The Royal Institute of Chemistry

The entry of women into the Institute of Chemistry (later the Royal Institute of Chemistry) can best be regarded as accidental. The Institute had been founded in 1877, and the successful sitting of an examination was a prerequisite for admission. In November 1888, the Council recorded a minute noting that they did not contemplate the admission of women candidates to the Examinations.10 

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T. G. Pearson, The Chemical Background of theMluminum Industry, Monogr. 3, The Royal Institute of Chemistry, 1955. 

W. Bradley, Recent Progress in the Chemistry of Dyes and Pigments, The Royal Institute of Chemistry, London, 1958. 

Russell, Colin Archibald, N. G. Coley and G. K. Roberts. Chemists by profession the origins and rise of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. Milton Keynes , 1977. 

Saunders, B. C. (1953). Chemistry and Toxicology of Organic Fluorine and Phosphorus Compounds. Lecture given to the Royal Institute of Chemistry, no. 1. 

G. N. Burkhardt, "The School of Chemistry in the University of Manchester," Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (September 1954) 448460. This is part of the Schools of Chemistry in Great Britain and Ireland Series (XIII). On 450. 

Paddock, N. L. Structure and reactions in phosphorus chemistry. The Royal Institute of Chemistry, Lecture Series 1962, No. 2, p. 4. 

W. Taylor, "Modem Explosives", The Royal Institute of Chemistry Monograph No 5, London, WCl (1959) 63pp... 

Council of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1945) What Industry Owes to Chemical Science, Heffer Sons Ltd, Cambridge... 

This is another publication in the series of Monographs for Teachers which was launched in 1959 by the Royal Institute of Chemistry. The initial aim of the series was to present concise and authoritative accounts of selected well-defined topics in chemistry for those who teach the subject at GCE Advanced level and above. This scope has now been widened to cover accounts of newer areas of chemistry or of interdisciplinary fields that make use of chemistry. Though intended primarily for teachers of chemistry, the monographs will doubtless be of value also to a wider readership, including students in further and higher education. 

Professor Jones s participation in professional societies and affairs outside the University were as follows Rapporteur for the Royal Society of Canada (Chemical Section) in 1971, and Convenor in 1972 Member of the Advisory Committee to the Atlantic Regional Laboratories of the National Research Council, Halifax, Nova Scotia Member of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Research Foundation Member of the Board of Advisors for the British Commonwealth for Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biochemistry Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Carbohydrate Research Chairman of the Fourth International Conference on Carbohydrate Chemistry, which was held in Kingston in 1967 and a Corresponding Member of the Nomenclature Committee of the Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, American Chemical Society. Professor Jones was a member of The Chemical Society, the Biochemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry (Associate), the Chemical Institute of Canada, the American Chemical Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences. 

Nothing could be further from the truth there were significant numbers of women chemistry students and women chemists. For example, we have identified 896 who were members of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and/or the Chemical Society during our time frame of 1880-1949. In this book, we provide biographical accounts of 141 women chemists, together with brief notes on an additional 21. 

We have collected biographical information on the 898 women chemists who became Associates or Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and/or Fellows of the Chemical Society between 1880-1949, and we were able to ascertain the secondary schools attended for 284 of them. Our analysis differs from that of Howarth s in that we are looking at students who attended either Redbrick or Oxbridge universities and who had specifically chosen a chemistry career (Table 1.2). Nevertheless, there are strong similarities. In light of our earlier comments... 

Table 1.2. Most common English Schools attended by British women chemists who were Associates or Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and/or Fellows of the Chemical Society, 1880-1949.

Admission to the Royal Institute of Chemistry resulted from the accidental admission of a woman to the Institute s examinations in 1892, and the Biochemical Society, by vote of the existing members, first accepted women in 1913. The major holdout was the Chemical Society with its Forty Years War, as Joan Mason, historian of chemistry, called it (see below) not until 1920 were women admitted to the Chemical Society. But the last of all was the Royal Society, which did not elect its first women Fellows until 1948, both of whom were chemists. 

The diversity in attitude between the different societies towards the admission of women is striking. It can be interpreted in terms of how much the society was a pure professional society and how much a men s club. In particular, as the Royal Institute of Chemistry was the accrediting body, the role of the Chemical Society was much more towards the socialising end of the spectrum and therefore more hostile to women s admission. What comes through strongly is the importance of key individuals, particularly the pair of Ida Smedley and Martha Whiteley,100 who had each established themselves as respected chemists. However, as women were excluded from the governing body, it was supportive male chemists, such as William Tilden and William Ramsay, who had to argue the women s case in the Council of the Society. 

James, T. C. and Davies, C. W. (1956). Schools of chemistry in Great Britain and Ireland-XXVII The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry 80 569. 

Anon. (1949). Obituary Florence Mary Wood. Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry 73 62 and (1920). Certificates of candidates for election at the Ballot to be held at the ordinary scientific meeting on Thursday, December 2nd. Proceedings of the Chemical Society 99-100. 

Anon. (1951). Obituary. James Frederick Spencer. Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry 75 127. 

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