Margaret Seward MBE (22 January 1864 - 29 May 1929) became the earliest Chemist on staff at the

Women's College Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

(of which she was a founding Lecturer), from 1896 to 1915. She became the pioneer woman to obtain a first class in the honour school of Natural Science and later received an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for her work on nutrition during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Early life and education

Margaret Seward, daughter of James Seward, Master at the Liverpool Institute, was born on 22 January 1864 and educated at

Blackburne House Blackburne House is an 18th-century Grade II listed building located on the east side of Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was built in 1788 and remodelled in from 1874 to 1876. Originally a private house, it became a girls' schoo ...

, Liverpool. She entered

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, Oxford, in 1881. She was one of the first two female chemistry students, the other one being Mary Watson. In 1884, she was the first Oxford female student to be entered for the honour school of Mathematics. Seward then changed her focus to Chemistry, and in 1885 became the pioneer woman to obtain the first class honour school of Natural Science.

Career

Upon graduation, Seward was immediately appointed Natural Science tutor at Somerville, in addition to undertaking research with the Oxford chemist, W.H. Pendlebury. Two publications on chemical reactions resulted from her work, one of which was read to the Royal Society. These were a study on the reaction kinetics between hydrogen chloride and potassium chlorate and a study of this reaction in the presence of iodide ions. Seward was appointed as lecturer in Chemistry 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 ...

in 1887, where she taught

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 ...

. She resigned in 1891 to travel to Singapore to marry John McKillop, an engineer. When she returned to Britain in 1893, she taught at several institutions including the Girl's Grammar School, Bradford and Rodean School. In 1895 she was appointed to King's College, Women's Department in 1896 to teach chemistry in the new chemical laboratory. She was described there as "one of the foremost women science-lecturers", but in 1912, King's College decided to appoint a male lecturer, and McKillop was reassigned to library work. McKillop's position was terminated in 1914, and during

, Seward (by then known by her married name Margaret McKillop) worked in the

Ministry of Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

and wrote the book ''Food Values, What They Are and How to Calculate Them.'' She was awarded an M.B.E. in 1919 for her wartime studies on nutrition.

Political activity

Margaret Seward McKillop joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

in 1894 and was a leading figure in its Women's Group, serving as chair for several years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seward, Margaret British women chemists British chemists Academics of King's College London Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford 1864 births 1929 deaths Members of the Fabian Society Members of the Order of the British Empire Scientists from Liverpool