I’m delighted to say I’ve just been awarded an ‘Independent Researcher Award’ for the coming academic year 2021-22 for my research project ‘Outrageous Proceedings: Women At Cambridge 1882-1914’. I am one of four researchers to be given this award by the Women’s History Network, a national association and charity for the promotion of women’s history and the encouragement of everyone interested in women’s history.
This award provides funding for me to investigate the lives and work of seven pioneering female scholars, college heads, academic wives, townswomen and female students who settled in Cambridge during the late nineteenth century. It was a time when women were not made welcome by many in the traditional male university society here, but their own social networks and societies provided the support and encouragement for these seven women to go on to do some remarkable work.
Some of the women whose stories I plan to explore further are familiar from this blog, including Mary Paley Marshall and Kathleen Lyttelton. Others whose names are less familiar are the Girton scholar Ellen McArthur, who was the first woman to be awarded a doctorate at Trinity College Dublin and helped to establish history teaching in UK schools, and Dr Susila Bonnerjee who, after studying at Newnham in the 1890s, went back to India to establish medical education for women then returned to England to fight for women’s suffrage.
I am very grateful to the Women’s History Network for their generous support. More details on their website below:
https://womenshistorynetwork.org/whn-independent-researcher-awards-2021-22/
Ann Kennedy Smith 
Dear Ann,
Don’t know you, but looks like such an important and exciting research topic.
Congratulations.
John Sweeney
St. Catharines, Ontario.
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Dear John, many thanks! I appreciate your support. Best wishes, Ann
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Congratulations Ann – well deserved and look forward to hearing more about all the women.
Tamsin
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Thanks so much Tamsin! It will be good to have a catch-up soon.
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Congratulations! This sounds like a brilliant opportunity to study some fascinating women in an interesting context. I hope to keep up with your progress.
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Thanks for your kind words, Joules! I am very pleased to get the awars, as the WHN is doing such good work in women’s history. Will keep you posted!
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Congratulations on the award, Ann – very well deserved. I feel privileged already to have read such interesting material here related to the project
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Many thanks Martin, and for reading the blog! Hope to see you in the UL tea room again before too long.
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Congratulations, Ann! I’m very much looking forward to reading and learning more about your research on these women.
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Thanks so much for your encouragement, Connie.
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Fantastic news and very well deserved. Your research is important and revelatory as well as being entertaining. Very best wishes for the future.
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Many thanks Simon! Much appreciated.
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Great news Ann! Congratulations! Let’s hope it won’t be too long before we can get back to the UL Tearoom. I miss seeing everyone. Neville
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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Nice to hear from you Neville, and thank you! Looking forward to seeing you again (fingers crossed!) at the UL in October.
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Congratulations!!!! Best wishes & looking forward to reading more of your research.
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Many thanks! Very glad to have your encouragement as a fellow researcher – I enjoy reading your blog too.
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Congratulations on the award Ann! Fantastic news, and very well deserved for your research. What a great title too. Hope to catch up soon.
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Thanks so much Deborah, glad you like the title! Thanks too for your email, I will respond shortly. Good luck with your paper meanwhile.
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Warmest congratulations on the award, Ann. I’ve really been enjoying your posts since I discovered the blog.
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Many thanks Sheila! And for reading the blog. Hope all is well with you.
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Andrew Wallis sent us this exciting news, Ann, and we are delighted and send many congratulations.
Pre Covid I set about finding out more about Katheen Lyttelton (grandmother and namesake)- especialy her upbringing and ‘education’. Then Covid struck and I couldn’t explore her further – but will hope to do so.
It’s really lovely that you are doing this and, like others, I love the title of your project!
Best wishes from Kate Fraser
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Thank you so much Kate (I think we met when you came to Selwyn a couple of years ago?) I’m so pleased to hear you are looking into your grandmother and namesake’s early history. It would be good to compare notes with you at some stage! With best wishes, Ann
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