Mary Watson (October 1856 - 20 February 1933) was a British chemist. She was one of the first two women to study Chemistry at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, the other one being Margaret Seward. Watson was born in October 1856 at

Shirburn Shirburn is a village and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire. It contains the Grade I listed, 14th-century Shirburn Castle, along with its surrounding, Grade II listed park, and a parish church, the oldest part of which is from ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

1911 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...

. daughter of John Watson and Anne Bruce. Her father was a farmer and land agent to the

Earl of Macclesfield Earl of Macclesfield is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1679 in favour of the soldier and politician Charles Gerard, 1st Baron Gerard. He had already been created Baron Gerard, of Bran ...

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 ...

archives. She was educated at home and at St John's Wood High School. Watson entered

Somerville Hall Somerville College, a Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 list of Somerville College, Oxford, peop ...

, later Somerville College, of the University of Oxford in 1879 on a Clothworkers' Scholarship. This was a scholarship of 35 pounds for three years. Somerville was founded in the same year as one of the two first

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 ...

s of Oxford. In 1881, she was awarded another two-year scholarship with a value of 30 pounds. Watson completed with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in Geology in 1882 and a second class in Chemistry in 1883. However, it was not until 1920 that Oxford allowed women to matriculate and therefore formally gain degrees. Following graduation, Watson was appointed Science Mistress at

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 ...

. She held that position until 1886 when she had to resign following her marriage to John Style in

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

a year earlier. They lived in

Charlton Kings Charlton Kings is a contiguous village adjoining Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. The area constitutes a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial d ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Style was Headmaster at

Cheltenham Grammar School en, That which is hidden shall be revealed , established = , closed = , type = Grammar school;Academy , religion = , president = , head_label = , head = Russel Ellicott , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = , chair = , founder ...

since 1882, but was sacked in 1906. They retired to

Michelmersh Michelmersh is a small, scattered village in Hampshire, England some three miles () north of Romsey. It forms a civil parish with Timsbury, Hampshire, Timsbury that forms part of the Test Valley district. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, where she died on 20 February 1933.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Mary English women chemists Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Cheltenham Ladies' College faculty 1856 births 1933 deaths

See also

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