General information on Girton College can be found on Wikipedia.
A particular attraction is the Lawrence Room. It is a museum set up in 1934 in memory of Amy Lawrence, a natural scientist.
Girton College’s own website contains a description of the collection in the room:
https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/girton-today/art-and-artefacts/girtons-museum-collection
Emily Davies: campaigner for women’s rights to university access. Co-founder of Girton College.
Helen Maud Cam, 1885-1968, historian: see ‘Cambridge Women – Twelve Portraits’ chapter 4, Janet Sondheimer, 1996.
Eileen Power, 1889-1940, historian: see ‘Cambridge Women – Twelve Portraits’ chapter 7, Maxine Berg, 1996.
Sarojini Naidu née Chattopadhyaya, 1879 – 1949, politician
1876
A small block known as the Taylor Knob was built with a bequest by Thomas Taylor and his wife in memory of their daughter, Miss E H Taylor. Some time after this some students claimed to have seen an apparition in the form of a grey lady. (Cambridge College Ghosts by Geoff Yeats)
1881
A large number of Saxon burials were found during preparatory work for a new lawn. There were also some Roman remains. A student strolling in the grounds at the time of the excavations reported seeing a figure resembling a Roman centurion (Cambridge College Ghosts by Geoff Yeats)
WWI: Girtonians and the World Wars, 2009, provvides a detailed analysis of the roles that their students played in wartime as well as a description of conditions in the college. Page 23 gives some examples:
Dr Lilian Chesney worked in Serbia
Miss V E Vernon was matron of a hospital in Etaples
Miss A M Percival was in the Scottish Women’s hospital fitted out by Girton and Newnham in the Balkans
Miss G L Buckley was an X-ray operator in France
Miss F M Durham was an assistant pathologist at the new Zealand Second General Hospital, Walton on Thames
Miss M Clover, Sec. to the College, was Superintendent of Special Service Red Cross Workers in the Cambridge Military Hospital
Miss Dufton was awarded a scholarship to research pneumonia cased by gas poisoning
Miss Meyer and Miss Cave ere engaged in the computation of the ranges of guns.
Miss Thomas experimented in anti-gas respirators.
Miss Hepburn was organizing secretary for the Devon-wide Food Production department
1931
WWII: Girtonians and the World Wars, 2009, provvides a detailed analysis of the roles that their students played in wartime as well as a description of conditions in the college. This provides a number of short wartime autobiographies:
Helen G Q Rowett – teaching
Pauline Sharpson née Bryant – Air Ministry then Ministry of Fuel and Power
Joyce Westwood née Murrant – German teacher in London
Jill Allen née E W Browne – censor
Joy Blackaby – teaching
Margaret Woodley – factory work making components for Wellington bombers
K M D – Bletchley Park
Joy Storrs Fox née Hollings – ATS
Elspeth Horne née Macalister – WAAF photographic interpretation
Ruth Osborn née Lenton
Clare Neville Smith – clinical training West London Hospital
Florence Morris née Mitchell – Admiralty Mining Dept.
Margaret Golding née Phillips
Gillian Poulton née Hunt
Mavis von Proschwitz née Genge
Pamela Churchill née Harwood
Monica Cundall née Pritchard
Inge Goodwin née Simon – vaccine manufacture
Eveline Newgas née Blumka
Audrey M W Sinnhuber née Daubercies – Map Division of the American OSS
Phyllis Smart
Dorothy Thompson née Towers – industrial draughtsman
Ruth Cranfield née Bole
Margaret Deane née Hunt
Zahra Freeth née Dickson
Pat Harris née Siddons-Wilson
Celia Midgley née Pelmear
Joan Rees née Cushen
Barbara Wrigley née Adams
Vera Easton née Elliott
Rosemary Crofts née Crofts
Alison Brodribb née Gordon Mackay – Pinewood Film Studios
Adeline O M Clark née Cook
Daphne G Medley née Padfield
Janet Mothersill née Brock
Ina Marica née Boeglin – Marshall Aid Agency
Florence Trefethen née Newman – US Navy
Sheelagh Warren
Helen Wright née Buxton – served in FANY
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