Sarah Butler

Philippa Foot (1920-2010) was a renowned moral philosopher. Born Philippa Bosanquet, her father was British and her mother was American, the daughter of President Grover Cleveland. Philippa Bosanquet had very little formal education but attained a place to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Somerville in 1939, and took a First in 1942. She was one of four philosophers (Foot,… Read More »Philippa Foot Collection

Emily Kemp (1860-1939) was a traveller, author and artist. She was born in Rochdale into a wealthy family (her father was a textile manufacturer) and she was one of Somerville’s earliest students, attending the college from 1881 to 1883. After Somerville, she studied medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women for two years and then spent two years… Read More »Emily Kemp Collection

Writer and campaigner, Vera Brittain (1893-1970) came up to Somerville College in 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War. She read English for one year before taking a leave of absence in 1915 to volunteer as a nurse. The war changed Brittain’s life; she lost her fiancé, her brother and her two closest friends. Traumatised by her experience, she… Read More »Vera Brittain and Shirley Williams Collection

Between 1992 and 1996 Laura Liswood interviewed 15 women world leaders as research for her publication ‘Women World Leaders’, and subsequent documentary of the same title. She went on, in 1996, to co-found the Council of Women World Leaders, of which she is now Secretary General. These 15 interviews, plus others carried out in subsequent years by Liswood, form the… Read More »Laura Liswood Archive of Women World Leaders

Muriel St Clare Byrne (1895-1983) was an Elizabethan scholar, dramatist and critic. She grew up in Liverpool and was educated at Belvedere School, before coming up to Somerville in 1914 to read English. At college, she was described as ‘an awfully nice child who writes quite good stuff’; she was elected to membership of the Mutual Admiration Society (MAS) and… Read More »Muriel St Clare Byrne Collection

Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was a Scottish polymath: a mathematician, scientist, astronomer, geographer, geologist and artist. Her interest in science stemmed from a fascination with the natural world, which began when she was a child in Burntisland in Fife. She received a little, basic schooling, and instead educated herself in Latin, Greek algebra and geometry, hiding her studies from her disapproving… Read More »Mary Somerville Collections

Margaret Kennedy (1896-1967) read Modern History at Somerville from 1915-19.  She was celebrated in the 1920s and 1930s for her novels, the most famous of which was The Constant Nymph (1924), her second published work. It brought her instant recognition, was a commercial and literary success, and was reprinted in several editions in Britain and America. Margaret Kennedy adapted The Constant… Read More »Margaret Kennedy Papers

Margery Fry (given name Sara Margery Fry, 1874-1957) was the descendant of a large and notable Quaker family of chocolate manufacturers and philanthropists. Her great-aunt was Elizabeth Fry, the 19th century prison reformer. Margery’s father was a high court judge and her siblings included Joan, a social reformer, Anna, a pacifist, and Roger, artist, critic and member of the Bloomsbury… Read More »Margery Fry Collection

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892) is celebrated as the ‘Founding Mother’ of Egyptology. She was a writer, famed in her lifetime for her novels which included Barbara’s History (1864) and Lord Brackenbury (1880). She contributed short stories to Charles Dickens’ magazines, Household Words and All the Year Round, and wrote for newspapers including the Morning Post.   A talented musician, artist,… Read More »Amelia Edwards Collection