Mary Eleanor Noble (1845 – 1925) was a local politician and parish historian who, according to Hollis, was the first woman in England to be a county councillor.
[1] She was born 4 April 1845 in Bampton, Westmorland, the elder of two daughters of landowner William Noble and his wife Jane, née Atkinson.
She and her sister Elizabeth lived with their parents and, as major landowners, contributed to local agricultural, church and village concerns.
Her other building projects included the West Ward workhouse in Shap and St Patrick's church hall in Bampton.
[3] A keen local historian, Noble contributed papers to the Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society and was elected to its council in 1918.