Sarah Woodhead (1851–1912) was the first woman to take and pass a

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

examination. In particular, she was the first woman to take, and to pass, the

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a ...

exam, which she did in 1873.

Education

Woodhead’s family had long belonged to the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, so she was able to attend

Ackworth School Ackworth School is an independent day and boarding school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school (or more accurately its Head) is a member o ...

, a Quaker school that accepted daughters of Friends as well as their sons. Woodhead later studied at

Girton College Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, the first women's college to be founded at Oxford or Cambridge. As the physical college had yet to be built, she attended courses set up by Girton founder

Emily Davies Sarah Emily Davies (22 April 1830 – 13 July 1921) was an English feminist and suffragist, and a pioneering campaigner for women's rights to university access. She is remembered above all as a co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton Colleg ...

at Benslow House,

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding 300 ...

. In 1873, Woodhead took the same

examination as the male students, having already gained a first at Part I, and was classed equivalent to

Senior Optime At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the final year of the university's degree in mathematics. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Secon ...

in mathematics. She was the first woman to take, and to pass, the Mathematical Tripos exam. This also made her the very first of the first three women to complete any

. The three "honorary" (rather than actual) graduates became known as "Woodhead,

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

and Lumsden, the Girton Pioneers".

Later life and death

Woodhead married architect Christopher Corbett, after which she ran her own school in Bolton. She then became the second headmistress of

Bolton School Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery, co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including sixth fo ...

, known then as Bolton High School for Girls.. After her husband moved the family back to Manchester to take over his family firm, she found employment as an inspector of schools. Widowed in her fifties, she moved to Harrogate and died there in July, 1908, aged fifty-seven.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhead, Sarah 1851 births 1908 deaths Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge English Quakers Schoolteachers from Greater Manchester

Education

Later life and death

See also

References