Constance Alice Barnicoat (27 November 1872 – 16 September 1922) was a New Zealand secretary, interpreter, mountaineer and journalist.

Barnicoat was born in Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand on 27 November 1872, the youngest of seven children.

[2] Barnicoat was educated at home until 1888, when she began studying at Nelson College for Girls.

[1] Starting in 1895, she was a secretary in Wellington for almost three years for Dillon Bell, a member of the House of Representatives.

[3] In the early 1900s Barnicoat became one of the world's most prominent women mountain climbers,[4] ascending peaks such as the Ailefroide,[5] Mount Grindelwald,[6] and the Schreckhorn.