Early women graduates with Honours, 1903-1915
History had only became an option for M.A. students at St Andrews in the 1890s. The first Lecturer in History, James Mackinnon, was appointed in 1896. Some students took ‘History’ as one of several subjects while studying for an ‘Ordinary MA’ [3 years?]. Others pursued more in-depth study, focusing on History for their final two years of study, and graduating ‘with Honours in History’ [4 years]. Some did both.
The first students to graduate ‘with Honours’ in History from St Andrews were John Key and Edwin Jackson in 1900, followed by Alexander Logan in 1901.
The first women to graduate with Honours in History from St Andrews are listed below. The names are taken from the official ‘Lists of Graduates’ published in the University Calendar (the 1915 edition has a cumulative list stretching back to 1862). We do not currently know much about these women, but are adding new information as we get it.
1903, with First Class Honours: Elizabeth Peddie Steele Hutton (1866-1917) had been studying at St Andrews since 1892, and would study Divinity as well as Honours History. She became the first female editor of the student magazine College Echoes. Read more about her…
1903, with Second Class Honours: Helen Florence Douglas-Irvine (1880-1946/7) was a member of the Douglas family of Grangemuir near Pittenweem, Fife. In the 1910s, she wrote several books of history. She changed her name to Helen Florence Douglas in 1919. In the 1930s and 1940s, she became a novelist. Some of her publications are listed on Wikipedia.
1904, with First Class Honours: Elizabeth Anderson McIntyre. She had already graduated with Second Class Honours in Classics in 1902.
1904, with Second Class Honours: Charlotte Nora Longson.
1904, with Second Class Honours: Mary Lloyd-Evans. She had graduated with an Ordinary MA earlier in 1904; and graduated with Honours History in October 1904.
1905, with First Class Honours: Annie Spilman of Doncaster. She achieved First Class in both Modern and Ecclesiastical History.
1907, with Second Class Honours: Edith Jessie Philipson.
1908, with Second Class Honours: Beatrix Ida Whyte. She had already graduated with Second Class Classics in 1907.
1909, with First Class Honours: Mary Burnett Brown. She had previously graduated with an Ordinary MA in 1908
1910, with Second Class Honours: Cicely Frideswide Stocks.
1910, with Second Class Honours: Annie Jane Edie M’Killiam (1871-1916), daughter of an Aberdeen confectioner. She had previously graduated with an Ordinary MA in 1909. Read about the history books she wrote…
1911, with Second Class Honours: Jessie Smith Hogg.
1913, with Second Class Honours: Dorothy Harris
1914, with First Class Honours, Lilian Mary Heyworth