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"Steamboat ladies" was an informal nickname given to a number of female students (estimated at around 720 graduates) at the
"Steamboat ladies" was an informal nickname given to a number of female students (estimated at around 720 graduates) at the women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...
s of the Universities of both 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 ...
and Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, who were awarded University of Dublin
The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...
degrees at 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 Unive ...
by ''ad eundem'' incorporation, between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women. The name comes from the means of transport commonly used by these women to travel to 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 ...
for this purpose.
Trinity admitted female students in 1904. Unlike Oxford and Cambridge, where women had for some years been admitted to separate female colleges within the overall university, both men and women were admitted to the University of Dublin's only college (Trinity) and it was felt there would be no rationale to restrict successful female students from graduating to become members of the university like their male counterparts. In accordance with the long-standing formula of ''ad eundem'' mutual recognition that existed between Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, Anthony Traill, the then-Provost of Trinity College, proposed that eligible female Oxbridge course completers be granted Trinity degrees, as was the case for men. The policy lasted from June 1904 to December 1907, when requirements for ''ad eundem'' awards were revised.
The Board of Trinity College thought that only small numbers of women would take up the offer to graduate and that they would be Irish women who had studied in Oxford or Cambridge colleges. In fact, by 1907 Trinity had granted degrees to some 720 "steamboat ladies". /sup> All had passed examinations at Oxbridge that would have earned them a degree if they were male. /sup> The women were predominantly students of Girton and Newnham Colleges, Cambridge and Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...
. /sup>
Money derived from the degree conferral fees that female graduates paid during this period was largely ring-fenced and was used to fund the purchase of Trinity Hall, an extramural hall of residence for female students, which opened in 1908.
Notable steamboat ladies
*Julia Bell
Julia Bell MA Dubl (1901) MRCS LRCP (1920) MRCP (1926) FRCP (1938) (28 January 1879 – 26 April 1979) was one of the pioneers of eugenics and human genetics.Greta Jones, 'Bell, Julia (1879–1979)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' ...
(1879–1979), human geneticist
* Dorothy Brock DBE (1886–1969), educationist and headmistress
* Sara Burstall (1859–1939), educationist and headmistress
* Frances Dove DBE, JP (1847–1942), teacher and headmistress
* Gertrude Elles MBE (1872–1960), geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
* Lilian Faithfull CBE, JP (1865–1952), teacher and headmistress
* Philippa Fawcett
Philippa Garrett Fawcett (4 April 1868 – 10 June 1948) was an English mathematician and educator. She was the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams. She taught at Newnham College, Cambridge, and at the n ...
(1868–1948), mathematician and educationalist
* Florence Gadesen (1853–1934), teacher and headmistress
* Ethel Gavin (1866–1918), educationist and headmistress
* Frances Ralph Gray (1861–1935), teacher and headmistress
* Margaret Hills (1882 – 1967), teacher, suffragist organiser, feminist and socialist.
* Hilda Phoebe Hudson (1881–1965) mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry, in particular on Cremona transformations.
* Ruth Herbert Lewis (1871-1946), social reformer and folk-song collector
* Katharine Jex-Blake (1860–1951), classicist
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
and teacher
* Lilian Knowles (1870–1926), historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
and professor of economic history
Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...
* Penelope Lawrence (1856–1932), educator
* Ellen McArthur (1862–1927), economic historian
* Edith Major (1867–1951), educationist and headmistress
* Emily Penrose DBE (1858–1942), classicist and educationalist
* Bertha Phillpotts DBE (1877–1932), linguist, historian and educationalist
* Eleanor Rathbone (1872–1946), suffragist, social reformer and member of parliament
* Shena Simon (1883–1972), politician, 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 ...
, educationalist and writer
* Eugénie Sellers Strong CBE (1860–1943), archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and art historian
Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history.
Traditionally, the ...
* Margaret Tuke
Dame Margaret Janson Tuke (13 March 1862, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England21 February 1947, Hitchin) was a British academic and educator. She was the youngest child of the philanthropist James Hack Tuke. She was created a Dame Commander of the O ...
(1862–1947), academic and educator
* Katharine Wallas CBE (1864–1944), politician and educationalist
* Mary Hay Wood (1868–1934), educationist
References
Sources
* . * . * *Susan M. Parkes, « Trinity College, Dublin and the “Steamboat Ladies”, 1904–1907 », in Mary R. Masson & Deborah Simonton, ''Women and higher education: past, present and future'', Aberdeen University Press, 1996, 352 p. (ISBN 1857522605), p. 244–250. * {{Authority control 1904 in England 1904 in Ireland 1905 in England 1905 in Ireland 1906 in England 1906 in Ireland History of education in England History of the University of Oxford History of the University of Cambridge Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford Lists of people associated with the University of Cambridge Oxbridge Terminology of the University of Cambridge Trinity College Dublin-related lists University of Dublin History of education in Ireland People associated with Somerville College, Oxford