Elizabeth Glendinning Kirkwood Hewat (16 September 1895 – 13 October 1968) was the first woman to graduate BD and PhD at

New College, University of Edinburgh New College is a historic building at the University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious Studies in the United Kingdom. Student ...

, a missionary, a campaigner for women's equality in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

, and a historian of Scottish missions.

Life and career

Hewat was born on 16 September 1895 in

Prestwick, Scotland Prestwick () is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, and the small vill ...

to Elizabeth Glendinning and the Rev. Kirkwood Hewat, the

United Free Church The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the majority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland. The maj ...

minister at Prestwick. Her education began at the girls' school Wellington School in

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

and she went on to gain an MA at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in history and philosophy. Her first academic position was as assistant lecturer in history at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. She then moved to the UFC Women's Missionary College in Edinburgh where she taught between 1922 and 1926. In Edinburgh, she was one of the first women to study at New College and became the first woman to graduate BD from the college in 1926, coming top of her class. Hewat believed that in order to fully prepare for missionary work that she should be ordained by the church. This led to a debate on women's ordination during the 1926 United Free Church General Assembly, however, the motion was not passed. Vera Kenmure was ordained and became a pastor in Partick's Congregational church in 1928 and she was ordained in 1929. Hewat continued to argue for women's equality in the Christian church, writing in 1931, "women in the church hold a subordinate position; and women of today ask why ... Of one thing they are certain, and it is this, that it is not Christ who is barring the way." Despite the refusal of ordination, Hewat began her missionary work by joining her sister in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Once there, she was a teaching missionary and followed her own scholarly interests by researching comparative literature in Hebrew and Confucian Wisdom. Following her time in China, she returned to Edinburgh to work as an unpaid assistant at North Merchiston Church and to complete her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. In 1935, she moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

to become Professor of History at Wilson College and remained there until 1956. She was an elder in the United Church of North India. In 1967 six women wrote an open letter to call on the

to allow the ordination of women. The six were Hewat,

Margaret Forrester Margaret Forrester (born Margaret McDonald) became a missionary, Scottish church minister and writer. She was one of six women who successfully campaigned for the right of women to be ordained in the Church of Scotland. She supported gay-rights wi ...

Claude Marie Barbour Claude Marie Barbour is a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA). She was among the first female ministers in the denomination, being ordained in 1974 in Gary, Indiana. Education Barbour has a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) from New York T ...

, Mary Lusk (née Levison), Mary Weir and Sheila White (later Reverend

Sheila Spence Shottskirk, more commonly known as Kirk O'Shotts Parish Church, or affectionately "The M8 Church", is a local parish church located in Salsburgh, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, and serves the village of Salsburgh, the town of Shotts and the hamlets ...

). Mary Lusk had been the first to petition for the acceptance of women as ministers in the Church of Scotland in 1963. Every year the request was renewed and in 1967 the six found that they were not allowed to lobby the men who were making the decision—so they decided to hold a press conference. The

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

lent them a room and the press were invited but they were not expected in any numbers. On the day the room was packed and the six and their petition was in the press. The debate continued in 1967 and on 22 May 1968 women's ordination was approved. Hewat died on 13 October 1968 in Edinburgh.

Works

* * *

Life and career

Works

References

Further reading