Sophie Bryant
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Sophie Willock Bryant (15 February 1850,
Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.
,
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, – 14 August 1922,
Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
) was an
Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
,
educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
,
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and
activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
. She was the first woman to receive a DSc in England; one of the first to serve on a Royal Commission and on the Senate of the University of London.


Early life and education

Bryant was born Sophie Willock in Dublin in 1850. Her father was Revd Dr William Willock DD, Fellow and Tutor of
Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...
. She was educated at home, largely by her father. As a teenager she moved to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, when her father was appointed Professor of Geometry at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
in 1863, and she attended Bedford College. At the age of nineteen she married Dr William Hicks Bryant, a surgeon ten years older than she was, who died of
cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...
within a year.


Career

Frances Mary Buss and Sophie Bryant In 1875 Bryant became a teacher and was invited by Frances Mary Buss to join the staff of
North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam ...
. In 1895 she succeeded Miss Buss as headmistress of North London Collegiate, serving until 1918. When the University of London opened its degree courses to women in 1878, she started attending. In 1881, she became one of the first women to obtain a First Class Honours degree, in her case a BSc, in the first year that a British university awarded degrees to women. This was in Mental and Moral Sciences (Philosophy). She was awarded second class honours in mathematics. In 1884, she was awarded the degree of
Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...
in Mental and Moral Sciences. In 1882 she was the third woman to be elected to the
London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...
, and was the first active female member, publishing her first paper with the Society in 1884. Together with Charles Smith, Bryant edited three volumes of
Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
's Elements of Geometry, for the use of schools (''Euclid's Elements of Geometry, books I and II'' (1897); ''Euclid's Elements of Geometry, books III and IV'' (1899); ''Euclid's Elements of Geometry, books VI and IX'' (1901)). Sophie Bryant was a pioneer in education for women. She was the first woman to receive a DSc in England; one of the first three women to be appointed to a
Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
, the Bryce commission on Secondary Education in 1894–1895; and one of the first three women to be appointed to the Senate of the University of London. When Trinity College Dublin opened its degrees to women, Bryant was one of the first to be awarded an honorary doctorate. She was also instrumental in setting up the Cambridge Training College for Women, now
Hughes Hall, Cambridge Hughes Hall is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The majority of students are postgraduate, although nearly one-fifth of the student population comprises individuals aged 21 ...
. She is also said to have been one of the first women to own a
bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
. While in London, she was a member of the London Ethical Society, an early
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
community which advocated moral living independent of religion. She was interested in Irish politics, wrote books on Irish history and ancient Irish law (''Celtic Ireland'' (1889), ''The Genius of the Gael'' (1913)), and was an ardent Irish nationalist from a Protestant family background. She was president of the Irish National Literary Society in 1914. She supported
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
but advocated postponement until women were better educated. She serve on consultative committees of the national Board of Education with other suffragists like
Isabel Cleghorn Isabel Cleghorn LLA (14 March 1852 – 4 December 1922) was a British educationist and suffragist. She was the headteacher at Heeley which is now part of Sheffield and she was the first woman President of the National Union of Teachers in 19 ...
.


Later life and death

Bryant loved physical activity and the outdoors. She rowed, cycled, and swam, and twice climbed the
Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...
. She died in a hiking accident in the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
in 1922, aged 72.


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Sophie 1850 births 1922 deaths 19th-century British mathematicians 20th-century British mathematicians British humanists Irish humanists 20th-century British women mathematicians Alumni of Bedford College, London Alumni of the University of London 19th-century Anglo-Irish people 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Schoolteachers from Dublin (city) Feminist studies scholars Founders of the British Psychological Society Headmistresses of North London Collegiate School Irish women mathematicians Protestant Irish nationalists 20th-century Irish mathematicians 19th-century Irish mathematicians 19th-century British women mathematicians