The 1904 petition to the Chemical Society was a petition written by 19 female chemists setting out the reasons why they should be afforded the status of Fellow of the

Chemical Society The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation. ...

. The petition is of importance as it eventually led to the admission of women as Fellows of the Society (one of the Societies that amalgamated to become the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

), as well as identifying prominent female chemists working in Britain at this time.

Context

The

was founded in 1841, but several attempts to allow the admission of women as fellows were unsuccessful. Attempts at change included a legal challenge based on the ambiguous language of the Society’s Charter in 1880, which was defeated because the issue of admitting women as fellows "was not expedient at the present time", followed by an attempt in 1892, defeated by a Council vote of 8 to 7. However, after the election of

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

as a Foreign Fellow of the Society in 1904, 19 women signed a petition for admission of women as Fellows. The petition was organised by three of its signatories: Ida Smedley,

Ida Freund Ida Freund (15 April 1863 – 15 May 1914) was the first woman to be a university chemistry lecturer in the United Kingdom. She is known for her influence on science teaching, particularly the teaching of women and girls. She wrote two key chem ...

, and

Martha Whiteley Martha Annie Whiteley, (11 November 1866 – 24 May 1956) was an English chemist and mathematician. She was instrumental in advocating for women's entry into the Chemical Society, and was best known for her dedication to advancing women's ...

Petition contents

The petition was addressed to the President and Council of the Chemical Society. It highlighted that in the previous thirty years that there were "about 150 women" who had appeared as authors on some 300 papers published by the Society. It listed the number of papers in the Journal of the Chemical Society in the periods 1873 - 1882 (20 papers), 1883 - 1892 (33 papers), 1893 - 1902 (142 papers), and 1903 to August 1904 (50 papers). They continue that as the Society deemed it fit to publish the work completed by female chemists, that they should help support this work by enabling "free access to chemical literature and by the right to attend the meetings of the Society".

Signatories

The signatories to the 1904 Petition are: # Lucy Boole # Katherine Alice Burke # Clare de Brereton Evans # Elizabeth Eleanor Field # Emily Fortey #

# Mildred Gostling (Mrs Mills) # Hilda Hartle #

Edith Humphrey Edith Ellen Humphrey (11 September 1875 – 25 February 1978) was a British inorganic chemist who carried out pioneering work in co-ordination chemistry at the University of Zurich under Alfred Werner. She is thought to be the first British wo ...

Dorothy Marshall Dorothy Blanche Louisa Marshall (12 December 1868 – 1966) was a British chemist who worked at Girton, Avery Hill and the National Physical Laboratory. In 1904, she signed a petition for women to be admitted as a Fellow of the Chemical Soc ...

# Margaret Seward (Mrs McKillop) # Ida Smedley (Mrs Maclean) # Alice Emily Smith # Millicent Taylor # M. Beatrice Thomas # Grace Toynbee (Mrs Frankland) #

# Sibyl Widdows # Katherine Isabella Williams The network that allowed these women to co-sponsor the petition has been examined. Smedley, Freund, and Whiteley led the petition. Smedley attended the King Edward VI High School as did Thomas and Hartle. Freund was a demonstrator and a lecturer at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

between 1887 and 1912, as were Elizabeth Eleanor Field, Dorothy Marshall, and Mildred Gostling. Thomas, Field, Whiteley, and Gostling spent time at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, from where there were two additional petitioners: Margaret Seward and Sibyl Widdows. Clare de Brereton Evans and Millicent Taylor attended the

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

, Cheltenham and Taylor had connections with the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, where Emily Fortey and Katherine Williams studied. Lucy Boole studied at the

London School of Medicine for Women The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of Me ...

and Katherine Burke studied at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

under the supervision of

William Ramsay Sir William Ramsay (; 2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements ...

- both of these women knew de Brereton Evans. Grace Toynbee studied at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

, and was possibly connected with Hartle. Two petitioners Edith Humphrey and Alice Smith have unknown connections to the remainder, but it is proposed that they were connected by male chemists keen to promote their cause, such William Ramsay.

Outcome

After the petition was received, William Tilden, the President of the Chemical Society in 1905, led agreement from Council that the Petition should be acted upon and that the Society's byelaws should be modified to give qualified women all the privileges of fellows, except for the power to hold office or vote at meetings. However, when this was put to a vote, only 45 fellows showed up, and the motion was defeated. The subsequent discussions led to an eventual compromise in 1908 that women be admissible as "Subscribers" which would allow attendance at ordinary meetings, the use of the library, and the receipt of Society publications. Only 11 women joined as "Subscriber" in the period 1908 - 1919, when the category was abolished. After World War I, at an extraordinary general meeting on 8 May 1919, the Society under its then President James Dobbie resolved that women should be admitted on the same terms as men, and the corresponding byelaw was passed in 1920. The first woman fellow admitted was Ida Smedley (Mrs Maclean).

References

{{1904 Women Petitioners to the Chemical Society History of chemistry 1904 in London 1904 in science History of women in the United Kingdom 1904 in women's history