Edith Elizabeth Wardale (6 March 1863 – 27 February 1943) was a British philologist and literary scholar. She earned a first class degree and an early doctorate. She taught at St Hugh's, Oxford, where she broke glass ceilings. She was an early woman lecturer, and she was the first woman to serve on the medieval and modern languages and literature faculty board. She resigned in a successful protest concerning the dismissal of a fellow lecturer.

Life

Wardale was born in

Orcheston Orcheston ) is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in Wiltshire, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring Shrewton. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Ma ...

in 1863. She lived in the parish named Orcheston St Mary, where her father, John Wardale, was the rector. Her mother was Susannah Jennings Gay. She initially entered Oxford University via Lady Margaret Hall but within a year she moved to St Hugh's Hall. She became the star-pupil of Joseph Wright who said she was the first woman to gain a "decent degree". Unlike many of his peers, Joseph Wright allowed her to teach classes in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, Middle German and the history of literature in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

. The Oxford Association for the Education of Women employed her in 1891 as a tutor of

and she became a tutor at St Hugh’s. She studied the phonology of a

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

created by the German scholar

Notker Labeo Notker Labeo ( – 28 June 1022), also known as Notker the German () or Notker III, was a Benedictine monk active as a scholar and teacher. He was the first commentator on Aristotle active in the Middle Ages and translated the works of earlier L ...

and in 1892 the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

conferred a doctorate on her in recognition of this work. Wardale was the first woman to serve on the medieval and modern languages and literature faculty board in 1921. In 1923 she was a supporter of Cecilia Ady after she protested her arbitrary dismissal by

Eleanor Jourdain Eleanor Frances Jourdain (16 November 1863 – 6 April 1924) was an English academic, Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, 1915 to 1924. She died of a sudden heart attack after being forced to resign her post. Jourdain rose to fame for claim ...

, who was the principal of St Hugh’s. Five tutors resigned in support of Ady including Wardale. The Vice-Chancellor conducted an investigation with wide media attention and Wardale had the difficult task of speaking out against the injustice on behalf of her colleagues. Jourdain avoided the indignity of being asked to resign as she died due to a heart attack. The matter was infrequently mentioned again in the college. She was Oxford's first woman examiner in English in 1925. In 1936, to mark 50 years since

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

was founded, a "Group Portrait" was painted of Evelyn Procter, Wardale who was the English Language Tutor;

Elizabeth Francis Elizabeth Francis (July 25, 1909 – October 22, 2024) was an American supercentenarian who was the oldest-living person in the United States from the death of Edie Ceccarelli on February 22, 2024, until her own death on October 22, 2024. Bio ...

, the French Tutor; Barbara Gwyer, the then Principal; and Cecilia Ady the History Tutor by

Henry Lamb Henry Taylor Lamb (21 June 1883 – 8 October 1960) was an Australian-born British painter. A follower of Augustus John, Lamb was a founder member of the Camden Town Group in 1911 and of the London Group in 1913. Early life Henry Lamb was bo ...

. She wrote ''An Introduction to Middle English'' in 1937. Two years later she became of a

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

. Wardale died in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardale, Edith 1863 births 1943 deaths People from Wiltshire British philologists