The amazing story of the trailblazing female bookies whose early bets paid off

Betting at the time of the legalisation of shops in the UK 60 years ago was utterly dominated by men. It had long been this way. But even so, a small number of women had already made an impact on bookmaking and betting shops. Sadly their names have become virtually unknown, characters languishing in obscurity, but these female trailblazers deserve to be recalled and given due recognition.

Towards the end of the First World War, Molly Dawson’s husband, who ran a previously flourishing, but by then floundering, printing business, was drinking heavily enough that she feared for her future finances. Cannily, though, she had anticipated this course of events and taken unexpectedly prescient precautions. By opening a betting shop Molly was anticipating the legalisation of such premises by more than half a century.

Molly discarded her drunken husband, cashed in her savings and opened up a newsagents/tobacconists to alleviate the strain and boredom of mundane domestic life. She began accepting a few bets over the counter, only to find that demand rapidly increased for the illicit facility.