Ann Kettle
Ann Kettle was a lecturer 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…
Life stories
We have been trying to find out about the women who studied History, or who worked in History, at St Andrews over the last 120 years. These are the stories of their lives before, during and after St Andrews – as far as we know them so far! The stories on this page are a mixture: some are based on interviews with living women (and we’ll be releasing more of these over the coming months); others are based on library and archival research into deceased women, and in many of those cases, we really do not know much at all. This is especially the case for graduates from the early twentieth century. If you can help us fill in some of the blanks, please get in touch via [email protected]
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…
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…
Lorna Walker
Lorna Walker in 1983. Courtesy of the University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums, ID: Group-1981-53 Lorna Walker studied History at St Andrews in the late 1940s, and returned in the 1960s…
Janet Low (d.1962)
As far as we know, the first woman to teach History formally within the University was Janet Low. She was one of several people, men and women, appointed during the First World…
Anne Wright (1924-1981)
Portrait of Miss Anne Wright, Warden of Hamilton Hall, 1966 to 1980. Image Courtesy of the University of St Andrews Library, ID HC1082 Anne Margaret Chaloner Wright had a life-long connection to…
Eliza Steele-Hutton MA 1903
Elizabeth Peddie Steele Hutton was one of the first two women to graduate M.A. with Honours in History from St Andrews. She graduated with First class honours in 1903. She spent over…
Doris Ketelbey, 1896-1990
Edith Johnston, MA 1951 PhD 1956
[caption id="attachment_90" align="alignright" width="185"] Image from Shirley Kelly, “‘Researchers Couldn’t Be Sure of a Job over a Year’—Edith Johnston-Liik on a Half-Century Project,” Books Ireland, no. 250, 2002, p. 153. As far…
Elizabeth Menzies, PhD 1954
Elizabeth Alexandra Menzies, MA 1949, PhD 1954 Elizabeth Menzies was the third woman to have been awarded a Ph.D. in History from St Andrews (although she seems to have been based at…
Edith Thomson, PhD 1928
Edith Elizabeth Bruce Thomson, MA St Andrews 1923; PhD St Andrews 1928 Edith Thomson was the second woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in History at St Andrews for a thesis entitled ‘Scotland under Lauderdale’. She…
Edith MacQueen, PhD 1927
Edith Edgar MacQueen (1900-1977) appears to have been the first woman historian to be awarded a Ph.D. in History by the University of St Andrews. She submitted her thesis in 1927, on…
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