Margaret Mary Damer Dawson OBE (12 June 1873 – 18 May 1920)[1] was an English animal rights activist, anti-vivisectionist and philanthropist who co-founded the first British Women's Police Service.

[citation needed] In 1914 she and Nina Boyle founded the Women Police Volunteers (WPV), but a year later the pair split due to disagreements over the organisation's role.

She and many of her followers had been excluded from being on the Baird Commission on the advice of the Police Commissioner who disliked lesbians and in particular Dawson.

[7] Dawson thought that the women's police force should be entirely separate from the male service, but her view did not prevail.

[10] A bird bath, installed in Cheyne Walk, was organised by Miss St John Partridge and designed by Charles Pibworth It has since been restored and incorporates a quote from Rime of the Ancient Mariner "He prayeth best who lovest best all things great and small".