A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge — John Shaqi
A Short History of Newnham College, CambridgeGardner, Alice
History
A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge
Gardner, Alice
Newnham College
In 1890 the College had again a festive occasion--on the attainment by
Miss Philippa Fawcett of a place in the Mathematical Tripos above the
Senior Wrangler. The scene in the Senate-house is one that will live
in the memory of all who were present. It is pleasant to be able to
say that no discordant note was struck. As Miss Fawcett passed out,
with Miss Clough leaning on her arm, the undergraduates formed a line
on either side and gave a hearty cheer. The event was celebrated at
Newnham by a dinner in Hall, at which Mrs. Fawcett was present, and
also Dr. Hobson, Miss Fawcett's tutor in mathematics. In the evening
her student friends decorated the doorway with lamps, and as there
was just then a piece of waste ground at the west-end of the College
grounds, it was possible to make a bonfire, and to carry the Senior
Wrangler round it, and in the light of the fire to call on Dr. Hobson
for a speech. Miss Clough was quietly happy, and all present felt that
there was something of poetical justice in the occurrence. Professor
and Mrs. Fawcett had been, as we have seen, pioneers in the movement
for women's education; they had also been warmly attached to Miss
Clough, as, in a more filial way, their daughter had been for many
years. Miss Fawcett herself, besides being one to whose brilliant
mathematical powers the highest academic honours were due, was a
singularly suitable person for this high distinction, in that she
exemplified so many of the qualities popularly supposed to be absent
from the character of a University woman. She was modest and retiring,
almost to a fault--trying though not always successfully, to counteract
the impression made by her personality, so as to appear like a very
ordinary person--not known to many, but loved as well as admired by her
intimate friends. As the subsequent career of Miss Fawcett is not well
known, it may be stated here that after the second and more advanced
part of the Mathematical Tripos (in which she obtained the highest
honours) she held for a year the Marion Kennedy Studentship already
referred to, and wrote on a problem involving advanced mathematical
research. She subsequently acted as Mathematical Lecturer at Newnham,
but feeling, as her father had felt before her, the call of national
service above all inducement to academic pursuits, she accepted a
Government appointment and went out to help organize education in
the Transvaal. After a period of assiduous work in Johannesburg, she
returned to England and was appointed a Principal Assistant in the
Education Department of the London County Council, a post of much
importance and responsibility. Miss Fawcett served for some years on
the Council of Newnham College, and has maintained a constant interest
in its welfare.
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