthand and typing course at Underwoods Secretarial College in Warwick Road, Coventry, which marked a pointer for the future.
Offered a typist’s job she joined Penmans Solicitors and fell in love with the work. After further study she became a conveyancing clerk, and then entered Articles with William Wilson M.P., becoming the first woman to join the local law students society. She was the first woman solicitor to become a Freeman of the City of Coventry, and after a brief spell in the legal department of Coventry City Council, she was the first Coventry woman to open her own practice – and guess where? Back at Warwick Row, the former Underwoods Secretarial College. She was obliged to seek permission of the Law Society when the local press wished to feature her. Permission was grudgingly given, with the comment: ‘As a woman, she will need all the luck in the world’.
It was not just luck that was required of course, but sheer hard work and determination. Celia became known as a formidable criminal Law Court lawyer, before moving into Family Law. As the first Midlands member of the Law Society Children’s Panel, she represented children in family law disputes, care proceedings, and adoption procedures.
Her belief in equality of opportunity and the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, first learned at school, encouraged her to go on to win an international award, permitting attendance at Commission sessions in Geneva. She then spent a year touring the country addressing audiences on the experience and knowledge she had gained.
Another ‘first’ involved serving some twenty-five years on the all-male committee of the Warwickshire Law Society, initially as its student liaison officer and newsletter editor before eventually becoming its first woman President at the turn of the millennium. Married in 1973 to fellow lawyer Rod Fitzhugh, she retained her maiden name of Celia Grew for professional purposes, and especially since they sometimes appeared on opposite sides of the Courtroom. They are both classic car enthusiasts, Celia having grown up in the world of motorcycle trials, grass tracking, and later car sprinting and racing – her Grandfather started the City’s first motor club in 1902. She is a firm believer that all young people, and especially women, should learn both to type, which gives speedier access to computers, and to drive, which provides mobility.
Many things have brought Celia happiness over the years: her own happy childhood; forty years of married life; and her various hobbies, including crossword and letter puzzles, jigsaws, collecting old postcards and memorabilia, and even for a spell Harry Stobart lorry spotting. It is clear to all those who meet her that she has a tremendous sense of fun.
However, there are two other areas of her life that clearly have meant so much to her. She was the first Chairperson of the Snowball Charity, which has raised some two million pounds to provide equipment and facilities for sick, disabled and handicapped children in Coventry and Warwickshire. She is particularly pleased that the Snowball charity provided the funds for the first two hip scanners at local hospital, which meant that all children could be diagnosed with any hip problems within six weeks of birth and therefore more quickly and efficiently treated. Such a facility was not available in her day, Celia has endured osteoarthritis since the age of fourteen, and has had three right hip replacements and one left.
Nevertheless it is her connection with Coventry University over the last twenty years that we are honoured today to celebrate. Since being appointed as a Governor in 1993, she has chaired the University Audit Committee, become the first woman Deputy Chair of the Board, and then the University’s first woman Pro-Chancellor. She has served as a Pro-Chancellor since 1998, her terms of office having been extended to the maximum fifteen years. Despite a heavy Court schedule, she would always manage her diary to attend and often chair meetings and to attend special occasions such as many the degree ceremonies over which she has presided. She is well known for changing the script for such ceremonies to ensure that everyone present is left in no doubt that for evermore they, like her, carry Coventry University in their hearts.
Today we recognise Celia Fitzhugh’s many titles, positions and achievements. We acknowledge the many firsts she has achieved in her career and her immense enthusiasm. She has inspired countless staff, students and graduating students with her passion and her good humour. She has championed the cause of children, of education and of equality of opportunity, both in her personal and professional life, and in her service to Coventry University. And all that without a degree of her own!
In recognition of her outstanding contribution in support of the University as a Governor and as Pro-Chancellor for over twenty years Coventry University, by decision of the Academic Board, has the privilege of conferring Honorary Life Fellowship on Celia Fitzhugh.