Julia Smith
Julia Smith first came to St Andrews as a temporary lecturer in 1982-83, and returned as Reader in Mediaeval History in 1995 to 2005. She has also held posts at Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow and Oxford, as well as in…
Search by category: life stories
Meet our women historians!
Margaret Lambert (1906-1995)
Dr Margaret Lambert (1906-1995) was appointed as Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of St Andrews in 1956. She was the first woman historian at St Andrews to have been hired directly as a lecturer,…
Ruth Macrides (1949-2019)
The esteemed Byzantine historian Dr Ruth Macrides spent around twenty years in a series of temporary teaching roles in the Department of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews, teaching a wide range of…
Elizabeth G.K. Hewat (1895-1968)
In 1933, Elizabeth Glendinning Kirkwood Hewat quoted from the Book of Proverbs: ‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom’.[1] She was, perhaps, referring to a definition of wisdom other than ‘sage advice’.…
Elizabeth Peddie Steele Hutton MA (1866-1917)
While wandering along the West Sands or over the Links at the turn of the twentieth century, a walker may have come across a student of history and, latterly, divinity gazing out towards the St Andrews skyline. This…
Vanessa Harding
Vanessa Harding knew nothing about St Andrews until she arrived on the sleeper at the start of term in autumn 1970. ‘It looked like a nice place to be, and I knew people who were there. It’s the kind of decision you…
Ann Kettle
Ann Kettle lectured in the Department of Mediaeval History at St Andrews for more than forty years. In addition to her teaching and research, she held various administrative posts in the university. Beyond St Andrews,…
Barbara Crawford
Barbara Crawford lectured in the Department of Medieval History from 1971 until 2001. She had previously been both an undergraduate and postgraduate student at St Andrews, and was the first long-term woman staff member…
Jane Dawson
Jane Dawson arrived at the University of St Andrews in 1977, and she remembers that her arrival caused something of a stir. Not only was she the first Glenfiddich Fellow in Scottish History, set up through money…
Lorna Walker (1929-2023)
Lorna Walker studied History at St Andrews in the late 1940s, and returned in the 1960s as a lecturer in Medieval History and Warden of University Hall. She retired in 1991, and lived in St Andrews until her death in…