Edith Hilda, Lady Ingold ( Usherwood; 21 May 1898 – 1988) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

based in Leeds and London. Her career was unfairly overshadowed by that of her

husband A husband is a man involved in a marital relationship, commonly referred to as a spouse. The specific rights, responsibilities, and societal status attributed to a husband can vary significantly across different cultures and historical perio ...

. She failed to gain much public recognition, despite being an innovative chemist and partner to her husband in his work on organic chemistry. She was known as Lady Ingold following her husband's knighthood.

Early life

Edith Hilda Usherwood was born into a working-class family in Catford (south-east London).

Education

She attended a girls' grammar school in Lewisham, and then had two years of private education in Horsham. She then moved to the North London Collegiate School after being awarded a Clothworker's Scholarship. As an undergraduate at Royal Holloway College, Usherwood attained a BSc Hons in Chemistry (1916-1920) before completing her doctorate in 1923 at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. As the doctoral degree was only introduced to British Universities in 1917 she was one of the earliest students to qualify. Her PhD project was on tautomers, isomers of molecules which differ only in the position of a labile hydrogen atom. Her doctoral supervisor was Martha Whiteley. Her subsidiary subject was physics and this led to her research in

physical organic chemistry Physical organic chemistry, a term coined by Louis Hammett in 1940, refers to a discipline of organic chemistry that focuses on the relationship between chemical structures and chemical reaction, reactivity, in particular, applying experimental to ...

and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

. Following completion of her PhD she went on to complete a

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

. She was president of the UCL Chemical and Physical society during the 1976-1977 academic year, one of the oldest and most prestigious societies at the university.

Personal life

She married fellow Chemistry student Christopher Kelk Ingold in 1923 and went on to have three children. They had two daughters and a son, the chemist Keith Ingold.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingold, Hilda English women chemists English chemists People educated at North London Collegiate School 1898 births 1988 deaths People from Catford Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of Imperial College London Wives of knights