“Of all the varying forms of war-work on which members of the SSA are engaged perhaps none is more valuable or more interesting than Miss Sorabji’s.” SSA Annual Report 1917 Cornelia Sorabji was a student at Somerville between 1889 and 1892, the first Indian woman to study at Oxford and the first woman to read Law at the University. After completing her… Read More »August 1917: “Miss Sorabji’s Work in India”
In September 1917, Constance Coltman became the first British woman to be ordained in one of the mainstream Protestant churches, when she became a Congregationalist minister. Constance Todd’s father, George, was a headmaster and her mother Emily had been among the first women in England to study medicine (although she did not practice). Constance was awarded an exhibition to read… Read More »September 1917: Rev. Constance Coltman
By October 1917, Vera Brittain was nursing at the No.24 General Hospital at Étaples and her future friend and fellow author, Winifred Holtby, was settling in as a new student at Somerville College. Winifred Holtby came up to Oxford to read history at the age of nineteen, having spent a year working in a private nursing home in London. She… Read More »October 1917: Winifred Holtby arrives at Somerville
Regular readers of this blog will know how much it owes to the Somerville Students’ Association (SSA) annual reports of the period and, in particular, to the list of members and their war work, which was included in the report published in November 1917.The original list was compiled for what would become the Imperial War Museum (see May 1917 blog). It… Read More »November 1917: Entertaining the Troops
In the Michaelmas term of 1917, Somervillians began fundraising for the New Hospital for Women. By this stage of the war, medical provision for the civilian population was under severe strain, as military requirements took precedent in the deployment of resources and personnel. Since the beginning of the century, attempts had been made to address issues of mother and child… Read More »December 1917: The Oxford Bed
On 1st January 1918, the Principal of Somerville College Emily Penrose was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She received it in recognition of her work on the National Register, undertaken in 1915 with, it was reported in the press, unique efficiency (see August 1915 blog). In organising the registration in Oxford, Emily Penrose had… Read More »January 1918: Miss Emily Penrose, OBE
On 6 February 1918, the Representation of the People Act extended the right to vote to all men aged over 21 and, for the first time, to some women. To qualify, the women had to be over 30, own property or be graduates voting in a University constituency. The effects of the Act would be rapid and profound for women… Read More »February 1918: Leading the Way
“… all women who have been admitted to and passed the final examination, and kept the period of residence necessary for a man to obtain a degree at a University, are entitled, provided they have attained the age of 30 years, to be registered as Parliamentary Electors for the University.”Letter from the Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford, published in the University… Read More »March 1918: Votes and Degrees
In April 1918, Vera Brittain returned from France to London. She had been posted to the No. 24 General Hospital at Étaples in August 1917. It was close to the front and frantically busy and by April 1918 the German spring offensive meant every experienced VAD working there was a vital resource. However, the years of worry and shortages on… Read More »April 1918: Conflicting Calls of Duty
Somerville had many thriving societies before and during the First World War – sporting, debating, artistic and philanthropic, including the WUS (Women’s University Settlement) and a college branch of the WEA (Workers’ Educational Association). From 1887, students had volunteered for welfare work with the WUS, alongside students from Cambridge and London, helping women and children in Southwark. The WEA (Worker’s… Read More »May 1918: the Business Girls’ Club