Thompson Mrs. Clayton

Overlapping with Browne, Mary Christina Thompson41 was appointed in 1938 as Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer. Mary, the daughter of William Thompson, a London accounts clerk, was educated at James Allen s Girls School, Dulwich. She entered Bedford College in 1930, completing her B.Sc. in 1933, then continued to a Ph.D. in organic chemistry with Eustace Turner.42 

Just before Christmas 1933, Thompson had an accident in one of the chemistry labs. She was distilling benzene using a Bunsen burner when the benzene caught fire. She extinguished the flames and then, as she told Turner, with her clothes on fire She threw herself on the floor as this was the proper thing to do , and, owing to her prompt action and that of Miss Cook and Miss Lockhart in wrapping her up in the fire blanket which was only a few feet away, Miss Thompson was saved from a much more serious accident. 43 

Following the accident, Thompson returned to her studies in May 1934, completing her Ph.D. in 1937. Thompson took a position at Roedean School, but left after one year as she was 

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