Her Oxford

Appendix 2. Some Notable Women Students, 1910–1920

293 Appendix 2 Some Notable Women Students, 1910–1920 Women are listed alphabetically by college, their names followed by the year (when known) in which they entered college. Lady Margaret Hall Joyce Bishop, 1915 (1896–1993), was a headmistress for thirty-nine years and became an important figure in the development of England’s secondary school system. Dame Joyce served during a period when education received close governmental scrutiny and provided excellent leadership and guidance at a time of rapid changes. She was appointed CBE in 1933 and DBE in 1963 for her service to education. Katharine Mary Briggs, 1918 (1898–1980), a notable folklorist, produced the fourvolume Dictionary of English Folk-Tales in 1970–1972, along with novels and plays. Always a meticulous scholar with an extraordinary range of knowledge, “she brought to folklore the rigorous canons of criticism that are essential to any discipline.”1 She went back to Oxford after the war to obtain a DPhil degree, and in 1969, Oxford awarded her a DLitt for her contributions to scholarship. Vera Chapman, 1918 (1898–1996), taught in Mozambique, where her husband was a missionary. After his death in 1942, she returned to England and worked as a civil servant between 1945 and 1963. She did not take up the writing career for which she is remembered until after her retirement. Chapman began writing novels for adults and juveniles and is best known for her Arthurian fantasy series, in which she provided a fresh perspective on traditional material. Kathleen Chesney, 1918 (1899–1976), served as French tutor and then fellow at St. Hilda’s from 1922 to 1952, producing a steady stream of scholarly publications on early French literature. In 1951, she left Oxford to become principal of Westfield College, London, and remained there until 1962, enhancing the college “by her wholesome sense of the ridiculous, her delight in elegance and beauty, and her unswavering integrity.2 After retirement, she took on the presidency of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature in 1963, serving until 1996. Maude Clarke, 1914 (1892–1935), came to LMH from Queen’s University, Belfast, and took a first in history in 1916. She joined the Somerville staff as history tutor in 1919, remaining there until her early death from cancer in 1935. Her personality was an enigma to many who knew her—warm yet reserved, witty yet austere—but she inspired great devotion from her students and admiration from her colleagues. Clarke was a highly respected medieval historian whose work gained a reputation for “great learning, lightly borne, close reasoning, and clear cut conclusions.”3 Lettice Cooper, 1916 (1897–1994), wrote many novels that were often topical and infused with her own left-wing politics. After leaving college, she worked in her 294 Her Oxford father’s engineering firm in Leeds and began her writing career at the same time. A forceful and eccentric woman, she was active in the Labour Party and in PEN International, a writer’s organization. She wrote most of her novels in the 1930s and 1940s, but she lived long enough to see some of her work reissued to good reviews just before her ninetieth birthday. In 1978, she was appointed OBE for her work with the Writers’ Action Group. Evelyn Emmet, 1917 (1899–1980), showed an early interest in politics and was elected to the London County Council in 1924. After a defeat in 1933, she actively worked for women’s causes, participated on numerous local government committees, and served as a magistrate before gaining a Conservative seat in Parliament in 1955. She was created a life peer, Baroness Emmet of Amberley, in 1964 and took her seat in the House of Lords. Her full life as a politician was complemented by her private life as a wife, mother of four children, and enthusiastic cattle breeder. Always immaculately dressed, she was once chided for wearing her pearls during a fire drill at LMH and retorted: “Pearls should never be taken off except in the bath.”4 Mary Lascelles, 1919 (1900–1995), served as tutor in English and then fellow at Somerville from 1931 to 1960. She became a university lecturer in 1960 and then reader in 1966. Because her own standards were so rigorous, she could be a terrifying tutor, but the anxiety and awe of many who studied under her gave way to appreciation for her ability to teach them the meaning of true scholarship. Lascelles took particular pleasure in her 1962...