Patricia Allan
Patricia Allan lectured on American history in the Department of Modern History from 1971 to 1973 (while completing her PhD at Glasgow). She subsequently worked in the Law Faculty at the University…
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]
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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 (1929-2023)
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…
Caroline Doris Ketelbey (1896-1990)
Doris Ketelbey, c.1940 (one of several family portraits included in ‘In search of Ketelbeys’, held in University of St Andrews Library. If you believe you are the rights-holder,…
Edith Johnston PhD (1930-2008)
Edith Mary Johnston, MA 1951 PhD 1956 (later, Mrs Liik) Edith Johnston-Liik (from Shirley Kelly, “‘Researchers Couldn’t Be Sure of a Job over a Year’—Edith Johnston-Liik on a Half-Century Project,” Books Ireland,…
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