ELLEN HARRIS

Ellen Harris, Reuters reporter, died on April 11 aged 94. She was born on April 20,1902. ELLEN HARRIS was the first woman to be given accredita - tion by the Serjeant at Arms to the Parliamentary Press Gal - lery . She went there at the nadir of the Second World War in 1940 to give the Reuter team a strong boost. Reuters was then in Olym - pic - style , split second competi - tion with the two other world - wide news agencies, United Press and Associated Press. A thirty second or one minute beat with a news flash was the round-the-clock aim. It meant space in the stop press col -

umns of newspapers. From Fiji to Newfoundland they were going to press at all hours. A Reuter credit on an item brought prestige, and that ultimately was translated into sales and revenue. Ellen Harris brought to this race fingers that sped over a keyboard in record time. She could type faster than anyone could speak, without sacrifice of accuracy. Literals or mis - placed commas were un - known in her copy. Her mind was as quick as were her fingers. It soon pierced the mysteries of parliamentary procedure. She took charge of all written questions for Reu - ters as well as dispatching all

parliamentary copy, and re - mained a key figure in the Reuters team at Westminster until she retired in 1967. Ellen Ada Baylis — known as "Bay" to friends and col - leagues — was born into a London family that hovered between working and lower middle class....