This paper examines the role of William Graham Brooke as advocate of women's higher education and access to university. His work as advocate is considered against the religious, political, social and economic backdrop of late nineteenth century Ireland. A barrister, as Clerk in the Lord Chancellor's office, he was centrally involved in the organisation of Anglican schooling as part of a broader Irish-Church re-structuring in the wake of its Disestablishment (1869). For Brooke, education, including the education of women, constituted a single project; it was also a public project. He was ideally positioned to execute his role as advocate: descending from a family with a long tradition of involvement in Church education, Brooke had a thorough knowledge of the problems confronting women in education and in the workplace. The paper traces how Brooke, in a largely male-dominated society, exploited the relationships between the various bodies with which he had close connections to enable women to fruitfully engage with these same bodies in order to facilitate their access to university.