On 15 January 1878, a meeting was held at the University of London to decide whether women should be awarded degrees by the institution. The next day, the meeting was documented in the London Evening Standard. In an article discussing the importance of education for all, the typo in the subheadline was hopefully someone’s idea of a joke…
The article goes on to record the views of a number of speakers. We’ve picked out a few of our favourites…
H.M. Bompas: Concluded that “no amount of training or examination would turn a man into a woman or a woman into a man”
Thomas Tyler: Would a B.A. render women “more acceptable to the other sex?”
J.G. Fitch: Women not admitted to Oxford and Cambridge only “because residence was a necessary condition”
Mr. Creek: Assured that “a large percent of those who had passed in honours has also entered into the bonds of wedlock”
Dr. Quain: Stated that “no proposal could be more injurious to the University”
Mr. Blackwood: The proposal “would be injurious to women themselves”
Sir William Jenner: Would rather follow his daughter “to her grave than allow her to go through such a course of study”
W.H. Harford: Would “regard it as a distinction if a daughter of his were able to fit herself for taking part in the world”
The result?
