Women students at UCL in the early - University College London

studying English Language and Literature, and left in June, going ‘back to teach in a government
school in Bergen’ (Copping, College Hall, 31). A person of this name translated a novel by A.L.O.E.
(Charlotte Tucker) into Norwegian, 1874. Articles ‘Norwegian Women’ and the sculptor Ambrosia
Tonnesen appeared in Women’s Penny Paper (1 Dec 1888, 28 Dec 1889), the feminist paper started by
Henrietta Muller, the feminist activist who was on the board of College Hall. According to the
Norwegian census Selboe had retired on a pension by 1900, though she was living with her sister who
was still teaching. UCL Arts Fee Book 1883/4 E/807, G/1270; information from Marit Berge, Bergen, via Vibeche Dart
(1875, 1885, and 1900 censuses, Bergen); Women’s Penny Paper in the Gerritsen database; U of L CH 2/1/1, College Hall
second Annual Report (July 1884); U of L CH 2/1/1, College Hall fourteenth Annual Report (1896).
Smith, Edith Margaret (b. Lewisham 1860), of Forest Hill. UC 1877/8, gap, 1879/80, gap 1881/2,
1882/3, 1883/4, 1884/5, 1885/6; PFB 1881/2. Daughter of Thomas R. Smith, lecturer and from 1880
professor of architecture at UCL, who was living with him at Laurel Bank, London Road, Lewisham,
in 1881, and in 1891 in Battersea with her brother Ravenscroft Smith (in the latter census her place of
birth is Forest Hill). Her address on enrolment was Laurel Bank, Forest Hill. She may have been one
or more of the E. M. Smiths who passed the University of Cambridge Higher Local Examination in
1881, 1882 and 1883. She may be the Ethel Smith who was at QCHS. UCL Arts Fee Book 1881/2 B/311; her
brother Roger was enrolled at UCL in 1881/2, studying engineering and related subjects; UCL Arts Fee Book 1881/2 B/280;
together they and Ravenscroft enrolled on the 24 November 1881 to study archaeology and this time they are marked ‘free’:
UCL Arts Fee Book 1881/2 D/614-615; in 1882/3 she studied Fine Art, and this was also free; UCL Arts Fee Book 1882/3 C/451;
1883/4 C/545; Cambridge Assessment Archives; Paul Waterhouse, ‘Smith, Thomas Roger (1830–1903)’, rev. John Elliott,
ODNB
Spencer, Lydia Burtt (Lincs. 1861/2-1886), of Lincoln, UC 1881/2, 1882/3, 1883/4; PFB 1881/2,
PFB 1882/3. She matriculated from the Mount School York (1880); 1st BA 1882 1st div from UC
(1882); BA (1883). She was living in Leicester at the time she registered for the first BA exam. She
attended the Quaker Ackworth School, Pontefract, before the Mount School. In the 1881 census she is
a teacher at the Mount School. She enrolled at UCL in 1881/2 to study Latin, Greek, English, French,
History and Mathematics; her address was 76 Albert Street N.W.; her age 21 on 27 11/81; and the
total cost was £40 19s. Gertrude Rowntree, another UCL student, the daughter of a rich Quaker
manufacturer, who had been at the same school, was staying at the same address. In 1882/3 her
address was 6 Park Village East N.W.. She entered College Hall in January 1883, took the prize for
Early English and Certificate for Anglo-Saxon in June 1883, and passed BA in November 1883. She
was appointed teacher at the Mount School in January 1884. She was the daughter of James Spencer,
farmer (1861 census), who informed the UoL of her death in a letter of 25 Feb 1887. UCL Arts Fee Book
1881/2 C/410, G/1205; 1882/3 C/460, C/487, E/882; 1883/4 C/512; List of Boys and Girls Admitted Into Ackworth School; U of
L CH 2/1/1, College Hall second Annual Report (July 1884).
Sturge, Caroline (Bristol 1861-1922), of Bristol, UC 1883/4, 1884/5, 1885/6, 1886/7; PFB 1883/4.
She matriculated 1885 aged 24; Prel Sci 1887; MB 1892; MD 1900. She passed the University of
Cambridge Higher Local Examination in 1882. She entered College Hall in January 1884, taking the
course for matriculation in order to enter the London School of Medicine for Women, and gave 1 Byng
Place as her address on enrolment at UCL in the same month, aged 22, to study English, Physics and
Chemistry. She came from a well-off liberal family with a history of campaigning for progressive
causes, and was sister of Emily Sturge, suffragist, founder of Bristol University. In 1881 she is at
Westbury on Trym with father William S, land agent. In 1897 the College Hall fourteenth Annual
Report records that she was Senior Medical Officer at the Clapham Maternity Hospital. In the 1901
census she is doctor of medicine at 96 Sloane St. Quaker. Her brother Dr. William Sturge married Dr.
Emily Bovell (1840-1885), one of the ‘Edinburgh Seven’ who campaigned for medical education for
women; after her death he founded the Bovell-Sturge laboratory at Queen’s College Harley Street. UCL
Arts Fee Book 1883/4 D/787. U of L CH 2/1/1, College Hall second Annual Report (July 1884); Elizabeth Bird, ‘Sturge, Emily
(1847–1892)’, ODNB; biographical essay on Caroline S in Elizabeth Sturge, Reminiscences; Goodbody, Five Daughters;
Charlotte Sturge, Some Little Quakers in their Nursery; M. A. Elston, ‘Edinburgh Seven (act. 1869–1873)’, ODNB; plaque at
QCHS.
Tattersall, Elizabeth M. (Northampton Sq Clerkenwell 1840/1-1930), of London, UC 1881/2
continuously to 1885/6, gap, 1887/8; PFB 1881/2, PFB 1882/3, PFB 1883/4. She was admitted to
North London Collegiate in January 1854 aged 13. In 1851 she is with her widowed mother Mary A.,
hosiery agent, at 10 Thornhill Square. In the 1861 census she is ‘governess’ living with her retired
farmer cousin John Creasey in Hackney; her elder brother John Creasey Tattersall, who later became a
Church of England clergyman, is called ‘college principal’. On enrolment at UCL in 1881/2 she gave
the address Burlington Girls School, Old Burlington Street; her age is not given; she studied only
English. In 1891 and 1901 she is headmistress of Burlington School, 2 Boyle St, Westminster. This
was an old endowed school for girls, reorganised by the charity commission in 1877. Tattersall was
appointed the first headmistress of this Middle Class School; she worked there until her retirement in
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