Patricia Hiddleston (9 May 1933 – 8 December 2017), also known as Pat Hiddleston, was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

mathematician who spent most of her professional career in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

, central Africa.

Early life

Patricia Wallace was born 9 May 1933 to hotel proprietors Harry and Jessie Wallace of Troon. She achieved good grades in school and went on to study mathematics and natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. She graduated in 1956 with a double first and was awarded the Napier medal for mathematics.

Career

In July 1956 she graduated and, the same month, married George Hiddleston and became Pat Hiddleston. She and her husband applied to the Colonial Office for a posting abroad and were allocated to

. Hiddleston worked at

Munali Secondary School Munali Secondary School is a state-funded secondary school located on the Great East Road in Lusaka, Zambia. Munali was the first secondary school for black students in Zambia's history. Some of its alumni are notable Zambian politicians and public ...

, then a teacher training college near

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

. She studied for a doctorate at the University of South Africa and was subsequently made the first member of the mathematics department of the

University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...

, where she lectured from 1965–1970. After 14 years, Hiddleston and her family returned to Scotland so that the four children could have higher education there. Hiddleston was the Headmistress of St Margaret's School, Edinburgh. In 1984, Hiddleston relocated to South Africa to become the Principal of

Durban Girls' College Durban Girls' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls, with weekly boarding facilities for high school pupils, located on the Berea, overlooking the city of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Notable alumnae *Lara Loga ...

, where she oversaw the school's move to admit all races. Hiddleston then went to teach mathematics education at the University of Malawi in 1988. She continued this work until her husband's death in 1996, after which she moved into a consulting career involving advising governments on encouraging women into STEM studies and teacher training and development. Hiddleston also co-wrote and edited a number of textbooks.

Later life, death, and commemoration

Hiddleston volunteered at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and was honoured by the University of Edinburgh Institute of Mathematics for life services to maths education in 2015. Hiddleston continued to work until age 82, when she became ill whilst on a trip to Bangladesh and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In 2018, the University of Edinburgh began offering a Patricia Hiddleston Summer Scholarship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiddleston, Patricia 1933 births 2017 deaths Scottish mathematicians British women mathematicians Academic staff of the University of Malawi Academic staff of the University of Zambia Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of South Africa alumni