Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Portraits
- Acknowledgements
- Sources
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- I The Political Arena
- II An Uneasy Beginning
- III Degrees for Women
- IV The Parliamentary Seat to 1886
- V The University and Secondary Education
- VI Examining and Teaching – the Long and Crooked Road to Compromise
- Appendix
- Index
12 - The Final Hurdle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Portraits
- Acknowledgements
- Sources
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- I The Political Arena
- II An Uneasy Beginning
- III Degrees for Women
- IV The Parliamentary Seat to 1886
- V The University and Secondary Education
- VI Examining and Teaching – the Long and Crooked Road to Compromise
- Appendix
- Index
Summary
A reading of the formal documents of the meetings in the autumn of 1877, however sparse and clinical they are, nonetheless gives a strong impression that all concerned had come to realise that a resolution of the long argument over the admission of women to the University’s examinations was overdue. After the final settlement of the issue early in 1878, the Registrar, W.B. Carpenter, told the Home Secretary that
There seems a very general feeling that the higher Education of Women should be encouraged by Academical Honours; and that the University of London should take the lead in such recognition, as it can accept Candidates from any Educational Institution.
But at the end of 1877 there were still anxieties about the final stages of what Lord Granville himself had called, in 1862, ‘the great Feminine question’.
The Chancellor was not happy about the situation, and clearly felt the strength of medical opposition. On 30 December 1877, he wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, Lubbock, from Walmer Castle:
I am very glad to hear that you are in England. I am afraid that the prospect of success in Convocation is doubtful, and if our compromise is rejected, the position will be difficult, and bad for the University.
I have writen a letter to the Chairman of Convocation, and I have asked Carpenter to correct the historical part of it. It may be thought infra dig for the Chancellor to descend into the arena, but I believe something of the sort is necessary. I shall beg you to look at the draft with your most powerful microscope, and to suggest every possible amendment of faults, either of commission or omission.
I have asked Henry James [later Lord James of Hereford] to explain matters to Herschell, and I have written privately to Newman Hall [an eminent Congregationalist]. Is there anybody you can quietly influence to take an active part. The medical organization is good, and I have no doubt their whipping will be complete. I do not know whether the other side has any wirepullers, and whether any practical attempts are being made to secure a majority. Of course, you and I could not put ourselves forward in this work.
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- Information
- The University of London, 1858-1900The Politics of Senate and Convocation, pp. 140 - 144Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2004