Nina Cameron Walley (''née'' Graham; 11 March 1891-24 March 1974) was the first woman to receive an engineering degree in Britain.

Early life and education

Nina Cameron Graham was born in

Liscard Liscard is an area of the town of Wallasey, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The most centrally located of Wallasey's townships, it is the main shopping area of the town, with many shops located in the Cherry Tree Sh ...

, Cheshire to Mary Cameron Graham (née Slater) and Captain Charles Graham, a former sea captain and chairman at Seamen's and Boatmen's Friend Society. Walley attended the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

on general

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

before switching to engineering. She received 2nd division result on the final examinations, including "a gruelling six-hour exam" where she had to design a railway bridge, that awarded her a degree of Bachelor of Engineering.

Life in Canada

After graduating, Walley travelled to Canada and on 12 October 1912, she married Cecil Stephen Walley (1890-1960), a fellow

engineering student, who had graduated two years earlier in 1910. Walley was driven to the church and ''given away'' by her cousin, Colin Inkster, then Sheriff of Winnipeg. On their honeymoon, the Walleys surveyed for dam construction in Qu'Appelle valley in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. Walley did not practice professionally as an engineer but assisted her husband, a fellow civil engineer. In a 1965 interview she said, ''I used my knowledge both to help my husband, also a civil engineering, and my children when they were studying mathematics and physics at school.'' The Walleys had 10 children together, five sons and five daughters. Two of Walley's sons were killed while in service in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

: Flying Officer Keith Minshull Walley was killed in service in April 1943, aged 20, and Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Richard Walley was killed in action in France in October 1944 aged 28. Walley lived in Winnipeg from 1912 until her death in March 1974.

Legacy

The

awards an annual Nina Cameron Graham prize to the highest ranking female student in their Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Nina 1891 births 1974 deaths British women engineers People from Cheshire Alumni of the University of Liverpool British emigrants to Canada English civil engineers 20th-century British women engineers 20th-century British engineers English women engineers