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First women admitted to degrees at the University of Oxford

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The building of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University
The main quad of Somerville College, Oxford University
The building of St. Hugh's College, Oxford University
First women's colleges at Oxford (l to r): Lady Margaret Hall, founded in 1878; Somerville College, founded in 1879; and St Hugh's College, founded in 1886

In 1920, the University of Oxford admitted women to degrees for the first time during the Michaelmas term. The conferrals took place at the Sheldonian Theatre on 14 October,[1] 26 October,[2] 29 October,[3] 30 October[4] and 13 November.[5] That same year, on 7 October, women also became eligible for admission as full members of the university.[6]

Before 1920, it is estimated that around 4,000 women studied at Oxford since the opening of Lady Margaret Hall, the university's first women's college, in 1879.[7] The first woman unofficially accepted at Oxford was Annie Rogers, who took undergraduate courses from 1875 to 1877; she was finally given her degree in 1920, when she was 64 years old.[8] The last survivor of the 1920 conferral ceremonies was Constance Savery who died at the age of 101 in 1999.[9]

History

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See also: University of Oxford § Women's education
A group photo of young Victorian women.
First women students at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, c. 1879

For the first six centuries of its existence, the University of Oxford was only open to male students. In 1873, Annie Rogers sat for the Oxford school examination and came out on top, automatically qualifying for an exhibition at Balliol or Worcester College. However, when the university realised she was female, they rescinded her offer and her place was given to the boy who had come sixth in the tests. Balliol College gave her volumes of Homer as a consolation prize.[8] In response to the controversy caused by Rogers' story, the university passed a statute in 1875 allowing examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level;[10] Rogers was able to sit the examinations for women in 1877, giving her the equivalent of first-class marks in Classics and Ancient History.[11]

In June 1878, the Association for the Education of Women (AEW) was formed, aiming for the eventual creation of a college for women in Oxford. The first women's colleges at Oxford opened the following year: Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville Hall and the Society of Oxford Home-Students (later known as St Anne's College). Two more women's colleges would open before 1900: St Hugh's Hall in 1886 and St Hilda's Hall in 1893.[12] Until 1957, there was a quota system which limited the number of women admitted to Oxford. The five women's colleges were not given equal status to the men's colleges until 1959.[13]

Though allowed to sit for exams, women did not receive degrees after their studies had finished; instead, they were given certificates.[14] By 1895, Oxford, Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin were the only universities in the United Kingdom to deny women degrees. The first vote to give Oxford women degrees in 1896 was unsuccessful.[13] In order to receive degrees, for a brief period in the early 1900s, some women received ad eundem degrees from Trinity College Dublin, which began admitting women in 1904 and had an arrangement with both Oxford and Cambridge.[15] These women became known as "steamboat ladies" and, between 1904 and 1907 (when the arrangement ended), Trinity College granted degrees to 720 women educated at Oxbridge.[16]

"Oxford has recognised that she has daughters, and some day she will give to them, as to her sons, the right to bear her name and wear her gown."

—The Times, November 1910.[13]

In November 1910, the University of Oxford established the Delegacy for Women Students. This was a huge step towards women being granted full membership, not least because the statute which established the Delegacy acknowledged women as Oxford members for the first time as well as the five women's colleges, with the University assuming formal control and supervision over them.[17]

It would be another ten years of campaigning before women were finally admitted as full members. The first degree ceremony followed at the Sheldonian Theatre on 14 October 1920. Amongst those receiving their degrees were the principals of the women's colleges, former students, female tutors and administrators, and women prominent in the educational and reform movements during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1920 and 1921, a total of 1,159 women were matriculated.[13]

Notable women conferred degrees in 1920

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Potrait of an elderly woman in scholar's robes.
Potrait of an Edwardian woman in a black dress, with a golden background
Henrietta Jex-Blake (top) and Emily Penrose (bottom), then-principals of Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville College respectively, helped campaign for women to be admitted as full-time members of Oxford.
Black and white image of women wearing graduation robes, on their way to the degree conferral ceremony
Former women students returned to Oxford to receive their degrees, one week after women became eligible for admission as full members.
A group photo of five women in silk gowns used in graduation ceremonies.
The principals of women's colleges at Oxford awarded honorary degrees, October 1920. L to R: Winifred Moberly, Emily Penrose, Bertha Johnson, Eleanor Jourdain, and Henrietta Jex-Blake
List of admitted women
Name College Degree Graduation year Ref.
Cecilia Mary Ady St Hugh's College History 1903 [18]
Gwyneth Bebb St Hugh's College Jurisprudence 1908 [19]
Beatrice Blackwood Somerville College
  • English Literature and Language
  • Anthropology
 1916 [20]
D. K. Broster St Hilda's College History 1898 [21]
Alice Bruce Somerville College History 1890 [22]
Muriel St. Clare Byrne Somerville College English Literature and Language 1916 [23]
Auvergne Doherty Society of Oxford Home-Students Jurisprudence 1916 [24]
Una Ellis-Fermor Somerville College English Literature and Language 1914 [25]
Joan Evans St Hugh's College Classical Archaeology 1916 [26]
Lilian Faithfull Somerville College English Literature and Language 1887 [27][28]
Barbara Freire-Marreco Somerville College
1908 [29]
Viola Garvin Somerville College English Literature and Language 1918 [30][31]
Rose Graham Somerville College History 1895 [32]
Muriel Jaeger Somerville College English Literature and Language 1916 [33][34]
Evelyn Jamison Lady Margaret Hall Modern History 1901 [35]
Eleanor Jourdain Lady Margaret Hall Modern History 1886 [36]
Margaret Kennedy Somerville College History 1919 [37]
Jane Kirkaldy Somerville College Natural Sciences 1891 [38]
Leah L'Estrange Malone Somerville College Modern History 1904 [39]
Margaret Leigh Somerville College English Literature and Language 1914 [40]
A. E. Levett St Hilda's College Modern History 1907 [41]
Eleanor Lodge Lady Margaret Hall History 1894 [42]
Winifred Moberly Lady Margaret Hall English Literature and Language 1894 [43][44]
Hilda D. Oakeley Somerville College Classics 1898 [45]
Doris Odlum St Hilda's College Classics 1912 [46]
Emily Penrose Somerville College Classics 1889 [47][48]: 85 
Mildred K. Pope Somerville College Medieval French 1893 [49][50]
Mary Winearls Porter Somerville College Geology 1918 [51][52]
Evelyn Procter Somerville College Modern History 1918 [53]
Eleanor Rathbone Somerville College Classics 1896 [54]
Annie Rogers —
1877 [55]: 52–3 [10]
Constance Savery Somerville College English Literature and Language 1920 [56]
Dorothy L. Sayers Somerville College Medieval French 1915 [57][58]
Edith Philip Smith Somerville College Natural Sciences 1920 [59][60]
Enid Starkie Somerville College Modern Languages 1920 [61][62]
Margerie Venables Taylor Somerville College Classical Archaeology 1903 [63][64]
Ivy Williams Society of Oxford Home-Students Jurisprudence 1900 [65][66]

References

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