APPENDIX.
[i.—“Eldest daughters,” page16.] This custom was not clear among the Normans. In one well-known case at least, the younger sisters were made Abbesses or otherwise disposed of, and the eldest made by the Norman law sole heir. Mabile, eldest daughter of Robert Fitzhaymo, was heir of all his lands, and King Henry I. wished to marry her to his illegitimate son Robert. This she long withstood, giving as her reason that she would not have a man for her husband that had not two names. When the King remedied that by calling his son Fitz Roy, she said, “That is a fair name as long as he shall live, but what of his son and his descendants?” The King then offered to make him Earl of Gloucester. “Sir,” quoth the maiden, “then I like this well; on these terms I consent that all my lands shall be his” (Robert of Gloucester’s “Brut,” and Seyers’ “Memoirs of Bristol,” p. 353).]
[ii.—“The Countess Lucy,” page51.] It is accepted that Anglo-Saxon Earls had only official dignity which was not hereditary. But the inheritance of the lands generally carried the other privileges. Lucy was certainly made Countess of Chester by her third husband, but in some authorities she is entitled Countess of Bolingbroke, as in her own right. In Selby’s “Genealogist,” 1889, there is a long discussion on the point, Who was the Countess Lucy? She is ordinarily considered the grand-daughter of Leofric, Earl of Mercia (who died in 1057), and of his wife the famous Lady Godiva, who survived the Conquest. Their son Alfgar, Earl of Mercia, twice rebelled against the Confessor, and died in 1059. Lucy’s two brothers were Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria; her sister Edgiva married first, Griffith of Wales, and second, King Harold. Edwin and Morcar were almost the only English nobles permitted by the Conqueror to retain their lands. Lucy inherited much from her father, probably with the Saxon privilege of the “youngest born,” and afterwards more from her brothers. She married three Norman husbands, with whom she held the position of a great heiress. This is the view Dugdale takes. Others imagine, from her longevity, there must have been two Lucys. The writer in “The Genealogist” thinks, with good reason, that this Lucy was not the daughter of Alfgar, but the only daughter and heiress of Thorold, the Sheriff of Lincoln.]
[iii.—“Women’s service,” page63.] “Margeria de Cauz has the gift of the lands of Landford, held by the Serjeanty of keeping the Falcons of our Lord the King” (Berkshire Survey. Testa de Neville. Ed. III.)
Many other women are entered as performing military service, or paying other duties.]
[iv.—“Women’s Guilds,” page83.] Ed. III. imposed limitations upon men’s labour, but leaves women the privilege to work free. “Mais l’intention du roi et de son conseil est que femmes cestassavoir brasceresces, pesteresces, texteresces, fileresces, et œvresces si bien de layne come de leinge toille, et de soye, brandestesters, pyneresces de layne et totes autres que usent œveront œveraynes manuels puissent user et œverer franchement come els ont fait avant ces hures sanz mal empeschementou estre restreint par ceste ordeignance.” (Rot. Parl., 37 Ed. III., c. 6.) This is important in relation to modern legislation about women’s freedom to labour.]
[v.—“Free Kent,” page91.]
“Oh, noble Kent, quoth he, this praise doth thee belong,The hard’st to be control’d, impatientest of wrong;Who, when the Norman first with pride and horror swayed,Threw’st off the servile yoke upon the English laid;And with a high resolve, most bravely didst restoreThat liberty so long enjoyed by thee before,Not suffering foreign laws shall thy free customs bind.Then only showd’st thyself of th’ ancient Saxon kind.Of all the English Shires be thou surnam’d the Free,And foremost ever placed, when they shall reckoned be.”
“Oh, noble Kent, quoth he, this praise doth thee belong,The hard’st to be control’d, impatientest of wrong;Who, when the Norman first with pride and horror swayed,Threw’st off the servile yoke upon the English laid;And with a high resolve, most bravely didst restoreThat liberty so long enjoyed by thee before,Not suffering foreign laws shall thy free customs bind.Then only showd’st thyself of th’ ancient Saxon kind.Of all the English Shires be thou surnam’d the Free,And foremost ever placed, when they shall reckoned be.”
“Oh, noble Kent, quoth he, this praise doth thee belong,The hard’st to be control’d, impatientest of wrong;Who, when the Norman first with pride and horror swayed,Threw’st off the servile yoke upon the English laid;And with a high resolve, most bravely didst restoreThat liberty so long enjoyed by thee before,Not suffering foreign laws shall thy free customs bind.Then only showd’st thyself of th’ ancient Saxon kind.Of all the English Shires be thou surnam’d the Free,And foremost ever placed, when they shall reckoned be.”
“Oh, noble Kent, quoth he, this praise doth thee belong,
The hard’st to be control’d, impatientest of wrong;
Who, when the Norman first with pride and horror swayed,
Threw’st off the servile yoke upon the English laid;
And with a high resolve, most bravely didst restore
That liberty so long enjoyed by thee before,
Not suffering foreign laws shall thy free customs bind.
Then only showd’st thyself of th’ ancient Saxon kind.
Of all the English Shires be thou surnam’d the Free,
And foremost ever placed, when they shall reckoned be.”
(Drayton’s “Poly-Olbion.” Ed. 1738, Song 18th, p. 33.)
In Testa de Neville, and Rotuli Hundredorum, the large proportion of women’s names as owners of land, in Kent, proves the difference wrought by the working of the Saxon Inheritance Laws.]
[vi.—“The learned Selden,” page99.] Selden writes warmly in favour of women, and quotes many authorities in support of his opinion. Besides those that have been quoted, we may notice that he refers to Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. “Plato allowed women to govern, nor did Aristotle (whatever the Interpreters of his Politics foolishly say) take from them that privilege. Vertue shuts no door against anybody, any sex, but freely admits all. And Hermes Trismegistus, that thrice great man, in his Poemander, according to his knowledge of Heavenly concerns (and that sure was great in comparison of what the owl-eyed Philosophers had) he ascribes the mystical name ofMale-Femaleto the great Understanding, to wit, God the Governor of the Universe” (“Janus Anglorum”).]
[vii.—“Sir Edward Coke,” page104.] In Foss’s “Lives of the Judges of England,” VI. 112, he says, “In the trial of Essex, he gave the first specimen of that objurgatory and coarse style, which makes his oratory so painfully remembered.” He also tells about his unhappy second marriage, and its ominous opening. In the Trials for the Murder of Sir Thomas Overburg, Foss says, “Guilty, as the parties undoubtedly were, Coke conducted the Trial most unfairly.” In regard to the suspicions attending thedeath of Prince Henry, Sir Anthony Weldon records—“It was intended the Law should run in its proper channel, but was stopt and put out of its course, by the folly of that great Clerke, though no wise man, Sir Edward Coke” (“The Court and Character of King James”). Sir E. Conway writes in 1624—“Sir Edward Coke would die, if he could not help to ruin a great man once in seven years.” “Butler notices that Coke had not studied the Feudal Law” (“Dict. Nat. Biog.”). This may account for his ignorance of the powers of women. “The Lord Coke in his Preface to Littleton, thinks Littleton’s Tenures were first printed in 24 Hen. VIII; my Lord wasmistaken” (J. Anstiss Nicholl’s “Illustrations of Literature”).
In 1620 Coke was intrusted with the drawing up of the Charge against Bacon. Macaulay says, “For the first time in his life, he behaved like a gentleman.” He who drew up the famous “Petition of Rights” for men, has by his careless or premeditated words drawn up also the plea of disfranchisement for women.]
[viii.—“Judge or Jury,” page106.] There are numerous instances in old records of women acting as Judges or Jury, at least in women’s cases. “On 1st February, 1435, Parochia Edlyngeham, Margareta Lyndseay contra Johannem de Longcaster, Johannem Somerson, Johannem Symson, Diflamata quod fuit incantatrix ... negavit et purgavit se cum Agnete Wright, Christiana Ansom, Alicia Faghar, Emmota Letster, Alicia Newton, et restituta est ad famen, et Johannes Longcaster, Johannes Somerson, Johannes Symson, moniti sunt sub pœna excommunicationis quod de cetero talia non prædicent de ipsa.”
On 3rd October, 1443, “Beatrix Atkynson and Margareta Donyll habent ad purgandum se cum 6th manu mulierum honestarum vicinarum suarum” (“Depositions from the Court of Durham, Surtees Society,” p. 28, 29). See also “Liber Albus.”]
[ix.—“Physical Force Argument,” page163.] “The Lord Marquis of Hamilton’s Mother commands a Regiment, and leade them into Edenboroughe with a case of pistols at her saddle, and a case at her side. Our ladys are not more skilfull in curlinge and poudringe then the Scotchwomen in charging and discharging their pistols.” (Letter from Sir Henry Herbert, Edinburgh, June, 1639. “Letters of the Herbert Family.”) The Women Volunteer Movement of to-day shews that the spirit of courage and patriotism is not yet extinct.
In Somerset, “One of the ferdell-holders (i.e., holder of a quarter of a virgate of land) found all the Blacksmith’s work for the Lord’s horses and ploughs, and at the time of the compilation of the Custumal of Bleadon in the 13th Century,” thisRENTfor her land was paid by the widow Alicia as Common Smith of the Vill or Manor. (“Papers on the Custumal of Bleadon, as illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Wilts,” 1857, p. 193.)]
[x.—“Women and the Universities,” page155.]—The Universities of this country have for some time recognised in a gracious, but far-off way, the industrial and educational needs of outsiders. The University Local Examinations, the University Extension Lectures, etc., instituted through consideration of the intellectual advance of the people, have always been open to women as well as to men. But the relations of women to Universities, where they suffer, or have suffered disabilities on the ground of their sex alone, are anomalous.
The younger Universities are generally more liberal to women than the older ones. Yet there is no universal rule, based upon observable conditions. The general uncertainty makes the position of things as they are, worth noting. Taking the Universities, not in the chronological order of their foundation, but in the order of their opening to women, the oldest is the London University. It may be considered as a foundation either old or young. In 1548, Sir Thomas Gresham founded in London, chairs for Divinity, Music, Astronomy, Geometry, Law, Physic and Rhetoric, a liberal course for his days. In Stow’s “Annals,” 1615, there is a notice of “the three famous Universities ofOxford, Cambridge and London.” I do not now go into its claims to the title at that period.
On 19th August, 1835, the Duke of Somerset and others petitioned for a Charter for London University, and in November of that year the words were added to their claim—“It should always be kept in mind that what is sought on the present occasion is an equality in all respects with the ancient Universities, freed from those exclusions and religious distinctions which abridge the usefulness of Cambridge and Oxford.” Their demand was granted, and London University refounded, but it was only men who were “freed from those exclusions.” Its first Charter was formally renewed in the beginning of the present reign, and a supplementary Charter in 1850 permitted it to affiliate certain Colleges, but later on, its duty became limited toExamination. The actual Charter by which it is now governed is that of January 6th, 1863. In 1807 another Charter conferred upon the University the power of instituting special examinations for women. In the same year the Reform Act gave the graduates the right to send one Representative member to Parliament. The Examinations for Women did not thrive. It was found they did not want a system devised exclusively for their use. After much discussion, the Senate and Convocation agreed to accept from the Crown in 1878 a supplemental Charter, making every Degree, Honour, and Prize awarded by the University, accessible to both sexes on perfectly equal terms. The University of London was thus the first Academic body in the United Kingdom to admit women as Candidates for Degrees. This supplement decrees that “5. All the powers and provisions relating to the granting of Degrees and Certificates of Proficiency contained in our said recited Letters Patent of the 6th day of January in the 26th of our reign shall henceforward beread and construed as applying to women as well as to men, and that, except as hereinafter mentioned, all the parts of the same Letters Patent shall be read and construed as if the extended powers hereby conferred were contained in the same Letters Patent.”
“6. And further, know ye that we do in like manner will and ordain that notwithstanding anything in our said Letters Patent of the sixth day of January in the twenty-sixth year of our reign to the contrary, no Female Graduate of the said University shall be a member of the Convocation of the said University unless and until such Convocation shall have passed a resolution that Female Graduates be admitted to Convocation.” Later, Convocation did pass that resolution. Women are now admitted to their general Council. The recording of their vote for their member of Parliament depends on other decisions. “The Visitor,” is a woman, our Queen. Therefore women cannot complain much of London University. There, they have had a fair field and no favour. The records of the results can be followed in the University Calendars. Women have attained a very good position, and many honours in proportion to the relative number of their candidates.
As London University grants degrees to all capable persons whether educated in Academic haunts or private homes, there are no Colleges that can be said to be “affiliated.” But there are several Colleges that prepare students definitely for the London Examinations. Chief of these is University College, London. There, since the opening of London University, women have been freely admitted to all the instruction in the Science and Arts Classes, with their prizes and honours. They require the recommendation of the Lady Principal (Miss Morison) before admission as students, but that can be easily attained by those really desirous of attending the classes. Wives and daughters of Members of Senate or former Members of Senate are admitted free, and without recommendation in the same manner as are sons of the same gentlemen.
The medical classes are, however, still closed, and women have to be trained in Medicine in their own Medical School in 30 Handel Street, whence they can take London Degrees. During the past year 143 women students attended the College, and 14 have been registered as full medical practitioners. Admission to the legal practice of Medicine is regulated by the General Medical Council of Great Britain and Ireland in accordance with the powers conferred by Act of Parliament upon that body, under whom are 20 examining boards. Women educated in this school are eligible also to the exams. of the Society of Apothecaries, London, and to other examinations in other University centres. The British Medical Association is now opened to them. King’s College, Strand, admits women, but they are kept apart. What is called “The Ladies’ Department” is at 13 Kensington Square, a thriving centre. They can there prepare for London University Exams.
The Mason College founded in Birmingham by Sir Joshua Mason, Knt., 23rd February, 1875, opened by Prof. Huxley, in 1880, admits men and women on the same terms.
Aberystwyth University College of North Wales was opened in 1871, and there were women students in the musical department in its early years. The first woman admitted to full College Course was one who took an Exhibition of £15 in 1884. There was no mention of sex in the Charter of the College, and therefore she only asked admission, and was received. The number of women students gradually increased, and after various attempts, a Hostel was founded for their reception, and residence made compulsory for all students not living with parents or guardians. A rapid increase ensued in the number of women students, under the wise care of Miss Carpenter, and they now number over 120. All prizes, the “open” scholarships, are free to women, as well as the Associateship of the College. In the London exams. the Aberystwyth women students have done well. Other Welsh Colleges receive women. This year the united Colleges of Wales have applied for a University Charter, and the Professorships, as well as Studentships, are opened to women.
We cannot go into full details of all the Colleges that send up women students to London University Examinations.
Dublin University, founded in 1591, was incorporated in 1593, and other colleges were afterwards affiliated. In 1869, women were admitted to Queen’s College Examinations.
The Charter of the Royal University of Ireland in 1880, decided that “all Degrees, Honours, Exhibitions, Prizes and Scholarships in this University are open to students of either sex.” The Royal University of Ireland, absorbing the old Queen’s University, the offices and emoluments of the one University merely passed on to the other, with fuller powers and wider scope. It is now also an examining body as is London.
At the commencement of the Royal University, many qualified women students attained the degrees thereby thrown open to them. Since that time 665 women have been granted B.A. degrees, 90 M.A., 22 LL.D., and 20 LL.B. The old Queen’s Colleges of Belfast, Cork, Galway and others, prepare students for the Royal University, private students having, however, the same privileges.
As all prizes and exhibitions are said to be open to all matriculated students of the Colleges, some time ago Miss Lee (daughter of the Late Archdeacon Lee of Dublin), now Principal of the Old Hall at Newnham College, was proposed for a Fellowship. She only gained 4 votes, one being that of Archbishop Trench; but the fact of her being proposed and voted for at all, showed that her sex did not exclude her from competition. The Act under which the Royal University was founded, excludes women from Convocation,unless they were members of the Senate. Convocation at present consists of the Senate, and of qualified male Graduates. The Senate, however, at first appointed by the Queen, consists of 36 Senators and one Chancellor, and except 6 Graduates, afterwards elected by Convocation, it does not exclude women. The word used in the Charter is invariably “person.”
The Royal Charter of the Victoria University is dated 20th April, 1880, which incorporates Owen’s College, Manchester; University College, Liverpool; and Yorkshire College, Leeds, with freedom to admit other Colleges. It makes no distinction of sex. It says:—
“IV. The University shall have power to grant and confer all such degrees and other distinctions as now or at any time hereafter can be granted and conferred by any other University in our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to and on all persons, male or female, who shall have pursued a regular course of Study in a College in the University and shall submit themselves for Examination.”
Medicine and Surgery degrees are here excepted. The supplemental Charter of 20th March, 1893, however, ordains:—
“I. The Victoria University shall have power to grant and confer to and on all persons, whether male or female ... Degrees and Certificates of Proficiency in Medicine and Surgery.”
The Medical Degrees are therefore theoretically open to women. But the characteristic of the Victoria University is, that it examines those only who have gone through a course of study in each subject of examination in a College of the University, and the privileges of the University depend upon the arrangements made at the Colleges. The Medical Schools at all three Colleges are still closed to women, and therefore the Victoria University medical degrees are practically dependent on extraneous teaching. If women want a medical degree “they must study for two years, in one of the affiliated Colleges, and take their medical classes at a recognised school such as Queen Margaret College, Glasgow, or the Medical School for Women, Edinburgh.”
Women were admitted to some classes in Owen’s College, Manchester, in 1876. All the Science and Arts classes are now open, but Biology, and some of the Laboratories are closed. In the junior classes men and women are taught separately, though the examinations are the same. The Department for Women of Owen’s College, Manchester, is at 223 Brunswick Street.
At the two younger colleges of Liverpool and Leeds; all Classes and Laboratories are open to women, except in the Medical School.
A fair proportion of women’s names appear in the Degree Lists and in the Prize Lists. Several women are members of Convocation, and there will soon be more. Many of them are Associates of their College. Besides full Degrees, there are Certificates of Proficiencygranted by this University to women. AllUniversityprizes are open to women, and the majority of College Prizes.
Edinburgh University was founded in 1582 on the site of the lonely Kirk of Field, where Darnley met his death. The present building, however, now called the Old University, was only begun in 1739. It is to this College alone that women are as yet admitted. The University New Buildings, commenced in 1878, were partly opened for teaching purposes in 1880, and completed in 1888. This has been handed over to the great “School of Medicine,” of Edinburgh University. The McEwan Hall for public Academic Ceremonials and for the conferring of Degrees was completed the year before last, and some women graced its first public function.
Edinburgh retains the honour of having been the earliest place in the British Islands where women were admitted to the advantages of a University education. Mrs. Crudelius in 1866 conceived the idea, and with an ever-increasing army of sympathisers, she formed in 1867 the “Edinburgh Association for the Higher Education of Women,” afterwards entitled the “Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women.” This did good work. In the session 1867-8 a class was opened in a separate hall, in which Professor Masson delivered his University Lectures on English Literature, 265 women enrolling themselves as students. Encouraged by their success, in November, 1868, a second winter session, the Association arranged for three classes in three departments, “the Literary,” represented by Professor Masson’s on English Literature, in which 129 women appeared; “the Scientific,” represented by Professor Tait’s class of Experimental Physics, in which 141 women entered; and “the Philosophical,” represented by Professor Fraser’s Lectures on Logic and Psychology, the first time such a course had been offered to women, and 65 women took advantage of it. The quality of the work done both in Examinations and Essays, showed that Intellect was of no Sex. The Association worked on patiently through the years, more and more gaining the sympathy and co-operation of the University, which soon granted Certificates for proficiency in any three subjects, proved in examinations of the M.A. Standard, the first of which was gained in 1873. Separate Honours Examinations were also instituted.
Later, a higher Certificate, called a Diploma, was offered to those who had passed in seven subjects of M.A. Standard, one at least in Honours. The first was gained in 1875, before any other Scottish University had considered the needs of women, and before London or Dublin had opened their doors. The disturbances made against the attempts by women to gain admission to the medical school, had made it more difficult for the Association to gain what it desired, the opening of the Art Classes and Degrees to women. But it lived to make warm friends among members of the University Senate whowere at first its foes. The Scottish Universities Bill coming into force the year before last, empowered the several Scotch Universities to open their doors to women in their own time and in their own way. Women students were to matriculate under the same conditions as men.
Ordinance 18. IX.
“1. It shall be in the power of the University Court of each University to admit women to graduation in such Faculty or Faculties as the said court may think fit.
“2. It shall be competent to the University Court of each University to make provision within the University for the instruction of women in any of the subjects taught by the University either by admitting them to the ordinary classes, or by instituting separate classes for their instruction. Such classes shall be conducted by the Professors in the several subjects, or by Lecturers specially appointed for the purpose by the University Court, provided always that the Court shall not institute classes where men and women shall be taught together, except after consultation with the Senatus, and provided also that no Professor whose commission is dated before the approval of this ordinance by Her Majesty in council shall be required, without his consent, to conduct classes to which women are admitted.
“3. The conditions for graduation within any Faculty in which women are admitted to graduation shall be the same for women as for men, with the exceptions,” that there are advantages offered at present to women which may be classified under the name of Retrospective Recognition. “So long as provision is not made for the education of women in any University, qualifications gained at other recognised centres will be accepted as preparing for examinations and degrees.”
“4. So long as provision is not made for the education of women in Medicine, the University is empowered to admit to graduation women trained at other home or foreign Universities. So soon as, within any of the said Faculties in any University, provision is made for the instruction of women in all subjects qualifying for graduation, ... the conditions for the graduation of women within such Faculty shall be the same as the conditions for the graduation of men.
“5. Women who had begun their studies in recognised University classes before this date to be admitted to graduation, as if they had been members of the University and, if they had passed in the specified seven subjects qualifying for M.A., to receive that degree without further examination.”
The result of this concession is that eight ladies received the degree of M.A. of Edinburgh University, and several more will be qualified through the next Examination. Those who take their Degree will be admitted to the General Council. Therefore, Edinburgh stands at the head of the Scotch Universities in the order oftime of the admission of women. She will have several women graduates before any other University can present one. That, of course, was only made possible by her efforts commencing earlier, and her work being more systematic. One hundred and thirty-four women in all have taken at least three of the subjects towards their Degree Examination. Edinburgh has simply admitted women to mixed Classes in the Old University, with all privileges in Arts. About one hundred and twenty women have matriculated this session. A Hall of Residence is now being built for women, to be called the Masson Hall, in commemoration of the life-long devotion of Professor David Masson to the cause of Women.
The New University Building, the School of Medicine, is still closed. But women have now fuller opportunities granted them of studying in the “Medical College for Women,” 30 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, with liberty of clinical instruction in the Royal Infirmary. This College was founded by the Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women, the arrangements for teaching and fees being the same as those of the School of Medicine, the Teachers and Lecturers being duly qualified Lecturers of the School of Medicine, and the classes recognised as the Extra-Mural School. Since degrees can be taken in London, Victoria, and elsewhere, the prime difficulties in the medical education of women are practically overcome. Thirty-four women at present attend these classes.
St. Andrews University was founded in 1411; and besides its own colleges, it has affiliated to it, “University College,” Dundee. This famous University has long been friendly to women. In 1876, it added to the ordinary local Certificates a new and higher “Certificate for women” in three subjects, of the same standard as the M.A. Degrees; and later on an examination in seven subjects secured a Diploma with the Title L.A., and the privilege of being allowed to wear the University Badges. As residence at the University was not necessary, and as there was no limiting clause as to age, though the questions were hard, and the standard high, these examinations became very popular. In 1892, there were 700 candidates at 36 centres, among which were Berlin, Birmingham, Constantinople, Cork, Dresden, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Marseilles, Pietermaritzburg, Seville, Truro, Uitenhage, and Wolfenbüttel. They have thus spread widely over the continent of Europe, and invitations have been sent to form centres in America, which are now under consideration. This Diploma is recognised as equivalent to the “Brèvet Superieur” for admission to the Sorbonne Examinations in Paris.
Some of the St. Andrews Professors had given lectures to women in the neighbouring town of Dundee as well as in St. Andrews. So the soil was prepared for the passing of the Scottish Universities Bill. St. Andrews nobly went as far as it could, in fulfilling these, andtherefore in the University Calendar for the session appears, “The University Court of the University of St. Andrews, in consultation with the Senatus Academicus, has resolved to openallits classes in Arts, Science, Theology and Medicine to women students. Women may henceforward matriculate as Students of the University and be admitted to any class or classes they may select, with a view to graduation in Arts, Science, Theology or Medicine. In the year 1893 a sum of£30,000 will become available for Bursaries or Scholarships at the University, one half of which is reserved for women students exclusively; those who intend to enter the Medical Profession having a prior claim to these Bursaries, though they are tenable while Arts and Science Classes are being attended. A Hall of Residence for women students will be instituted, where they can live together under a head.” Mrs. Morrison Duncan of Naughton’s liberality has made it possible to offer ten Bursaries to women at the very outset of their career. Nineteen women matriculated in October. The LL.A. examinations will go on all the same for those who cannot attend the University.
Glasgow University was founded in 1450, by a Bull from Pope Nicholas V. After the Reformation, in 1577, James VI. gave it a new Charter. Glasgow University has some special claims to notice in the way that it has followed the lines of the Scottish Universities Acts of last year.
In 1876 a movement for the University Education of Women was initiated, and the Glasgow Association for the Higher Education of Women founded. Shortly afterwards a liberal friend gave ground and funds to build a College for women, to be called the Queen Margaret College. There the University Professors and Assistants have lectured, good work has been done and examinations instituted. But when the ordinances of the Scottish Universities Acts came into force in February, 1892, the existence of Queen Margaret College endowment enabled the Glasgow Senatus to proceed on different lines from the other Universities. The Executive Council of Queen Margaret’s College arranged to hand over to the University the College Buildings, grounds and endowment, on condition that they should be used for University Classes for Women exclusively. Their College therefore becomes University Property and Part of the University, and the old Executive Council is about to dissolve. It is now governed by the University Court and Senate, who make all the appointments and arrangements for classes; the classes qualify for the University Degrees, in the same way as the classes at Gilmore Hill, the Men’s University Buildings.
Students must matriculate as the men do; they have seats in the College Chapel, use of the Libraries and Museums; the University prizes are open to them, and graduates will be admitted to Convocation. There is a full curriculum kept up in Arts and Medicine,and the girls who go up for preliminary Arts, Science and Medicine Examinations and Degree Examinations are examined along with the men, under the same conditions. There is a good attendance at the classes, 86 having matriculated in Arts, and 45 in Medicine, 131 in all compared with 1935 men students. The votes of the undergraduate girls have been solicited already in the election of the Lord Rector.
If the apparatus in the Queen Margaret College is not sufficient to illustrate the Science and Medical Classes, the supply is supplemented from the other building, or the girls may go there for demonstrations, at different hours from the men. There are several women going up not only for Preliminary exams. in Arts, but for Professional exams. in Medicine.
The relation between the two Colleges has been sometimes called Affiliation. This is incorrect. Affiliation supposes a separate governing body and other details of separate existence. At one time Affiliation was suggested, but the Rulers of Queen Margaret College preferred that it should be taken over and become a part of the University. The new arrangement works very well, and in a large University like Glasgow the women prefer it to mixed classes.
The Medical Department of the College is the only active School of Medicine for women belonging to a University in this Country. As applications are constantly being received, the number of its students is likely to increase rapidly. After Matriculation, women are admitted to the Hunterian Museum, have permission for the usual attendance in the Wards and on the clinical Lectures at the Royal Infirmary. The classes in Medicine being University classes, certificates of attendance thereon may be used by those who propose to become Candidates for the degrees of the other Scottish Universities, for those of the London University, Victoria University, and the Royal University of Ireland, as well as for the Qualification of the Scottish Corporations, the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (Conjoint).
Glasgow University, like that of Edinburgh, for the time being, has made those differences in favour of women that we call Retrospective Recognition, of those who had attended classes in Queen Margaret College, though there are none completely ready to take full advantage of it. As soon as arrangements are fully made for their education, the conditions for women will be the same as for men.
The University of Aberdeen was founded in 1494. Women’s claims on its attention have not been so persistent as they have been in the Southern Universities. But it rose to the new conditions of the Scottish Universities Acts.
Ordinance No. 18 of the Universities Commission having passed,the University Court of Aberdeen, on the recommendation of the Senatus, resolved to admit women toGraduationinallFaculties. As to theirinstruction, women are, within the University, on the same footing as men, in the Faculties of Arts and Divinity, Science, and in the Faculty of Law, exceptso faras the class of Medical Jurisprudence is concerned, which is classified with the other Medical classes proper, in which the University has meantime considered it not advisable to provide the necessary instruction.
Eleven women have matriculated this year and have commenced with the Class of Literature. In answer to a question the Secretary of the Senatus replied, “When we have any women Graduates, questions of their privileges will have to be considered. But I can see no ground on which membership in our General Council can be denied to them, except there be any legal difficulty connected with the right of every member of Council to vote for the M.P. for Glasgow and Aberdeen.”
Durham University was founded in 1832-33 by the Dean and Chapter of Durham; the Newcastle-on-Tyne College of Medicine was made an integral part of the University in 1870, the Newcastle College of Physical Science in 1871. There is no notice of Women in the Calendar. Women have from the beginning been admitted to the classes of the College of Physical Science in Newcastle, but not to the Medical College in Newcastle nor to the Durham College itself. A strong petition was drawn up in 1881 to admit women tofullprivileges in Durham, but Convocation refused to allow women matriculation unless a Hostel were established, that is, they would have no “unattached” women students. It is always difficult to find funds for the needs of women, and the “Hostel” was not at once forthcoming. Convocation assented to the following:—
“1. That female students who shall have fulfilled the requirements of the University regarding residence and standing shall be admitted to the Public Examinations and have first degree in Arts of the University.”
Then the University discovered, or thought it did, that by their Charter they could not admit women to full Degrees, and so the matter dropped. In Newcastle, however, women have gone on attending the classes. They can go in for the same Examinations as men, and gain the Class Prizes, but they are excluded from degrees. Titles such as A.S.C., “Associate of Science”; C.E., “Civil Engineer”; L.S., “Licentiate in Surgery,” they may obtain. Among the Students working for A.S.C., women are about 1 to 30. Among the ordinary matriculated students, the average of the sexes are about equal. Among non-matriculated students who attend such classes as Literature, Fine Art, etc., the women are about 30 to 1.
When we come to the older Universities, it seems but just to considerthe women-benefactors as being related somehow to the Colleges; and through them to the University itself.
The oldest College at Cambridge, St. Peter’s, was founded in 1284. The second, Clare College, was founded in 1326 by the Lady Elizabeth, sister and co-heir of Gilbert, Earl of Clare. Three scholarships in this college were founded by Mrs. Tyldesley de Bosset.
Pembroke College or Valence-Mary, 1347, was founded by Mary de St. Paul, widow ofAymerde Valence, Earl Pembroke.
Corpus Christi, 1352, was founded by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary. These old Guilds had “sustren” as well as “brethren” in their fraternity, and consequently women had something to do with that foundation, however little it may generally be recognised.
Queen’s College was founded 1448, by Queen Margaret of Anjou, and refounded by Elizabeth Widville, Queen of Ed. IV.
St. Catherine’s was founded 1473, by Dr. Robert Wodelarke, but large benefactions from Mrs. Mary Ramsden endowed 14 scholarships. Other benefactors were women.
Christ’s College, 1505, was refounded by Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (mother of Henry VII.), and 2 scholarships were given by Lady Drury.
St. John’s, 1511, was also founded by Lady Margaret (mother of Henry VII.) and a fellowship was given by Lady Jane Rokeby.
Magdalen holds benefactions from the Countess of Warwick, Lady Anne Wray, Mrs. Margaret Dongworth, and others.
To Trinity, 1546, Queen Mary added 20 scholarships. Mrs. Mednyanszky is an important benefactor.
Sidney Sussex was founded 1594 by Lady Frances Sidney, Dowager Duchess of Sussex.
These are some of the gifts women have given to Cambridge. It proves that the sex valued and honoured learning.
Hitchin Temporary College was opened for women by the Cambridge Association for the Education of Women, in Oct., 1869, and a rapid success enabled the friends of women to incorporate Girton College, 1872, to which the students removed in 1873, and Newnham was founded in Oct., 1875.
At first there was no connection with the University at all. Then women were allowed to have examination papers, and to answer the questions, but no information was given as to the Class of the Student except privately. No official record was kept of these informal examinations. But in 1882 by a grace of the Senate the examinations were thrown open to women students of Girton and Newnham who had passed certain preliminary exams, and had resided the proper number of terms, had paid the customary fees, and had been recommended by the authorities of their College. Class Lists have ever since been published in which the exact placeof the women is mentioned with regard to the men. Some women, such as Miss Ramsay and Miss Fawcett, would have held the first place, had they been allowed to take it. No Prizes or Degrees are granted them by the University. But what is called a Degree Certificate is conferred upon any student whose proficiency has been certified by the standard of examinations qualifying for B.A., which entitles the holder to all the rights and privileges of certificated students. These are signed by the Vice Chancellor. There is no probability at present of their receiving degrees. The objection is that this would make them eligible as members of senate. As there is no matriculation, women cannot even become under-graduates in Cambridge.
The Cambridge University Calendar now gives the conditions of the admission of women to University Examinations.
Oxford, oldest in foundation, is youngest in regard to granting privileges to women.
University College, Oxford, is said to have been founded in 872 by Alfred. In it a Civil Law Fellowship was founded by Mary Anne, Viscountess Sidmouth.
Balliol College was founded by John Balliol and Devorgilla, his wife, 1263-8. Eight scholarships were founded by Hannah Brackenbury, in Law, History, and Natural Science.
In Exeter College, founded 1314, 2 scholarships were given by Miss Hasker.
Queen’s College was founded 1340, by Hubert de Eglesfield, Chaplain to Philippa, Queen of Edward III.
In Brasenose, founded 1509, Sarah, Dowager Duchess of Somerset, founded 22 scholarships, and Misses Colquilt, 3 exhibitions.
Christ Church holds 2 scholarships from Mrs. Dixon, and Miss Slade’s exhibition.
Jesus College was founded in 1571, by Queen Elizabeth. Wadham in 1612, by Nicholas Wadham of Merifield and Dorothy, his wife.
To Pembroke College, founded 1624, by King James I., his Queen, Anne, attached a Canonry of Gloucester to the Mastership.
To Worcester, founded 1714, Mrs. Sarah Eaton was a benefactor.
It may be that the result of there being fewer female benefactors in Oxford than in Cambridge may have affected the comparative want of gratitude to women in this city. Whatever be the cause, the oldest University is the hardest to move.
Oxford Lectures for the benefit of women were started as early as 1865, but not in connection with the University. In 1873, another scheme was set on foot by a Committee of Ladies. But the formation of the “Association for the Education of Women,” such as at present exists, was first suggested by Professor Rolleston, June, 1878.
The first series of Lectures commenced in October, 1879. In 1880 one College Lecture was attended. At the present time students are admitted under certain regulations to lectures in almost every College in Oxford. The Lectures are of three kinds. Those of the University generally are open without fee, those in the different colleges for men, for which fees are paid, and those provided by the Association, for which fees are paid. Until 1884, the only Oxford Examinations open to Students of the Association were those provided for women by the Delegates of Local Examinations. In that year, in answer to a petition put forward by the Association and numerously signed by resident M.A.’s, a Statute was passed by Convocation opening to women, Honour Moderations, and the Final Honour Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Modern History. In 1888, another Statute admitted women to the Final School of Literæ Humaniores, and in 1890, to the Honour Law School and the Final Examination for Mus. Bac. All examinations for B.A. in Honours are now opened to women, except Theology and Indian languages, for which no application has been made.
The University, like that of Cambridge, does not admit women to Matriculation, or Graduation, but it does not impose on them all the restrictions of men.
The University Examinations for women still provide for all Pass Subjects and for the Honour Subjects of English and Modern Languages, in which there are no University Examinations for men.
Three Halls have been founded, Lady Margaret Hall, 1879 (Church of England with liberty for other denominations); Somerville Hall, 1879 (non-denominational), and St. Hugh’s, 1886 (Church of England). There are also unattached students residing in Oxford under certain regulations. From 1879 to 1892 the number of students has been in all 539. But though women are admitted to the Oxford University Exams., Honours and Pass, and are ranked in Classes, they have no reward or recognition by the University, and no notice of women appears in the University Calendar.
Therefore in a country in which Free Trade principles have been forced on the British farmer for the benefit of other classes of the community, however prejudicial to his own, protection still reigns in these old Universities, that illogically “protect” the stronger against the weaker sex, who are thus forced to prove their capability in face of many difficulties and overwhelming odds.
Women are admitted to the following privileges:—
1878. London:
Subordinate Colleges give Education. Examination. Degrees. Convocation.
1880. Royal University of Ireland:
Subordinate Colleges give Education. Examination. Degrees. Convocation.
1880. Victoria Combined Colleges:
Matriculation. Education (Partial). Examination. Degrees. Convocation.
1892. Edinburgh:
Matriculation. Education (Partial). Examination. Degrees. General Council.
1892. St. Andrews:
Matriculation. Education. Examination. Degrees. General Council.
1892. Glasgow:
Matriculation. Education Separate. Examination. Degrees. General Council.
1892. Aberdeen:
Matriculation. Education (Partial). Examination. Degrees. General Council.