Willa Muir was particularly vocal in the emancipation and inclusion of women in University life. As a member of the Women Student’s Debating Society, she regularly expressed her progressive views on women’s role in society. She rose through the ranks of the society, becoming president in the 1910-1911 session. One of the motions carried in …
Katherine Whitehorn, CBE, was a renowned journalist and author. In 1982, she was elected as rector of the University of St Andrews – the first female to hold this role in any Scottish university. The University opened Whitehorn Hall in 2018 as part of an effort to honour inspiring female figures with strong connections to the University. Whitehorn was …
Frances Helen Melville was a suffragist and lifelong campaigner for women’s education. Melville graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1897 with a first-class Master of Arts in Philosophy. She stayed on as a tutor for 3 years before working as a lecturer at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Following this, she moved to St Andrews to …
Born in Aberdeenshire in 1840, Louisa Lumsden was the youngest of seven children. Lumsden had a relatively interesting education, starting school in Cheltenham before moving to a boarding school near Brussels and completing her early education at a finishing school in London. Around this time, she heard of a course of lectures for women held at the …
