Emily Valentine

Emily Galway

Birth name	Emily Frances Valentine[1]
Date of birth	ca. 1878
Place of birth	County Fermanagh, Ireland
Date of death	1967[citation needed]
Place of death	London, England[2]
School	Portora Royal School
Occupation(s)	Nurse[3]
Rugby union career
Position(s) wing Youth career 1887-? Portora Royal School Wasps

Emily Frances Valentine, designated the first lady of rugby and "female William Web Ellis" by the media,^[4] is the earliest documented female rugby player (at the age of 10) in 1887, and provides the only confirmed record of a woman playing in the nineteenth century.^[5] Prior to the discovery of Valentine, the earliest named female rugby player was Mary Eley in 1917, who at the age of sixteen played for the Cardiff Ladies.^[4]