Edith Edgar MacQueen (1900–1977) was a Scottish parliamentary historian and a historian of Scottish emigration to North America. She was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

Early life

MacQueen was the daughter of George MacQueen of Mongus,

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

, Scotland.

Academic career

MacQueen matriculated at St Andrews in 1918, graduating with first class honours in English and history in 1922. In 1922 MacQueen was awarded the Berry Scholarship in History, submitting a monograph on the ''Life of the Duke of Albany'' for which she was awarded the Hume Brown Essay Prize in Scottish History in June 1923. In October 1923 MacQueen started studying for her Ph.D. She was the first woman to do so at St Andrews and the fourth Ph.D. student in history following the university's decision to grant them in 1920. She was awarded a Carnegie Scholarship in 1923 to assist her with her research; it was renewed in 1924/25. In 1926 she submitted her thesis entitled ‘The General Assembly of the Kirk as the rival of the Scottish parliament, 1560-1618’, which was supervised by J. D. Mackie. MacQueen continued her work on parliamentary history as well as working on Scottish emigration to North America in her later life. She also wrote historical programs for BBC Radio's school programs in the late 1930s. In around 1930, she spent some time at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

as a Commonwealth Fund visiting fellow.

Personal life

In 1944 MacQueen married

Leslie Haden-Guest Leslie Haden-Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest, (10 March 1877 – 20 August 1960) was a British author, journalist, doctor and Labour Party politician. Early life Haden-Guest was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, the son of Catharine Anna (née ...

, the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP for Islington North. In 1950 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex. She was then styled as Baroness Haden-Guest. She died in 1977. Her papers are held by the University of St Andrews.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacQueen, Edith Alumni of the University of St Andrews 1900 births 1977 deaths People from Angus, Scotland 20th-century Scottish historians British women historians