The highest honour Dorothea Beale received came in 1902. It was an invitation from the University of Edinburgh to receive the LL.D. degree. Her students and staff were delighted, and the latter determined to present her with her robes. These were the most beautiful and costly they could procure. The degree was conferred in the McEwan Hall of the University. Others who received the degree at the same time were the Lord Chief Justice of England (Lord Alverstone), Mr. Asquith, Mr. Austin Dobson, Sir John Batty Tuke, and Dr. Rucker, Principal of the University of London. Only once before had the University conferred this honour on a woman. Sir Ludovic Grant in summing up Dorothea Beale’s claim to a national recognition gave an excellent epitome of her work:-- “No feature of the national progress during the last fifty years is more remarkable than the revolution which has transformed our girls’ schools from occidental zenanas into centres of healthy activity. In the great crusade which has been crowned with this most desirable consummation the foremost champion was the cultured and intrepid lady who guides the destinies of the Ladies’ College, Cheltenham. It was largely due to Miss Beale’s indomitable advocacy on platform and on paper, that the barriers of parental prejudice were broken down, that the ancient idols, venerated by a former generation--Mangnall, Pinnock, and Lindley Murray--were shattered, and that barren catechism and lifeless epitome were compelled to give place to fructifying studies, and the futile promenade to invigorating recreations. I need not remind you that Miss Beale’s apostolic ardour is equalled by her administrative abilities. When she went to Cheltenham her pupils were counted by tens: to-day they are to be counted by hundreds, and the institution in respect of organisation and educational efficiency will bear comparison with the best of the great English public schools. Among the collateral benefits resulting from the great movement for the higher education of women, in which Miss Beale has played so conspicuous a part, not the least important is the power which the Scotch Universities have obtained of conferring their honorary degrees upon women, and therefore it is with no ordinary satisfaction that the University of Edinburgh now exercises this power by begging Miss Beale’s acceptance of an honour which has been brought within the reach of her sex largely through her own endeavours.” She wrote to the Vice-Principal a delightful account of the ceremony, which she seems to have thoroughly enjoyed. “I am persuaded,” said she, “that my robes were far superior to any other.” From Edinburgh she went to Glasgow where she found herself in the midst of “Old Girls”.