Women Chemists as Factory Inspectors

We mentioned in Chap. 4 that Ruth Drummond, a Demonstrator at Bedford, became a Factory Inspector. Becoming a Lady Factory Inspector was one path of employment for women graduates — particularly those with a scientific background. 

The first Lady Factory Inspectors had been appointed by the Home Secretary in 1893.88 It was a tough task for a middle-class woman, requiring her to venture alone into unsavoury neighbourhoods, cope with aggressive plant managers, and attempt to offer some specific recommendations to alleviate the plight of the working poor. As Adelaide Anderson,89 Head of the Lady Inspectors, wrote in 1905 to the Chief Inspector  

A woman, as a Factory Inspector, in an Industrial district away from her own family and social surroundings, as well as her women colleagues, can find no normal associates in, or through, her work. Her work compels her to lead a life that is quite different from that of other women, and the slightest deviation from extreme caution and prudence may subject her to injurious criticism.90 

The male Inspectors were often less than supportive, disliking the zeal of these well-qualified and determined women. 

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