Newnham College Roll Letter 2023-24

Newnham College Roll Letter

Newnham College Roll Letter

2023–24

BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds

Dasha Tenditna

The Alumnae Year

66 Highlights of the alumnae year 72 The Roll President's Year Annette Spencer 73 Shaping Newnham's Future: campaign update Alison Rose 78 Cracking the code: Bletchley Park and Newnham 84 Living at Newnham: 1871 & 1948 86 The Young Alumnae

The Newnham Associates

Pioneers of X-ray Crystallography

Alumnae news

Deceased Members of the Roll

Donations, legacies and bequests

Alumnae A–Z 158 This Place I Know: Gabriela Ramos

Dasha Tenditna

TEN ASPECTS OF THE GARDENS

To accompany our feature celebrating Newnham’s gardens, we have chosen ten features in or about the gardens to highlight in this issue:

17 Design for the garden by Walter Crum Watson (1912)

21 The nut walk

31 Biodiversity in the gardens: the moth survey

Key to moth pictures:

1 Deilephila elpenor (elephant hawkmoth)

2 Cucullia verbasci (mullein moth) caterpillar

3 Ennomos alniaria (canary-shouldered thorn)

4 Sphinx pinastri (pine hawkmoth))

5 Palera bucephala (buff tip)

6 Phlogophora meticulosa (angle shades)

40 Newnham I (2004), watercolour by Juliette Losq (NC 1997)

77 The Sidgwick Memorial Sundial

88 The beehive

131 The garden’s largest plant: the Virginia creeper

132 The swing seat

151 The lime walk: the oldest trees in the garden

152 ‘Bird’s Nest’ bench by Jamie Cakebread (2023).

Opposite page: photo by

Dasha Tenditna

The College Year

Highlights of the College Year 2023

AUGUST

Newnham sponsored six best paper awards for female PhD students and early career researchers at the 2023 ‘Belt and Road’ Green Sustainable Development and Technology Innovation Forum in Harbin, China. Fifty young leaders from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe attended. Professor of Land Economy and Newnham Fellow Helen Bao, co-chair of the Forum’s organising committee, gave a keynote address.

SEPTEMBER

Undergraduate Bertie Politi (below and on the front cover) revived a College knitting pattern from the early 1990s , adding the slogan: ‘Witty and rebellious since 1871’ on the back. We’d love to see earlier examples of this knitting pattern!

Professor Susan Golombok , former Director of the Centre for Family Research, co-curated the Fitzwilliam Museum’s exhibition Real Families: Stories of Change . Bringing together more than 120 artworks (left), it explored what makes a family today, and the impact our families have on us, through the eyes of great masters and contemporary artists.

Dr Saleyha Ahsan secured funding from the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) to establish a new interdisciplinary research network exploring Healthcare in Conflict. Saleyha, who has worked as a doctor and journalist in conflict areas including Syria, is studying for a PhD in Engineering Health Systems Design.

OCTOBER

Students were excited to move into a newly refurbished graduate building . At Whitstead, the kitchen has doubled in size, and new insulation as well as air-source heat pumps provide a cosy home.

The MCR Seminar Speaker Series on Legacies of Enslavement continued with former Research Fellow Dr Mathelinda Nabugodi speaking on ‘In bad taste: Sugar, slavery and Wordsworth’s racist poems’, followed by UCL’s Professor Catherine Hall in November with ‘The wrong of slavery cannot be put right – so how should we think about repair?’

The JCR’s first BAME Formal was a roaring success. A special menu allowed students to try delicious dishes from different cultures, and many wearing national dress made for a colourful scene. ‘The idea of students from different backgrounds coming together to celebrate cultural diversity is beautiful', said the organiser, JCR BAME Officer Isabel BeresfordCole. Students also initiated formal halls to celebrate LGBTQ+ history month in February and International Women’s Day in March.

Newnham students taking part in the Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme published their summer projects online and presented their research in College. Jasmine Crosbie researched undergraduate experiences of asexuality and mental health; Caitlin McIntosh carried out a retrospective clinical chart review to evaluate anticancer therapy; Anna Metzger looked into violence against sexual and gender minorities in humanitarian contexts; and Alex West considered how optimistic reflection on our better nature can lead to positive influence.

Above: From the Real Familie s exhibition: Aliza Nisenbaum, Susan, Aarti, Keerthana and Princess, Sunday in Brooklyn , 2018, oil on linen © Aliza Nisenbaum.

Photo courtesy the Artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York Image courtesy of Fitzwilliam Museum

NOVEMBER

Newnham celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of women being granted full membership of the University of Cambridge with a special Christmas formal hall, attended by the University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Prentice. See our feature on pp. 34–35.

Distinguished Saudi scientist Dr Hayat Sindi (NC 1995) received an Honorary Fellowship. She is the first woman from the Gulf region to obtain a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on developing low cost, easy to use devices for use in countries with poor medical infrastructure.

to understand the language in which we each became ourselves ... Through the study of language in literature, theatre, music and the arts there is much value to be gained.’

Professor Mary Beard (NC 1973) received an Honorary Fellowship and you can read her talk on pp. 41–42.

Works of art by Newnham students were displayed in a special exhibition in the Dorothy Garrod Building, highlighting the breadth of creativity across Newnham’s student community. The display, organised by the Valuable Possessions Committee chaired by Professor Judy Quinn, featured photographs, paintings, drawings and digital art by Xin Xiong, Jialei Ding, S. Arzooman Chowdury, Olivia Houseman, Nikita Jha, Beyza Celebi and Iffat Mirza.

NerdHerder , a Newnham-based journal of essays celebrating popular culture, released several issues this year, featuring submissions from Newnhamites. The magazine can be read online at www.nerdherder.uk.

Zhiyu Chen , a Gates-Cambridge Scholar studying for a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science, won the first Early Science and Medicine Essay Prize for early career scholars, sponsored by the Early Sciences Forum of the History of Science Society. Zhiyu wrote on the Boxer Codex, colonial visions and cross-cultural knowledge in the late-sixteenth-century Western Pacific Rim.

The incoming MMLL freshers wrote a Mission Statement to inspire themselves and others, which was put together on a group chat. ‘It is language that forms the bedrock of our connections. To make a profound connection is

Dr Orsola Rath Spivack won the College’s Terri Apter Prize for Teaching. Orsola joined Newnham as a Fellow in 2021, and is a Tutor and Director of Studies in Mathematics. She is particularly passionate about encouraging women and BAME students to study maths and is active in summer schools and access programmes.

Above: Dr Hayat Sindi (centre with the Vice-Chancellor to her right) attended the dinner celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of women being admitted to degrees

DECEMBER

Newnham’s Green Committee and Newnham Environmental Justice Society (NEJS) set up a Christmas Foodbank Drive in the Porters' Lodge.

Piper Kate Runciman, PhD student in palaeontology, performed at the Raleigh Society’s Music for the Festive Season. Kate, from Guelph in Canada, has been playing the bagpipes since the age of seven. She has played with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Rod Stewart. The Raleigh Society’s regular concerts and recitals are open to all.

2024

JANUARY

Gardener Jerome Viard reported in from Base A in Port Lockroy, Antarctica, where he joined a small team of researchers for six months. Working with the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, he monitored the penguins, birds and other wildlife on the peninsula, and helped to maintain the many historical buildings there. Ahead of the expedition, Jerome spoke about the project on BBC's Breakfast.

Delphine

Mordey

Below: Jerome with his beloved penguins

Kate Runciman performs in Clough Hall

Jerome Viard

Agnes Hoctor joined the Margaret Anstee Centre as its first Knowledge Exchange Officer. Her role is to help make connections between academic research and wider society, raise the profile of the MAC and ensure that research by its members and Fellows can be translated into positive change beyond academia.

FEBRUARY

Professor Jenn Ashworth (NC 2003) gave a reading from her work in progress to mark her Honorary Fellowship. Author of three novels and a memoir, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Writing at Lancaster University.

The Margaret Anstee Centre launched their Palestinian Seminar Series, in partnership with the Institute for Palestine Studies and the Institut Français du Proche-Orient, focusing on Palestinian agricultural development between colonialism, globalisation and liberation. The seminars are intended to open up spaces for discussion on questions of agricultural development, food policy and land politics.

The student photo competition went from strength to strength, with another excellent year of entries (see opposite).

Linh Nguyen Ming Khan

Marina Messeri

Bella Grimes

MARCH

The annual Rosalind Franklin Women in STEM Conference brought eighty young women in Year 12 in England/Wales, Y13 in Northern Ireland and S5 in Scotland to Newnham. The free conference is aimed at those considering studying STEM subjects at university and this year’s theme was the process of drug discovery.

The manuscript of the B-Text of William Langland’s Piers Plowman , a Middle English poem familiar as a set text to generations of English students, is one of the most important in the College’s rare books collection. This year it was digitised alongside research about its provenance, linked to Newnham’s Legacies of Enslavement enquiry, and a commentary by Newby Trust Research Fellow Dr Hannah Lucas. The manuscript was donated in 1906 by Henry Yates Thompson, who was an advocate for the abolition of slavery, but he inherited it from his grandfather, who had owned enslaved people.

The manuscript of Piers Plowman with the signature of Yates Thompson

Newnham College Library

Undergraduates Maddy Gordon-Finlayson and Georgiana Nason ran a half marathon in the Cambridge Boundary Race on 10 March and raised more than £600 for the Sutton Trust, which champions social mobility through education.

Award-winning poet and playwright Claudine Toutoungi, Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow 2022–24, held a poetry workshop with Newnham College Poetry Society. The Writing Fellow offers help with essay and dissertation writing to all students of Newnham, in one-to-one supervisions.

The wonderful exhibition on Newnhamites working at Bletchley Park was launched; see our feature on pp. 78–83.

APRIL

Music undergraduate Els Curry wrote a dissertation on a late nineteenth/early twentieth-century album of street cries from Turkey donated to the Skilliter Centre , and had the chance to meet donor of the album Amanda Beart and researcher Professor Nazan Maksudyan of the Freie Universität Berlin. The album of street cries was made by the donor’s great uncle, Alfred Sellar. He photographed the street sellers who visited his house in Bebek, Istanbul and reproduced their cries in musical notation.

An example of a street crier pictured in the Skilliter Centre's album

Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies

The Library held a user survey, which was filled in by seventy-five undergraduate and postgraduate students. In response to feedback, the library team is providing new and more comfortable seating including bean bags for leisure reading; more books in non-European languages; and equipment such as adaptors, laptop stands and DVD drives.

The Phyllis & Eileen Gibbs Travelling Research Fellows for 2022–23 presented talks on their research: Dr Shahina Ghazanfar spoke on medicinal plants of the Middle East, and Dr Laura van Holstein shared evolutionary insights from crab-fishing chimpanzees and mangabeys in Guinea.

MAY

In this year’s Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture, Professor Augusta McMahon spoke on ‘15-Minute Cities in Ancient Mesopotamia’. With many points relevant to modern life, she discussed the ups and downs of living in cities, such as the opportunity for informal social introductions, community encounters and shared activities in safe spaces, which mitigate the potential stresses of living in close proximity.

Third-year engineer Belinda Harrison was shortlisted for the Cambridge University Sport Unsung Hero awards. Belinda has been a key member of Cambridge University Women’s Lacrosse Club since her first year, served as club secretary and treasurer, and introduced thirty new students to the sport.

Cambridge University Sport

Below: Belinda Harrison

JUNE

In the year that saw the dual anniversaries of 130 years of NCBC and 50 years of women rowing in the Bumps, work started at long last on a Newnham boathouse on the Cam with an innovative and environmentally friendly design, next door to the Corpus boathouse. On 15 June a breaking ground ceremony was held and a new boat was named in honour of past president of CUWBC and former President of the Roll, Joanna Burch (NC 1983). Earlier in the year, Olympic rowing gold medallist Anna Watkins ( Bebington , NC 2001) spoke at the Lent Bumps dinner. She began rowing at Newnham while studying Natural Sciences.

Milly

March

Milly March

Among new initiatives to combat exam stress set up by Wellbeing Advisor Hiruni Cox , a Give it a Go day encouraged people to try a sport, whether familiar or new, such as spikeball, a volleyball-like game played with a round net, and boccia, a sport designed to be played by anyone regardless of age, gender, ability or disability.

At the Cambridge Student Union Student-Led Teaching Awards , Professor Emma Mawdsley won for Innovative Teaching; Dr Stephanie Smith won for Small-Group Teaching (Science & Technology); Dr Sin é ad Agnew was Research Supervisor of the Year, with Professor Judy Quinn highly commended; and Porter Ed Grundy was winner in the Student Support (non-academic staff) category.

JULY

The new College website was launched. The redesigned, refreshed website (www.newn. cam.ac.uk) is now easier to use and packed with news stories and useful information for applicants, students, researchers and alumnae.

Miriam Margolyes (NC 1960) visited Newnham to meet students and to take part in a Cam Magazine interview. She was delighted to hear there are lesbians proudly out at College, and issued a rallying cry to all the students: ‘Newnham is a great college, it has a great history and you are part of it... Let’s make the world a better place.’

Right: homepage of the newly redesigned Newnham website

Design for the garden by Walter Crum Watson (1912) (detail)

Walter Crum Watson LRIBA (1870-1934) served his apprenticeship as an architect with Alfred Waterhouse and Son, and subsequently worked for Sir Aston Webb on projects including the Victoria and Albert Museum. Based in Edinburgh, he specialised in country house alterations and formal gardens. It is not clear from the records how Watson came to be invited to submit a design, or why his was chosen over the scheme developed by Gertrude Jekyll in 1911, but the final implementation adopted elements of both, including an octagonal ‘garden-house’, ‘small lawns divided by shrubberies and bordered with an orchard and a long nut walk’, and the Eleanor Sidgwick monument with its octagonal terrace.

Newnham College Archives

The Principal’s Year

ALISON ROSE (NC 1980)

We often talk about the intergenerational and interdisciplinary nature of Newnham life. It is part of what makes a Cambridge College experience so rich. Other elements of that shared experience come from the regular rhythms of the Cambridge year: Freshers’ Week, supervisions, examinations, May Week, Graduation and, two new ones since I was a student, Bridgemas dinner and Halfway Hall. Every Newnham year is also unique as each new generation bring their own passions and interests to bear; the synthesis of established and new traditions is what makes College life so exciting. We are trying to capture a sense of that diversity of our Newnham community on our refreshed website which launched in July – do take a look and let us have any comments.

As we began this academic year, September 2023 marked fifty years since I started at secondary school at Barr’s Hill in Coventry. I was fortunate enough to return with Holly Nicholls, Newnham’s Schools Liaison Officer. In 1973 Barr’s Hill was a girls’ grammar school. Now, it is a thriving inner-city Coventry comprehensive. Holly led sessions for pupils in Years 8 to 13 about higher education and Oxbridge, and I spoke about what my time at Cambridge had given me. Seeing the engagement of those pupils, the teachers’ dedication to encouraging their aspirations and Holly’s skill in enthusing them about the possibilities open to them was a great way to start the new academic year. Cambridge colleges carry out similar outreach work across the length and breadth of the UK, as well as hosting school visits and running Open Days in July and September each year.

Continuing the outreach theme, in April 2024 the Admissions and Outreach team ran the residential Rosalind Franklin Conference in person for the first time since 2019. Aimed at seventeen-year-olds interested in studying science at university, half of whom were in receipt of free school meals, this year’s theme was drug discovery. The intergenerational nature of Newnham’s community came to the fore, with Newnham Associates, Fellows, Postdoctoral Affiliates and current Newnham students supporting a programme of lectures and discussion groups and providing insights into what studying at Newnham is like. New Honorary Fellow Dr Hayat Sindi (NC 1995) gave the after-dinner speech on her journey into biotechnology. The event was a fantastic opportunity for attendees to engage with women in postdoctoral research for the first time in their lives.

An event with an even more interdisciplinary focus was the exhibition Newnham and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II which we launched in March. Teamwork helped recruit Newnhamites to Bletchley Park in the 1930s and 1940s. Teamwork has revealed for us today the previously unsung and secret contribution of these women to the war effort.  Thanks to painstaking work by Dr Sally Waugh (NC 1973), working with Fellow Emerita Dr Gill Sutherland and College Archivist Frieda Midgley, almost eighty Newnhamites are now identified on the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour. They studied subjects as varied as History, Modern Languages, Classics, English, Geography, Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Women remain

underrepresented in the cryptanalysis and technology world today, but the Bletchley Park experience shows there is no need for this to be the case. (See our feature on pp. 78–83) Newnham’s gardens feature in the experience of all past and current students, and we were delighted to host a party to celebrate the 130 th anniversary of the unification of the gardens. From the youngest babies to the oldest alumnae, the food, creativity, intellectual stimulus and fun which typify Newnham were enjoyed by all.

‘It has been a joy this year to witness the energy around student societies and events’

Alison Rose

We also celebrated the progress made in our fundraising campaign ‘Shaping Newnham’s Future’. Newnham’s Development Team raised the fourth highest amount of any Cambridge College in 2022/23 and we are so grateful to our generous alumnae and other donors for this amazing achievement, which will ensure future generations continue to benefit from excellent teaching and support at Newnham.

Every year has its difficult moments too. We are always conscious that some in our community come from or have family in regions caught up in war or natural disasters and have been providing support in recent years to students and academics from Ukraine and Afghanistan. The latest phase of the terrible conflict in Palestine and Israel began at the

start of this academic year and is still going on as I write this. College has focused its efforts on providing pastoral support for those who are personally affected by the conflict. We have also sought, in the spirit of enquiry and academic freedom that is the essence of higher education, to maintain Newnham as a place and space where students feel able – within the law – to hold different views on the conflict. This is not easy when some in our community are so personally affected. We have been enormously helped in our thinking and our practice by wise and informed advice from Fellows of Palestinian and Jewish heritage.

It has been a joy this year to witness the energy around student societies and events, as the confidence and experience lost during the Covid years continues to be rebuilt. Students ran speaker events to celebrate Newnham’s BME community and International Women’s Day and have organised their own student wellbeing events such as flower arranging in exam term. If you wish to follow some of the student societies yourselves, the Newnham Feminist Society, the Newnham Permaculture Garden (ShrubClub1871), the Rosalind Franklin Society, the Medieval and Modern Languages and Linguists (MMLL) Society and Newnham Queer Archive have all joined Instagram this year. Students and new graduates are increasingly using LinkedIn to narrate and curate their experience at Newnham and thereafter. If you are a LinkedIn user, do connect to Newnham’s own account on this network to keep in touch with current students’ interests and achievements –and do share your own updates. Whatever your preferred method of communication, we love hearing your news. We are so proud of what all members of our Newnham community, past and present, achieve and contribute to society, often in very difficult circumstances. As our 150 th anniversary commemorative plates say, ‘Long live Newnham!’

TEN ASPECTS OF THE GARDENS

The

nut walk

This row of hazel trees was part of the Walter Crum Watson plan (p. 17). Today, the nut walk is still coppiced every year and the sticks are used as supports for climbers and other garden structures. The hazelnuts are much in demand by the garden’s wildlife.

Dasha Tenditna

The JCR President’s Year

APRIL WELLS (LAW)

As the outgoing Newnham JCR President, and a recent Law graduate, I have been reflecting on my time at Newnham, and am excited to share this year’s JCR accomplishments with you all.

First, we further enhanced representation on the committee and dedicated more time to celebrating Newnham’s community. This Lent marked the appointment of our new Transgender and Non-Binary Officer, as well as a Gender Equality Officer. We hosted Liberation Formals for neurodivergent, BME and LGBT students, and an International Women’s Day Formal, all featuring themed food, decorations and keynote speakers. I would like to extend a massive thank you on behalf of the JCR to all the alumnae, especially the Associates, who attended the events and helped to make them so incredibly memorable.

Second, we really prioritised promotion of student welfare, with welfare teas, movie nights, yoga sessions and puppy parties. Of particular importance has been the JCR Basement Room,

which has been the location of many bops, swaps and other social events, something that is crucial in breaking up busy Cambridge terms. Also, the committee and I have been consistently advocating for improved accessibility around College. These ongoing conversations have led to smoother surfaces, automated doors and other adjustments being implemented, making movement around College easier for those with access needs.

Finally, we have worked with College to enhance the current dining system. The food payment system has been restructured, allowing students to top up accounts, receive refunds and use the same account in different college venues. We also worked with the catering staff to ensure neurodivergent options at formals, and introduced a comment box for meal customisation, addressing feedback I received in my first year.

As my time on the committee comes to an end (I have graduated now, so no risk of rerunning), I am so excited to see what the next year brings. With fresh ideas and perspectives, I have no doubt our new JCR President Gabrielle will lead the committee from strength to strength, and I know the new officers will not stop advocating for Newnham to keep being the welcoming, witty and rebellious place we all know and love it to be.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities this role provided me. I have met the most brilliant students, staff and alumnae, and I will always be proud to have called Newnham my home for three years. The skills and lessons I have learnt will stay with me for life, as will the friends I made along the way.

The MCR President’s Year

JASMINE G. HUGHES (PHD STUDENT, CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE)

This past year has been hectic but filled with some outstanding accomplishments. As a first-year PhD student, I was eager to learn more and be involved with the MCR community and promote positive change. Throughout my role as MCR President, my overall goal for the year was to engage actively in the community, seek to create new initiatives and advocate for students. I also sought to foster a more inclusive community.

The MCR Committee members were very active with inclusive programming and events. An example was an event held in conjunction with International Women’s Day: a Human Library hosted by the MCR, which is a safe space to discuss different topics as a group. We had another year of successful Speaker Series Events which included an event focused on ‘Mounting an Exhibition – Newnham College and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II’. The MCR Graduate Conference was filled with Newnham’s postgraduates who presented their research, and we had a keynote speech by Dr Liana Minkova during the summer.

We advocated and contributed to discussions on prevalent issues within the postgraduate community. A few examples include whether hanging and displaying flags outside of student accommodation should be permitted, extending meat-free Mondays and making more meal options available for dietrestricted students. Unfortunately, we were not successful in promoting change for all of the postgraduates’ concerns. However, there is still more work in progress and we will continue to advocate on behalf of students.

During the year the process for MCR affiliation for visiting graduate students was established and amended in the MCR constitution. This allows for visiting students to have access to Newnham facilities (gym, library, etc.) and resources during their term.

This is just a brief overview of all the amazing work and effort the MCR Committee has given this past year. I am deeply honoured and grateful for this role, but most importantly grateful to the committee members who shared their zealous passion and commitment during their term.

I hope we will continue to work together to provide a more vibrant, inclusive and supportive community.

Fellows and Senior Members during the academic year 2023—24

VISITOR

Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge

PRINCIPAL

Alison Rose MA (Cantab)

FELLOWS & SENIOR

MEMBERS ENTITLED TO ATTEND GOVERNING BODY

ANGLO-SAXON, NORSE AND CELTIC

Professor Judy Quinn

BA (Melbourne), MA (Cantab), PhD (Sydney)

ARCHAEOLOGY

Dr Emma Pomeroy

MA (Cantab), MA (Southampton), PhD (Cantab)

ARCHITECTURE

Dr Ekaterina Mizrokhi

BA (Trinity College, Toronto), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

ASIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES

Dr Charis Olszok

MA (Oxon), MA (SOAS), PhD (SOAS)

Dr Lucy Zhao

BA (Qingdao), MA (East China University of Science and Technology), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

CLASSICS

Dr Carol Atack

BSc (London), MA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab),

PhD (Cantab)

Dr Shushma Malik

BA (Bristol), MA (Bristol), PhD (Bristol)

CRIMINOLOGY

Dr Caroline Lanskey

BA (Leicester), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), PGCE (Oxon)

ECONOMICS

Professor Helen Bao

BA (Dongbei), MA (Dongbei), MA (Cantab), PhD (Hong Kong)

ENGINEERING

Dr Stephanie Adeyemo

Constance Work Research Fellow, BEng (Swansea), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Fulvio Forni

BEng (Rome Tor Vergata), MEng (Rome Tor Vergata), PhD (Rome Tor Vergata)

Dr Letizia Mortara

Laurea, Diploma di Maturita’ Scientifica (Bologna), BSc (Bologna), PhD (Cranfield)

Dr Sivasakthy Selvakumaran

MA (Cantab), MEng (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), CEng, MICE, MIET

ENGLISH

Dr May Hawas

BA (Alexandria), MA (AUC), PhD (Leuven)

Dr Hannah Lucas

Newby Trust Research Fellow, MA (Oxon), MPhil (Cantab), DPhil (Oxon)

Dr Chana Morgenstern

BA (New College of California, San Francisco), MFA (Bard College), PhD (Brown)

Dr Amy Morris

MA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

GEOGRAPHY

Dr Cynthia Kamwengo

BA (UNZA), MA (Flinders), PhD (Durham)

Dr Diala Lteif

BA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, Lebanon),

MA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, Lebanon),

MFA (Parsons, the new School for Design, USA), PhD (Toronto)

Professor Emma Mawdsley

Director of the Margaret Anstee Centre, MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

HISTORY

Dr Kate Fleet

Deputy Senior Tutor, Postgraduate Tutor and Director of the Skilliter Centre, BA (SOAS), MA (Cantab), PhD (SOAS)

Professor Gabriela Ramos

BA (Universidad Católica del Perú), MA (Columbia), PhD (Pennsylvania)

Dr Emma Perkins

MA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

HISTORY OF ART

Dr Amy Tobin

BA (York), MA (Courtauld Institute of Art), PhD (York)

HUMAN, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES

Professor Manali Desai

BA (Michigan), MA (UCLA), PhD (UCLA)

Dr Liana Minkova

Kathleen Hughes Research Fellow, BA (KCL), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Professor Yael Navaro

BA (Brandeis), MA (Princeton), PhD (Princeton)

Dr Mezna Qato

BA (Chicago), MA (Chicago), MSt (Oxon),

LAW

Dr Sinéad Agnew

LLB (Dublin), MJur (Oxon), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (LSE)

Dr Christina Angelopoulos

LLB (Athens), LLM (Edinburgh), PhD (Amsterdam)

Professor Felix Steffek

LLM (Cantab), First State Examination (Heidelberg), PhD (Heidelberg), Second State Examination (Hamburg), Habilitation (Hamburg)

LINGUISTICS

Professor Katarzyna Jaszczolt

MA (Lodz), DPhil (Oxon), PhD (Cantab), MAE

MATHEMATICS

Dr Eloise Hamilton

Old Students’ Jubilee Research Fellow, BPhil (Hons) (ANU), DPhil (Oxon)

Dr Orsola Rath Spivack

MSc (Milan), MA (Milan), PhD (Open)

Professor Maria Ubiali

BSc (Milan), MSc (Milan), PhD (Edinburgh), PhD (Louvain)

MEDICINE/VETERINARY MEDICINE

Dr Jane MacDougall

MA (Cantab), MB BChir (Cantab), FRCOG (London), MD (Cantab), MEd (Cantab)

Professor Jennifer Morton

BSc (Otago), MA (Cantab), PhD (Otago),

ScD (Cantab), FRSB

DPhil (Oxon)

Professor Elizabeth Murchison

BiomedSci (University of Melbourne), PhD (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York)

Dr Barbara Skelly

MA (Cantab), VetMB (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), CertSAM, DipACVIM, DIpECVIM, MRCVS; European Veterinary Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine, RCVS Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Medicine

Professor Helen Taylor

MA (Oxon), MBBS (London), MRCP, FRCR, PGCert

Med Ed (Cantab), FHEA

MODERN AND MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES

Professor Jenny Mander

MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Sheila Watts

Senior Tutor, MA (Dublin), PhD (Dublin)

MUSIC

Dr Delphine Mordey

MA (Oxon), MSt (Oxon), PhD (Cantab)

NATURAL SCIENCES

Dr Paula Álvarez Cartelle

BA (Santiago de Compostela), MA (Santiago de Compostela), PhD (Santiago de Compostela)

Dr Ricarda Beckmann

Ruth Holt Research Fellow, MSci (Imperial), DPhil (Oxon)

Dr Barbara Blacklaws

Vice-Principal, BSc (Aberdeen), PhD (Cantab), PGCertTLHE (Cantab)

Dr Timothy Hearn

BSc (Birmingham), PhD (Cantab), MRSB, AFHEA

Professor Laura Itzhaki

MSc (Oxon), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Catherine Lindon

MA (Oxon), MA (Cantab), PhD (London)

Dr Alice Merryweather

MSci (Durham), MRes (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Emily Mitchell

BSc (Imperial), MSc (Imperial), MPhil (York),

MRes (St Andrews), PhD (Cantab)

Professor Róisín Owens

BA (Dublin), MA (Cantab), PhD (Southampton)

Dr Adam Pellegrini

BA (Colgate), MA (Princeton), PhD (Princeton)

Professor Christina Potter

MSci (RHUL), PhD (RHUL)

Dr Erica Watson

BSc (Calgary), PhD (Calgary)

Dr Jenny Zhang

BA(Adv) Sc (Hons) (Sydney), PhD (Sydney)

PHILOSOPHY

Dr Laura Caponetto

Sarah Smithson Research Fellow, BA (Catania), BA (Vincenzo Bellini Music Institute, Catania), MPhil (Vita-Salute San Raffaele), PhD (Vita-Salute San Raffaele)

Professor Rae Langton

BA (Sydney), PhD (Princeton), FBA, FAAAS, MAE

PSYCHOLOGY

Dr Abigail Bradshaw

Amy Whiteley Research Fellow, BA (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon)

Professor Claire Hughes

Secretary of the Governing Body, MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY OFFICERS

Alice Benton

MA (Cantab)

Sarah Carthew

Development Director, BA (UEA), MA (Cantab)

Wendy Evans

Domestic Bursar, MA (Cantab), Grad CIPD (Anglia Ruskin), PG Dip HRM (Anglia Ruskin)

Eve Lacey

Librarian MA (Cantab), MA (UCL), MCLIP

Christopher Lawrence

Bursar, MA (Cantab), MSc (Durham), ARCM

Dr Sam Lucy

Undergraduate Admissions Tutor, Deputy Senior

Tutor and Finance Tutor, BA (Nottingham), PhD (Cantab), FSA – Archaeology

ASSOCIATE FELLOWS

Claire Bryant-Curtis

Co-President of the Newnham Associates, MA (Cantab), LLB (London)

Dr Carol Cooper

MA (Cantab), MB BChir (Cantab), MRCP (London)

Fran James

MA (Cantab), VetMB (Cantab), DipACVS, DipECVS, DipACVSMR, MRCVS

OTHER SENIOR MEMBERS

BYE-FELLOWS

Dr Claire Benn

MA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab) –Philosophy

Dr Della David

DEUG (Montpellier), MSc (Strasbourg), PhD (Zürich) – Biology

Professor Helen Firth

DM (Oxon), FRCP, DCH, FMedSci – Medicine

Dr Jenny Gibson

BSc (Manchester), MRes (Manchester), PhD (Manchester) – Education

Dr Nazia Habib

BS (SUNY), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

– Management Technology

Dr Alexa Horner

MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab) – Admissions

Dr Sarah Lloyd-Fox

BSc (Reading), PhD (Birkbeck) – Psychology

Dr Janine Maegraith

BA (Stuttgart), MA (Stuttgart), PhD (Stuttgart)

– History

Dr Neus Penalba Suárez

BA (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona),

BA (Barcelona), MA (Denis Diderot-Paris VII), MA (Barcelona), PhD (Girona) – MML

Dr Ayesha Siddiqui

BSc (Lahore), MA (Sussex), PhD (KCL) – Geography

Dr Yan Zhang

BSc (Yunnan), MA (Turin), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab) – Economics

FELLOWS EMERITAE

Dr Lucy Adrian MA (Cantab), MA (Wisconsin), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Patricia Altham MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Claire Barlow MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), FIOM3

Professor Mary Beard DBE, MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), HonDLitt (Bristol), FBA

Dr Sarah Corbet MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), ScD (Cantab)

Jean Gooder MA (Cantab)

Dr Catherine Hills MA (London), PhD (Birkbeck)

Deborah Hodder MA (Cantab), MA (UCL), MCLIP Irina Kirillova MBE, MA (Cantab)

Professor Augusta McMahon BA (Bryn Mawr), MA (Chicago), PhD (Chicago)

Dr Ann Mullinger MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Professor Susan Owens OBE, BSc (UEA), MA (Cantab), PhD (UEA), ScD (h.c.) (UEA), ScD (h.c.) (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm), FBA, FACSS, HonMRTPI

Dr Rachael Padman BEng (Hons) (Monash), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Susan Pitts MA (Cantab), MSc (Imperial), PhD (London)

Dr Gillian Sutherland MA (Oxon), PhD (Oxon), FRHistS

Professor Liba Taub BA (Tulane), MA (Chicago), PhD (Oklahoma)

Professor Christine Watson BSc (Glasgow), MA (Cantab), PhD (Imperial), FMedSci

PRIVILEGES OF A FELLOW EMERITA

Dr Terri Apter MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Harry Baker BA (Open), MSc (London Guildhall), DSc (Open)

Dr Lucilla Burn MA (Cantab), DPhil (Oxon), FSA

Dr Janet Carter MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Clarissa de Waal MA (Edinburgh), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Katy Edgcombe MA (Cantab), MIMA

Dr Laurie Friday MA (Cantab), PhD (Exeter)

Professor Fiona Gilbert MA (Cantab), MB ChB (Glasgow), DMRD (Aberdeen), MRCP, FRCR, FRCPS, FRCP, FRSE, FMedSci

Professor Susan Golombok BSc (Glasgow), MSc (IOE), PhD (Institute of Psychiatry), MA (Cantab), FBA

Frances Hazlehurst BA (Open), MA (Cantab)

Dr Isabel Henderson OBE, MA (Aberdeen), MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), Hon FSA Scot

Dr Pam Hirsch BA (CNAA), MA (Essex), MA (Cantab), PhD (CNAA), Cert. Ed (Cumbria)

Professor Jane Humphries CBE, BA (Cantab), MA (Cornell), PhD (Cornell), FRHS, FACSS, FBA, Fellow Cliometrics Society

Carolyn Leigh MA (Cantab)

Dr Linda McDowell CBE, MA (Cantab), MPhil (UCL), PhD (UCL), DLitt (Oxon), FBA

Professor Rosamond McKitterick MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), LittD (Cantab), FRHistS, FAE

Gabriele Reifenberg MA (Cantab)

Dr Ros Ridley MA (Cantab), PhD (Institute of Psychiatry), ScD (Cantab)

Professor Lisa Saksida BSc (Western Ontario), MA (British Columbia), MA (Cantab), MSc (Edinburgh), PhD (Carnegie Mellon)

Dr Liz Watson BSc (UCL), PhD (Cantab)

HONORARY FELLOWS

Marin Alsop BMus (Julliard), MMus (Julliard), Hon DMus (Bournemouth)

Joan Armatrading CBE, BA (Open), Hon DMus (Birmingham), Hon DLitt (Aston), Hon DMus (RSAMD), DUniv (Open), Hon DLitt (West Indies), Hon DMus (St Andrews)

Professor Jenn Ashworth BA (Cantab), MA (Manchester), PhD (Lancaster), PGCert (Lancaster), FRSL

The Baroness (Joan) Bakewell CBE, DBE, MA (Cantab), Hon FBA

Clare Balding OBE, CBE, MA (Cantab)

Professor Dame Mary Beard DBE, MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), HonDLitt (Bristol), FBA

Professor Dame Carol Black GBE (Principal 2012–2019), BA (Bristol), MA (Cantab), FRCP, FMedSci, MedScd(Hon)

Professor Jane Brown MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab)

Dame Antonia Byatt Duffy CBE, DBE, MA (Cantab), HonFBA, FRSL †

Anne Campbell MA (Cantab), CStat, Hon PhD (Anglia Ruskin)

The Baroness (Jean) Coussins MA (Cantab), DUniv (Open), Hon FCIL (UCL)

Professor Patricia Easterling MA (Cantab), FBA

Professor Dame Uta Frith DBE, PhD (London), FRS, FBA, FMedSci

Rosalind Gilmore CB, BA (UCL), MA (Cantab), Hon RCM

Dame Jane Goodall DBE, PhD (Cantab)

The Rt Hon The Baroness (Helene) Hayman

GBE, MA (Cantab)

Dame Patricia Hodgson CBE, DBE (Principal 2006–2012) , MA (Cantab), Hon DSc (City), DU (Essex), LRAM

Dr Brigid Hogan MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), DSc (Watson School of Biological Sciences), FRS

The Baroness (Ann) Mallalieu KC, MA (Cantab), LLM

Dr Brenda Milner CC, GOQ, MA (Cantab), PhD (McGill), DSc (Cantab) FRS, FRSC

Rabbi The Baroness (Julia) Neuberger DBE, MA (Cantab)

Dr Mary Beth Norton BA (Michigan), MA (Harvard), PhD (Harvard)

The Baroness (Onora) O’Neill CH, CBE (Principal 1992–2006), MA (Oxon), PhD (Harvard), FMedSci, HonFRS, FBA

Dame Sue Owen CB, DCB, MA (Cantab), MSc (Cardiff)

Dame Fiona Reynolds CBE, DBE, MA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), Hon FBA, Hon ScD

Professor Dame Alison Richard DBE, DL, MA (Cantab), PhD (Queen Elizabeth College), FAAAS

The Rt Hon Lady Vivien Rose of Colmworth, DBE, PC, MA (Cantab), BCL (Oxon)

Professor Patricia Simpson BSc (Southampton), PhD (Paris VI), FRS

Professor Hayat Sindi BSc (KCL), PhD (Cantab)

Ali Smith CBE, BA (Aberdeen), Hon DLitt (ARU), FRSL

Professor Elizabeth Thompson MA (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), ScD (Cantab), FRS

Dame Emma Thompson DBE, MA (Cantab)

Professor Janet Todd OBE, MA (Cantab), MA (Leeds), PhD (Florida)

Sandi Toksvig OBE, MA (Cantab), Hon PhD

Claire Tomalin MA (Cantab), Hon LittD

Professor Rosie Young GBM, GBS, CBE, JP, MD (Hong Kong), Hon DSc (Hong Kong), Hon D Soc Sc (Hong Kong Shue Yan), FRCP, FRACP, Hon FHKAM, Hon FHKCP

Professor Froma Zeitlin BA (Radcliffe-Harvard), PhD (Columbia), Hon LHD (Princeton)

ROYAL LITERARY FUND WRITING FELLOW

Claudine Toutoungi MA (Oxon), MA (Goldsmiths), PGCE (Cantab), PgDip (LAMDA)

COLLEGE LECTURER – FELLOW OF ANOTHER COLLEGE

Dr Carlos Fonseca BA (Stanford), MA (Princeton), PhD (Princeton)

ASSOCIATE LECTURERS

Dr Ágnes Föglein MA (FAU), PhD (Cantab)

Dr Jossy Sayir MSc (ETH Zürich), PhD (ETH Zürich)

Dr Cerian Webb BSc (York), MSc (Dundee), PhD (Cantab)

POSTDOCTORAL AFFILIATES

Dr Rachana Acharya BTech (NIT Nagpur), MS (UCLA), Dr. rer. nat. (Stuttgart) – Biotechnology

Dr Amber Barton MBiochem (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FHEA – Biosciences (Pathogen Genomics)

Dr Tania Bhattacharyya BA (Delhi), BA (Oxon), MPhil (Columbia), PhD (Columbia) – Social History

Dr Jen Coleman BSc (Southampton), MRes (KCL), PhD (KCL) – Cellular and Molecular Oncology

Dr Nishanthi Gangadharan B.Tech (Karunya), MSc (Nottingham), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab) –Engineering & Biology

Dr Chapa Sirithunge BSc (Moratuwa), PhD (Moratuwa) – Robotics

Dr Katherine Kentistou BSc (Newcastle), MSc (Imperial), PhD (Edinburgh) – Human Genetics

Dr Yang Liu BEng (Xi’an Jiaotong University), PhD (Hong Kong) – Computer Science

Dr Pamela Mackenzie BFA (Concordia University), MA (Concordia University), PhD (British Columbia) – History of Science/Art History

Dr Julia Moreno-Vicente BSc (UAB), MSc (Nottingham), MRes (Southampton), PhD (Southampton) – Cancer Immunology

Dr Elli Mylona BSc (Imperial), MRes (Imperial), PhD (Imperial) – Infectious Diseases

Dr Sivan Nir BSc (HUJI), MSc (HUJI), PhD (HUJI) – Chemistry

Dr Fadia Panosetti BSc (Roma Tre University), MSc (Free University of Brussels), PhD (Free University of Brussels) – Social & Political Sciences

Dr Pilar Puerto-Camacho MSc (Seville), PhD (Seville) – Cancer research

Dr Carolin Sauer BSc (Manchester), PhD (Cantab) – Biomedical Sciences/Bioinformatics

Dr Claire Senner BSc (Imperial), MSc (UCL), MRes (Imperial), PhD (Imperial) – Reproductive and Developmental Biology

Dr Verena Stoeger BSc (Vienna), MSc (Vienna), PhD (Vienna) – Engineering

Dr Apolline Taillandier BA (Po), MPhil (Po), PhD (Po) – Politics

Dr Doroteya Vladimirova BA (Portsmouth), MA (NBU), PhD (Cranfield) – Sustainable Futures

Dr Tara Windsor BA (Birmingham), MPhil (Birmingham), PhD (Birmingham) – MML

† Deceased.

In memoriam

DAME A. S. BYATT

AUTHOR & HONORARY FELLOW

1936–2023

( Antonia Susan Drabble , NC 1954)

My mother, A. S. Byatt, read English Literature at Newnham, and went on to study at Somerville (Oxford) and Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania), where she met my father, Ian Byatt, on a road trip across the States. They married in 1959 and had two children, Antonia and Charles, living first in Durham where my father taught and then in London – my mother insisting we lived near the British Library where she could work and write.

It was during her time at university that she began working on her first two novels, Shadow of a Sun (1964) and The Game (1967). She told me she rocked the baby on the kitchen table with one hand and wrote with the other. In 1969 her marriage to my father was dissolved and she married Peter Duffy. They had two daughters, Isabel and Miranda.

My mother had taught in various roles to support her writing but in 1972 she took a lectureship at University College, partially to help pay for the education of her son, though before she started, he was killed in a road accident which marked the rest of her life.

She was a brilliant teacher for 11 years and published The Virgin in the Garden (1978) during this period, the first of The Quartet , a tetralogy of novels that continued with Still Life (1985), Babel Tower (1996) and A Whistling Woman (2002). In 1983 she left UCL to write full-time. Byatt was awarded numerous prizes, including the 1990 Booker Prize for Possession: A Romance . She published 26 works of fiction, essays and critical studies including studies on Iris Murdoch and Wordsworth and Coleridge. Her novel The Children’s Book was shortlisted for the 2009 Booker Prize and won the 2010 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She was a frequent and lively broadcaster: her journalism covered topics as diverse as football and wildlife. She also gave time to ex-officio roles at the Society of Authors and the British Council. She was awarded a DBE in 1999.

My mother died at home after a long period of illness cared for by her husband Peter and is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren.

Antonia Byatt (daughter)

Biodiversity in the gardens: the moths survey

At night, while students are fast asleep, Newnham’s wild residents come out of their nests, burrows and dens to enjoy our beautiful gardens. The gardens teem with a surprising variety of insects – especially moths, which, thanks to the garden’s plant diversity, find plenty of nectar on our sweet night-scented plants. Gardeners Jerome Viard and Andy Ward have been recording resident and travelling species using a moth trap, a box with an ultraviolet light that attracts moths during the night, which are identified, counted and released unharmed the following morning. In 2024, they found over fifty separate moth species, all beautiful in their own way.

(See

A supercurricular success

Undergraduate Admissions Tutor Dr Sam Lucy reports on Newnham’s Essay Writing Masterclass Programme, a free twelve-week series of webinars with supervisions and individual feedback offering knowledge, confidence and skills to future university applicants across the UK.

What value can studies of material culture bring to historical understanding? Critically explore, using detailed evidence for a particular place and time.

Critically explore the ways in which the rise of ‘identity politics’ has affected political debate in one country in the last ten years.

It is often noted that as more women enter a profession, that profession loses status. Explore this idea, using detailed examples from one or more professional fields.

These are just some of the essay topics our impressive 2024 Masterclass students got their teeth into, as we continued the scheme piloted last year to bring writing skills to talented young women in Year 12 (England and Wales), Year 13 (Northern Ireland) or S5 (Scotland).

In a series of webinars over twelve weeks we have been delivering a structured programme that is almost a crash course in writing university-level essays: how do I approach the question and plan my essay? How do I develop an argument? How do I find, use and cite appropriate reference sources – especially online?

In two streams, arts and social sciences, admissions staff and postdocs have delivered interactive seminars followed by a group supervision on a draft essay on one of the

questions set, using our enthusiastic pool of graduate students. After the supervision the essays are revised, submitted and then graded with detailed feedback offered, leading to a supercurricular activity that will be both a valuable learning experience, and a plus point for whatever university application the students choose to make.

Taking place in the spring before the students will apply through UCAS in the winter, the programme also gives them a good sense of what some different subjects involve and the opportunity to explore issues they have not really thought about before. The essay questions invite them to consider new subjects not taught at school and to engage with current public and academic debates. And the skills taught will help them with extended essays for A-level as well as writing their UCAS application.

We ensure we advertise the scheme to teachers all around the country and encourage any young woman to apply. As the programme is virtual, there are no barriers in terms of cost, and those without internet at home can take part from their school.

Over 400 students applied for 120 places, so the scheme is highly selective. We do not just look at academic criteria, but at potential. And we take into account the issues that drive our widening participation initiatives, for example, whether they have been in care, qualify for free

Dr Sam Lucy

'Our programme encourages supercurricular research, or ‘reading around their subject’, which allows students to explore new ideas and areas, and demonstrates a commitment to their subject outside of school – something that top universities are looking for in applications'

school meals, go to underperforming schools or have had their education disrupted due to health or family difficulties.

We will evaluate the success of the project with a student questionnaire at the start and the end, so we can see what the tangible benefits are and collect their feedback to incorporate for next year. We will also be able to track those students into the future through the Higher Education Access Tracker, which all universities use to log their widening participation activity, to see how many went on to university and where.

While it is not an admissions or recruitment

initiative, we were of course delighted to see some of last year’s cohort attending Open Days and some applying directly to Newnham. But this is really part of our widening participation programme, coordinated by Schools Liaison and Outreach Officer Holly Nicholls. We feel it is important for Newnham to play a part in raising aspiration and attainment levels for girls across the country, and whether students end up applying to Cambridge or not, the programme will help them with whatever they want to achieve.

An added benefit is the teaching experience it gives our postgraduate students and junior researchers, who have really enjoyed working with young people and doing something a little different to Cambridge supervising. It has been so rewarding to see the students’ confidence and academic writing improve over the course of the programme. As one participant put it: ‘It definitely encouraged me to explore my interests completely outside of school and I have felt myself become a more confident, independent analyser and thinker.’

Holly Nicholls

Lloyd Mann © University of Cambridge

Celebrating Cambridge women's admittance

Newnham celebrated the 75th anniversary of women being granted full membership of the University of Cambridge with a special Christmas Formal Hall on 4 December 2023, attended by the University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Prentice.

After a series of campaigns, in May 1948 Newnham and Girton became full colleges of the University – over 75 years after the first groups of women students gathered on its doorstep. The process was so long and contentious because full membership, symbolised by the award of degrees, brought with it involvement in University governance.

‘We are marking the 75th anniversary of a huge step forward for women in Cambridge: truly an occasion to celebrate. Cambridge was the last English university to grant women degrees. Even as late as 1921, the defeat of an earlier proposal led to an infamous march on Newnham’s gates by those who had opposed the proposal. But women persevered and in the end they triumphed.’

In October 1948, the first degrees were awarded to women, and Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, became the very first when she received an honorary degree (see photo opposite). The 1948 students were the first to matriculate as full members of the University.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Prentice

the case. In fact, conflict was more cyclical; failed votes and anti-women demonstrations in 1887, 1897 and 1921 were scarily alike in character. The breaking of the Newnham gates and records of rhetorical abuse must have been both alarming in their physicality and violence, and frustrating in what they said about attitudinal stagnation in the University … It is the thought of the untapped potential and lack of proper recognition of so many brilliant students and staff that is most frustrating. Over 75 years on, I hope that we can use that frustration productively, to pursue change in areas that still require it.’

History undergraduate Molly O’Neill, who has been researching a dissertation on ‘Women in Cambridge 1900–1950’, organised the celebratory event, together with Fellow Emerita Dr Gill Sutherland and Archivist Frieda Midgley. In her speech, Molly said: ‘It is easy to think of the education of women as something that showed consistent improvement. This was not

Opposite page – top: Molly O’Neill, Alison Rose, Debbie Prentice and Frieda Midgley

Opposite page – bottom: Queen Elizabeth visits Newnham on the day that she was awarded her honorary degree in 1948

Eastern Press Agency, Cambridge

Photo: Dasha Tenditna

Photo:

A garden for all: Newnham's green heart, past and present

In a year in which we celebrated the history of the Newnham gardens with a special garden party and campaign celebration, we look back at the makings of our ‘jewel in the crown’, which reflect the aspirations of the time and serve as a continual inspiration for Newnham’s future.

Arts and Crafts origins

The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement, popular at the time, is clear in Newnham’s gardens (and buildings), where the goals of valuing nature, simplicity and utility meant ‘have nothing in your garden that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’ (adapted from the words of William Morris). Indeed, according to Jane Brown, who wrote a history of the gardens in the 1980s, ‘Newnham’s garden cannot help but reflect the characteristics of “harmony and gracious sweetness” which are visible virtues of the college buildings.’

The core College buildings were the work of one architect, Sir Basil Champneys, who worked with the College for over thirty-five years from 1874 to 1910. Starting with Newnham Hall (now Old Hall), the main buildings were constructed on an initial plot of two acres of land surrounded by countryside. The first laying out of the gardens was initiated by first Principal Anne Jemima Clough, but it was not until 1892 that her niece Blanche Athena Clough, first Chair of the Garden Committee, decided to start planning the College gardens fully, engaging James Backhouse & Son of York to draw up a plan (see p. 17). At this time, Newnham Walk still ran through the College, but

by 1894 a new road, Sidgwick Avenue, had been built and the College site was unified.

The gardens did not follow the 1892 Backhouse Plan exactly; they were allowed to evolve, rather than follow a grand mathematical plan like other grounds. Strict practicality was the watchword. An orchard was planted, pigs and chickens were kept, and tennis courts proliferated. The herbaceous borders south of Clough Hall were planted in 1905. This pragmatism has prevailed throughout its history, notably during both world wars when vegetables were grown. The student allotments started in the 1890s still thrive today, and the communal edible borders were a key source of healthy sustenance for students in College during the Covid lockdowns. Today’s Shrub Club members will no doubt feel an affinity with this student who wrote in the first Roll Letter in 1894, ‘Allotments are very popular with the energetic all the year round: in the May Term, the sluggard is madly jealous of the triumphant landholder.’

The evolution of the gardens

The gardens continued to evolve as different parts of the College were developed. Under

‘ The informality of the gardens is at the heart of Newnham — they are not just cloistered courtyards that you walk through, like in other colleges, but are here to be used and enjoyed.’

the long custodianship of Professor Jenny Morton (see also pp. 50–53) as Chair of the College Garden Committee, who retires this year, many new additions have been made, including adding the distinctive geometricshaped bedding in 2009 to The Mound, created in 1891 for the observatory and now a memorial to Principal Eleanor Sidgwick. In 2013, when the Iris Collection was developed to honour the

College flower, iris borders were planted around the Observatory. In 2019 new landscaping and a roof garden, designed by Brita von Schoenaich of landscapers Bradley-Hole Schoenaich, were developed around the Dorothy Garrod Building. Professor Rae Langton (see also pp. 59–61) takes over as Chair next year and we are sure to see continuing changes made.

Head Gardener Paul Anderson

Dasha Tenditna

Not created by a single designer at a single point in time, the gardens still make a harmonious whole, most likely owed to an allegiance of shared values and inspiration that have pervaded through every generation. ‘After all, we’re the stewards; it’s not about us as gardeners, it’s about the gardens themselves’, current Head Gardener Paul Anderson thoughtfully surmises, admitting he and the team always look back to the past before any future redevelopment, ensuring they stay true to the original ideas and traditions they’ve inherited.

Through all the changes, our gardens still honour our founders, including Anne Jemima and Blanche Athena Clough, and Nora (Eleanor) Sidgwick (Principal 1920–23), all keen gardeners themselves, who were key to their development. The part near Old Hall is still laid out as it was by Anne Jemima, with many of the same paths and Irish yews still existing, while at least twothirds of the Arts and Crafts garden was laid out by Blanche Athena. Indeed, even the newest additions honour the traditions of the Arts and Crafts movement; the curved benches built from local materials by Cambridge Restoration in 2022 for the new peony garden, and the contemporary yet traditional ‘nest’ bench in the new ‘four seasons’ garden, which also has a distinctive Arts and Crafts feel to it, despite its modern aesthetic. The sense of continuity allows generations of alumnae always to feel like they are transported ‘home’ when visiting Newnham.

A chance to touch grass

Beyond the practical element of the gardens lies arguably the more, or at least equally important issue of wellbeing. It is very clear to see the influences of the time, in which outdoor space and nature were believed to elevate and enhance social consciousness, also reflected in

the personal sensibilities of Newnham pioneers, who shared a passion for the outdoors and its importance for one’s wellbeing. Thanks to these women who appreciated the restorative role in life that a garden plays, today the gardens remain a key focal point for our students’ welfare, both physical and mental.

Mental health is a critical component of student success and overall welfare, and our gardens provide a positive setting in which to promote a holistic and well-being culture  at College, including student clubs, a student permaculture garden, walks, yoga and gardening groups that all happen in and around our outdoor spaces. Discussions, debates and even supervisions are habitually conducted walking along the nut walk; exam revision and recuperation take place under shaded trees. Our current Principal Alison Rose often takes a brisk walk around the gardens during the day to renew her energy.

The accessibility of Newnham gardens is perhaps its greatest – and most unique – attribute amongst the University college gardens. An ethos that prevails today, as Paul confirms: ‘The informality of the gardens is at the heart of Newnham, in the sense that they are not just cloistered courtyards that you walk through (like many other colleges) but are here to be used and enjoyed, not just admired. It’s a proper garden for people to sit, study, picnic and socialise, allowing students to, in their own words, “touch grass”: disconnect from screens and reconnect with nature.’ A garden for all, a garden to be enjoyed, to provide sustenance both real and imagined

Opposite page: Artist and illustrator Sarah Beth Hsieh finds inspiration in visiting Newnham’s gardens

Courtesy of the artist, www.sarahbethhsieh.com

Newnham I (2004), by Juliette Losq (NC 1997)

Juliette writes: ‘As an undergraduate at Newnham, I had an exhibition in the Old Labs, which reignited an ambition to study and pursue a career in art. In 2004 I secured a place to study art at the University of the Arts, London and in the same year I had another show in the Old Labs, this time focusing on the gardens. I used them as a springboard to try out looser and more expressive techniques, drawing inspiration from the multitude of colours, textures and forms offered by their beautiful displays. This experimental show marked a move from working predominantly in portraiture to landscape, which has formed the basis of my work for the past twenty years.’

Courtesy of Juliette Losq

Why study humanities?

Mary Beard makes a passionate case for the study of humanities, and what it teaches us to do, arguing this is all the more important when democracy is under threat.

I came up to Newnham fifty years ago in 1973, and if someone had told me then that I would eventually be a Fellow, let alone an Honorary Fellow, I would have thought they were pulling my leg.

Many people now imagine I have always belonged in Cambridge, but I was the first person in my family to get a degree. When I arrived, I looked with wonder and horror at all those people around me who seemed to fit in so easily. It took me a year or so to realise that deep down almost everyone I met felt like an imposter. So, what did I learn as a student? I learnt to think harder than I had ever thought before, and to face up to questions that were more difficult than any I'd ever faced up to. If that sounds like hell, it wasn't because I had no doubt whatsoever that the people who were challenging me to think outside my comfort zone were 100% on my side: Joyce Reynolds and Pat Easterling, the first woman to be Regius Professor of Greek in Cambridge, didn’t let me get away with imagining that thinking and learning was always comfortable – and in the process they gave me a huge reservoir of resilience, for which I am eternally grateful.

I have gone on to teach other people to wrestle with the past. How do I explain why that is important? What is it that you learn? What are the pay-offs for society more generally?

I have no doubt that things are currently not going well in the humanities: declining enrolments in some subjects, funding cuts, an

underclass of precariously employed academic labour, the closing of some departments. And there is a common government view (not restricted to one party) that the humanities are a worthy optional extra, but aren't essential (or what a citizen needs to know about). There aren't many who think that Homer or Virgil should be cancelled, but there are quite a lot who think that Classics doesn't deserve public money. And that's a real danger.

Deep history going back to the ancient world can help us see where some modern assumptions and prejudices come from. We are still debating some of the big questions that were debated in the ancient world and whose terms of argument we still depend upon. But it goes beyond that. Classics can help us interrogate our own certainties – some of which are crudely based on the classical world itself.

A tiny but telling example would be the Latin phrase 'civis Romanus sum' (I am a Roman citizen), bandied around for hundreds of years as a proud slogan of citizens' rights and liberties, and most famously by John F. Kennedy in his Berlin speech in the middle of the Cold War: 'Two thousand years ago,' he said, 'the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!" ... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.'

I suspect that neither Kennedy nor his speechwriters knew where the phrase came from. For these were words repeatedly shouted

out by a Roman citizen dying on a cross, stripped of his civic rights and illegally crucified by a rogue Roman governor. 'You can't do this to me, I'm a Roman citizen' was his desperate plea. 'Oh yes we can' was the implied answer, and no one lifted a finger to help. The fact is that civic liberties are often most loudly claimed when they are being most undermined. And that is the complicated lesson that the classical story helps you get your head around. The study of the ancient world, in other words, here helps to critique our own deceptive certainties of the rights of the citizen, to expose the fault lines in taken-for-granted and over-quoted ‘truths’.

all (the quality of Virgil's poetry, the reasons for the decline of the Roman empire, etc.). And if you think that sounds rather airy-fairy, let me ask you what skills you think the democratic process depends upon. I hope you agree that it depends on debating issues for which we have inadequate evidence, and to which there is no right answer. Of course, some democratic questions do have right and wrong answers, but not all. The majority of the most important and divisive questions we face – about justice, morality, choice, judgement and so on – are among those that do not. But you have to learn how to talk and argue about them, and to learn that even when

‘ Some democratic questions have right and wrong answers, but the most important and divisive questions we face – about justice, morality, choice, judgement and so on – do not.’

Mary Beard

So what do we think Classics or the humanities in general teach us to do – not what do they teach us about , but to do ? Like many humanities disciplines, Classics teaches us to argue responsibly on the basis of inadequate evidence. Like all humanities disciplines, it teaches us to discuss productively questions to which there are no right answers, or answers in the common sense of the word at

there are no right answers, some answers and some arguments are better and more cogent than others. And those with whom you disagree are not necessarily wrong.

We're living at a time when democracy is looking pretty fragile; maybe it always has. But it seems to me that right now we need all that the humanities can teach us.

This feature is drawn from Professor Dame Mary Beard’s speech at a ceremony to mark her Honorary Fellowship at Newnham College in Michaelmas 2023.

Dasha

Tenditna

Akebono Kimura and 'An Exemplary Woman'

A work of fiction by a seventeen-year-old in Japan, published in 1889, shows a fascinating glimpse into how news from Newnham inspired the international imagination.

Akebono Kimura

Whether in the city or in the countryside, on Christmas Day everyone sang, full of joy. The towns and houses were beautifully decorated. Among them, there was one gateway that stood out from the rest. The buildings were also more striking than the others. This was Newnham, a women’s college of the University of Cambridge, one of the most renowned places in England. Many distinguished guests and young ladies were expected to gather on this special day, dressed in formal attire. A number of students were waiting by the gate to lead the way. They were talking and looking at the dresses of some of the guests.

A remarkable novel of 1889, Fujo no kagami (‘An Exemplary Woman’), features several chapters about the heroine’s time as a student at Newnham. She has snuck out of Japan to make it there, because her father has disowned her, believing false rumours that she dishonoured the family. Popular, beautiful and highly accomplished, Hideko Yoshikawa, known in England as Lily, is expected to come top of Tripos. This draws the ire of her jealous friend Catherine, who arranges to have Lily hurt in a hitand-run carriage incident so she herself can be the centre of attention at the College Christmas party. Despite being seriously hurt, Lily turns up to receive a medal from the Principal, who declares:

Wikimedia/public domain

Miss Hideko Yoshikawa, a student who has recently come here from Japan, has not missed a single class since she entered College, and has excelled in both her studies and in the arts. She is now graduating from the College ahead of time. In the final examinations, she was awarded an honour that no woman has yet achieved in England. This is not only an honour for her, but also an honour for our College among all the other colleges. It is very impressive and, to show our appreciation, we are awarding her a medal at this Christmas party. I hope she will cherish it as a lasting memorial to her achievement.

Urged by her friends to take revenge on Catherine, Lily instead shows kindness to her, showing that forgiveness is more powerful than anger. ‘It became known all over England that Lily had been awarded a medal. What’s more, news of her compassion spread, and even children playing in the streets began to sing a song about it.’ After her studies, Lily goes to the United States to work in the textile industry, and comes back to Japan to set up a worker-friendly factory.

The author, Akebono Kimura, never left Japan. Born Eiko Okamoto in 1872, she was only seventeen years old when her novel was serialised in a Japanese newspaper in thirtythree parts. She had graduated from the Girls’ High School attached to Tokyo Women’s Normal School the year before. The school was the first public school for girls in Japan, founded in 1872. Before that, in 1870, American missionaries had founded two girls’ high schools, which later became private universities for women.

To tap into this market of intelligent, interested women, the first women’s magazine, Jogaku Zasshi (‘Education of Women Magazine’), started in 1885. Its coverage of Newnham may have inspired Akebono. In two articles in

February 1888, an anonymous ‘female student’ describes Newnham’s magnificent red-brick buildings, beautiful gardens, and location at ten minutes’ walk from King’s. The article mentions Miss Clough and Miss Gladstone, and describes the students’ lifestyles in a typical day. As well as reading about Newnham, Akebono knew people who had studied abroad, such as her headmaster, who had been to Cambridge.

Lily’s academic achievement appears to be modelled on that of Agnata Ramsay, the Girton student who beat all the male students in her year to come top of Tripos. Her story was covered in Jogaku Zasshi in a series of news stories in 1887–8, and she was held up in an editorial as a model for Japanese students.

Akebono Kimura would have loved to study abroad herself, but her father would not allow it. Instead, he arranged a marriage for her, though she was soon divorced. She went to work in her father’s business (he owned twenty restaurants specialising in beef hotpot, then a novelty in Japan). Lily’s student life, and her career as a successful textile entrepreneur and benefactor, is her fantasy of the life she dreamed of living. Tragically, Akebono died of tuberculous peritonitis in 1890, aged just eighteen. But her fiction, and the magazine’s news coverage, may have inspired Japanese students to apply to Newnham. The first Japanese student to matriculate was Tano Jodai (NC 1925), who came to Newnham as a mature postgraduate student (using the English name Hilda) after studying English in the United States. She later became President of Japan Women’s University, Tokyo.

Based on research and translations by Aki Katayama; with thanks to Eve Lacey. The parts of Fujo no kagami set at Newnham have been translated for the College Archive by Aki Katayama. This text is available for students, alumnae and researchers to consult in Newnham College Library or Archives. Please contact Eve Lacey for further information at librarian@newn.cam.ac.uk.

Teaching and Research

Surprise at Shanidar

Interview by Eleni Kanellas

When I meet with Dr Emma Pomeroy , it is with a background of a flurry of headlines surrounding the BBC/Netflix documentary ‘Secrets of the Neanderthals’, based on her work at Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. The findings, most notably the discovery of the 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal Shanidar Z, have captured the public’s imagination, elevating Emma, somewhat reluctantly, into the spotlight. Her research has made news headlines around the world.

The project at Shanidar was never intended to uncover new Neanderthal remains, but to reexamine and enhance the original excavations made in the 1950s. An unforeseen and exciting turn of events ensued; a theme which seems to mark Emma’s career and personal life. Her career path has not been straightforward, but this background enables her to offer inspirational insights into the benefits of taking risks, being open, seizing opportunities and allowing yourself to fail.

Growing up near Canterbury, Emma was fascinated by its Roman and medieval ruins, excavations and rich cultural heritage. A little girl who would go into the garden to ‘dig up bones from the roast dinners’, Emma’s passions started early. She was the proud owner of a toy skeleton, which reminded me of Jane Goodall and her childhood toy chimpanzee (and note to myself that I must be very careful indeed when choosing gifts for my two-year-old daughter from now on).

Emma came to Cambridge to study Archaeology and Anthropology, in her words, as a ‘tangible way of studying history, working with things you can touch and interact with, and getting close to the actual people who lived in the past’. She credits the breadth of the early stages of her degree with allowing her to explore where her interests lay and recommends others ‘take a bit of a chance, especially early on, as you never really know what you may discover’.

After graduating with a Double First, Emma temped, with no real goal and an underlying fear of failure or at least of not reaching her potential. Her early career was an explorative, and often anxious, time. Looking back on this, particularly in her current role as a postgraduate mentor, she is passionate about the need to talk openly with young people and make sure they know it is okay to be brave and try things out, to take

your time and be willing to fail. ‘Ultimately no experience is wasted because it will all teach you something valuable – about yourself, about life and the world of work, how people are treated and how to treat people, and what you are really interested in.’

With that open mindset, Emma progressed to an MA in Osteoarcheology at the University of Southampton, employment in medical research and commercial archaeology, a PhD in Biological Anthropology, a Junior Research Fellowship at Newnham and a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship at Cambridge and then Liverpool John Moores University, where she also lectured. Returning to Cambridge, she was in the right place at the right time when the offer arrived to join Professor Graeme Barker’s expedition to Shanidar Cave.

Famous from the earlier work of Ralph Solecki in the 1950s, the cave was known as a site where Neanderthals repeatedly returned to lay their dead to rest, which suggested their compassion and care for one another; a retelling of the longheld narrative of their being primitive and brutal. For Emma, the opportunity was a privilege and a ‘pinch me moment’, but ‘the expectation was never to find any new substantial remains, I was just thrilled to work on a little part of a Neanderthal from Shanidar the team had already found’. However, in 2016, as she was dry sieving through the backfill, Emma found some hand bones which led the team to locate more substantial new remains. In 2018, when part of an eye socket and the rest of a skull emerged, clearly distinguishable as Neanderthal, the possibilities of what they had discovered started to reveal themselves.

It took years of painstaking work to recover and analyse what they had found. ‘The skull was in such bad condition, completely squashed to a

Opposite page: A still from the film showing the view looking out from Shanidar Cave Secrets of the Neanderthals /Netflix

Opposite page inset: Dr Emma Pomeroy with the reconstructed skull of Shanidar Z BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds

few centimetres at most. You have no idea at that point what you are going to able to do with it, when you are struggling to even get it out of the ground. Certainly, the idea of a reconstruction seemed a long shot at this point.’

Back in the lab, in what can only be imagined as akin to solving the world’s most challenging jigsaw puzzle, hundreds of fragments of bone were cleaned, strengthened and put back together by lead conservator Dr Lucía López-Polín. The rebuilt skull was scanned and 3D-printed, forming the basis of a reconstructed head created by palaeoartists Adrie and Alfons Kennis, who built up layers of fabricated muscle and skin to reveal a face. It was this face, the face of 75,000-year-old Shanidar Z, that has so captured the public imagination.

So how must it have felt to have a TV company take over and dramatise your meticulous research? ‘As academics it can be easy to be critical, but I think we need to understand we are not the audience’, Emma explains, and she says the production team did a good job. Whilst she admits it was a leap of faith, the researchers were given opportunities to offer their insights and the production team worked closely with knowledgeable advisers including Professor Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum, ‘one of the gods of human evolution’ according to Emma, and Becky Wragg-Sykes, author of the ‘amazing’ book Kindred on Neanderthal life.

So, what’s next for Emma, and how might she use some of this newfound ‘fame’? Emma has always loved outreach and public events to share research with the wider public and to inspire a new generation. ‘I want kids to feel as excited about an academic subject as I did as a child. I believe in strengthening the connection between universities and the public, so we’re not seen as an “ivory tower".’

Ultimately, however, she sees her future as ‘sitting in a lab somewhere with some bones’. ‘There is so much more to be done’, she exclaims passionately, not least revealing more about

Shanidar Z and her life, how she and those whose remains were found with her were treated in death, and the transition and parallels between Neanderthals and modern human use of Shanidar Cave, ultimately trying to find out why one disappeared and the other prospered.

Emma is happy to have returned to Newnham as a Fellow, alongside her position as University Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology. She sees Newnham as key to her story, especially her time as a Junior Research Fellow, without which she doubts she would have been able to continue in academia. ‘There is an incredible Newnham legacy within the Department of Archaeology itself: Dorothy Garrod travelled to Baghdad to offer Solecki her expertise on his Shanidar findings in the ’50s. Newnham women were really foundational in the field.’ This legacy felt inspirational, exciting and at times intimidating to Emma. While ‘imposter syndrome’ still has a hold over women, despite Emma’s achievements, an environment like Newnham remains relevant and important: ‘Newnham has been at the forefront of changing society in terms of how women are seen and what our opportunities are. It is amazingly inspiring to see women at the top of their game doing exciting things, acting as role models and offering advice and support.’

Opposite page – top: The skull of Shanidar Z, flattened by thousands of years of sediment and rock fall, in situ in Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan

Photo: Graeme Barker

Opposite page – inset: Members of Ralph Solecki’s team, Dr T. Dale Stewart (right) and Jacques Bordaz (left) at Shanidar Cave in 1960, working on removing the remains of Shanidar 4 (the ‘flower burial’) en bloc . This block of sediment was later found to also contain the partial remains of 3 more individuals

Photograph with kind permission by Ralph Solecki

Opposite page – bottom: Dr Emma Pomeroy from Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology, and the recreated head of Shanidar Z

Photo: Secrets of the Neanderthals /Netflix

Pushing the boundaries

Professor Jenny Morton is a pioneer of scientific research in the best Newnham tradition. The first woman ever appointed in the Pharmacology Department at Cambridge, facing opposition from a Head of Department who didn’t approve of working women, she has gone on to become a world-renowned scientist who has dedicated her life to fighting a cruel and complex disease.

Photos by Dasha Tenditna

Jenny’s driving commitment has kept her going through three decades of research on Huntington’s disease (HD), as she painstakingly worked to advance understanding of this devastating genetic neurological disease. Jenny describes its symptoms as like having a movement disorder, Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia all rolled into one. It is fatal, with limited treatment and currently no cure. And although relatively rare, it runs in families, which means people have firsthand experience of what is in store. All of this has spurred Jenny on. ‘If ever I had an off day, I would think, "at least I don’t have Huntington’s disease", and off I would go to the lab. Every day that you don’t put in a good effort is a day that you’re not helping people,’ she said.

A chance encounter at a conference in Cardiff inspired Jenny’s dedication, when at lunch

she sat beside a woman who was nursing her husband through HD, had already lost several family members, and feared for her three sons: only two had been diagnosed, but she knew the third would have Huntington’s as well. ‘She could tell. She said, “I’ve lived with this for a long time, and people get symptoms way earlier than the motor symptoms that are used to diagnose.”’

Jenny said, ‘All the way home I thought about what this woman had said, and when I got back to Cambridge, I went to the library to find out more. I knew from this conversation that it was a really horrible disease, but for me, as a scientist, it also turned out to be a fascinating one.’

A genetic conundrum

When the gene that causes HD was identified in 1993, scientists expected that they would figure out what causes it quite quickly. But this was not the case. Not only did the gene code for a completely unknown protein, but the mutation itself was of a new kind – an expansion of a normal part of the DNA.

There is a part of the HD gene that is called a CAG repeat expansion. The length of the repeat is variable, even in normal people; one person may have a repeat of 14, another person 20 and a third 28 repeats, and all will be normal. But if the expansion gets to 42 or above then that person will get Huntington’s disease. ‘We still don’t understand why that happens,’ said Jenny. ‘But we do know that the mutant gene is very unstable. In the brains of HD patients it becomes longer and longer, and this probably causes the neurodegeneration.’

The good thing was that because the gene had been identified and because it was dominant (which means if you have the gene, you get the disease), scientists could develop animal models to replicate and study HD. Jenny began studying mouse models, but later moved to studying Huntington’s in sheep, whose longevity and brain size makes them better models for human biology.

Legacy of progress

Jenny spent many years figuring out how to quantify complex behaviours in these species. Behavioural testing is an essential precursor to developing treatments, because you need to have a measure of effectiveness. ‘I was much more interested in cognitive function than the movement abnormalities, because cognitive decline is what patients care about most. When you can’t make decisions you have to stop working, and that is usually the beginning of the end-stage.’

There were no behavioural tests for a sheep’s cognitive function, so Jenny created them. Thanks to this innovative system, her team has made incredible breakthroughs – and hit international news headlines in 2017 when they showed that sheep can recognise human faces, including Barack Obama's. In the experiments, a sheep is taught to recognise a stimulus like a coloured letter or a face. If they remember this correctly, they are rewarded. When the test is made more difficult, the neurologically normal sheep adapt and learn the new stimulus, but the sheep carrying the HD gene struggle.

Alongside these experiments, Jenny has a particular interest in the role of sleep and circadian dysfunction in neurological disease.

‘My group was the first ever to describe abnormal sleep in people with Huntington’s disease. Now it is acknowledged that sleep disorder is a big part of it.’

Her work has brought Jenny recognition. She is one of a distinguished and relatively small group of female scientists with their own Wikipedia page and was awarded a DSc (Doctor of Science) from the University of Cambridge for her outstanding research. She says that working with a dedicated research community and patients has seen her through the intellectual challenges and sometime frustrations of medical research.

Pushing the boundaries

Born and raised in New Zealand, Jenny completed her PhD at the University of Otago. Her drive saw her through early battles in her career, as the first woman ever appointed in Pharmacology at Cambridge. ‘The Head of Department at the time did not approve of women working and thought that women with children definitely shouldn’t work. So I had quite a hard time in the early years, trying to set up a lab and raise a young family.’

She is open about the compromises required.

‘Some people say you can have it all, but I tell my students that of the three big things – work, children and a "life" – most of us can only have two at a time. So, you can work and have kids, but not expect to have a wild social life as well.’

Jenny’s two sons are both dancers who trained at the Royal Ballet School and now live in Australia. When she was establishing her lab and writing lectures, she recalls, ‘I would pick them up from nursery, turn into Mummy, and then when they went to bed I would sit down to work again from 8 to 11pm. And hope that nobody got sick. We worked at weekends too: my husband (also a scientist) and I used to take turns going to the lab on Saturday or Sunday mornings. When the kids leave home, you can have your life back!’

Fellow feeling

Despite the challenges, Jenny persevered and has been particularly grateful for the Fellowship at Newnham. ‘I have loved and value my time at Newnham. In the early days, Newnham was a refuge from the Department. Onora [O’Neill, former Principal] was amazing to me. She was supportive and sympathetic, but also pragmatic because she had been through similar challenges in Philosophy twenty years earlier. She told me some very funny stories and her wisdom was invaluable. I would go to lunch despairing sometimes, and then leave cheered and thinking, oh, well, maybe it’s not so bad...’

She found the Fellowship stimulating, with a wide range of experience and opinions. ‘I loved being part of a community of intelligent women, and made some very good friends.’ The beautiful gardens also hooked Jenny straight away and she spent more than thirty years on the Gardens Committee, latterly as Chair. She served as Secretary of Governing Body too and enjoyed hearing the diverse opinions, which ‘broadened my outlook considerably’.

‘Every day that you don't put in a good effort is a day that you're not helping people.’

Professor

Jenny Morton

The greatest part of her Newnham connection has been as College Lecturer and Director of Studies in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Jenny taught Pharmacology to nearly all of the Newnham medical and veterinary students since 1991 and directed the studies of over 300 medics and 80 vets.

While sad to lose her contact with students, Jenny will be busy completing her Leverhulmefunded research on dingoes before retiring as Cambridge Professor of Neurobiology later this year. She is not giving up her HD work quite yet: in the short term she will remain on the board of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, and the editorial board of the Journal of Huntington’s Disease . She is also not leaving College: having been elected a Fellow Emerita, Jenny plans to return to Newnham as often as her new adventures will allow.

Microscopy slides showing sections of HD mouse brain

Mind over matter

Newnham postgraduate students carry out worldclass research which has a real impact. In our cluster of medical and biological research centres in Cambridge, students from across the world bring a range of experience to explore global challenges. They greatly benefit from our inter-disciplinary focus, which emphasises the exchange of ideas to help stimulate new thinking. Whether harnessing new technology to grow ‘organoids’ or focusing on symptoms of chronic head injury to inform physiotherapy, their research is helping to unlock the mysteries of the human brain, writes Postgraduate Tutor Dr Kate Fleet.

Top:Nuzli Karam

Above: Hamda Hassan Background image: A brain organoid at 267 days development

Nuzli Karam is a bioengineer completing the third year of her PhD, working to design and make implantable devices to monitor brain development.

I work with brain organoids: developing foetal brains which are essentially ‘mini-brains’ grown in the lab from stem cells. My undergraduate degree was in aerospace engineering but when I learned about this it was the most fascinating thing I had ever heard, so I changed direction. It is electronics that interfaces with biology – bioelectronics – and I am looking at tools to pick up neural development. The aim of my research is making a device that can remain in situ as the organoid develops. My supervisor, Professor Madeleine Lancaster of the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and her lab are looking at answering fundamental questions, such as how we have developed as a species. This is the first time we have been able to open up human brain development for such close study.

The lab looks at brain evolution and has developed new ways to look at perennial questions, including ‘why is the human brain so big compared to primate brains?’ It’s to do with an early cell shape transition which we were able to see for the first time with an organoid. The lab has found a way to slice organoids to avoid a necrotic core (scar tissue) developing and I have created these devices that are so delicate – smaller than a human hair, made from gold and inert polymers – and they can remain in situ for up to a year to monitor the organoid as it develops. The devices are really promising; I can’t see any cell death where they were on the organoid.

Through the devices we can see when the organoids’ neural populations start to fire and become more complex as they develop. We undertook an experiment looking at circadian rhythms and saw spikes and falls of neural activity over 24 hours, showing circadian rhythms exist in human cerebral brain organoids for the first time.

Hamda Hassan researched head injuries as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, focusing on persistent symptoms she saw working as a physiotherapist in Somalia.

In rehabilitation I mainly dealt with people who had head injuries and a lot of them would not get better after a certain point: having dizziness, noise sensitivity and other persistent symptoms. I collected as many of my patients’ records as I could with this similar pattern, and started to look on the internet for help. That’s when I came across the work of Dr Virginia Newcombe, a research clinician and honorary consultant at Cambridge and emailed her. She was happy to talk and then invited me to apply to the University to work with her team.

She was my supervisor for the MPhil, where I developed a core outcome set to standardise how symptoms could be measured after mild traumatic brain injuries. It’s a grey area what happens to people and who is best placed to treat them; they can be referred from place to place without a plan. If the standardised method were adopted we would be able to get a much more accurate view of long-term outcomes.

The MasterCard Foundation have supported me with an amazing programme, including courses with the Cambridge Institute for Leadership and Sustainability. I also won a place through them for a summer school at Sciences Po in Paris, with language and research workshops. They really took great care of us.

And my tutor, Debby Banham, is amazing: she’s so wise and supportive.

Now I am working on a PhD in a project that my supervisor is also leading, developing an app for patients to use to track their symptoms. It will include exercises that they can do to help; and I should be able to validate those exercises and put in the ones that work. I would like to take my findings back to help patients in Somalia. It was where I made my first attempt at research; they allowed me to have their records to study when I didn’t know anything at all.

Riding the waves

In her electrical engineering degree at Swansea University, Dr Stephanie Adeyemo developed a love for semiconductors that has shaped her academic career and helped her advance in a field that will unlock new areas for technological innovation.

From long to short wavelengths, we interact with different types of waves every day, such as radio waves and microwaves used in communication and cooking, and the infrared, visible light and ultraviolet rays that make up sunlight. These different waves along with terahertz, X-rays and gamma rays make up the electromagnetic spectrum. Dr Stephanie Adeyemo combines novel semiconductor nanomaterials and antennas to develop highly sensitive devices that will improve the detection of terahertz waves.

Above: Stephanie in the lab

The energy of terahertz waves is very small, says Stephanie, and lies between microwave and infrared regions on the electromagnetic spectrum. The terahertz region used to be difficult to harness, but with the substantial advancement of technology in the past decade, the field is growing rapidly, and terahertz technologies are now entering real-world applications. For example, terahertz scanners are already being used at some airports to detect weapons.

Stephanie’s research aims to develop detectors that can show a wider bandwidth in the terahertz region to underpin future technological progress: enabling a new era of high-speed terahertz communication for 6G technology, as well as safer, non-destructive medical imaging and security technologies.

‘The anticipated surge in data traffic in the near future has prompted the exploration of innovative solutions for wireless communication. The microwave frequencies used in 5G communication today lie just below the terahertz band, and now there is a great interest in terahertz communication for 6G technology and beyond, key to delivering high data rates with extreme speed, and ready to be deployed by 2030 and beyond.’

Good foundations

From secondary school, Stephanie was very keen to pursue an engineering career. She attended engineering fairs and workshops in Nigeria where she met several engineers and discovered more about different engineering disciplines. After schooling in Nigeria and Benin, Stephanie moved to the UK to join her sister at Swansea University, where she started a foundation year in general engineering that provided a seamless transition to being an undergraduate, which she found ‘hugely valuable’.

‘I loved mathematics and physics very much, so I went on to study electrical engineering hoping not to come across too much chemistry. Unexpectedly, I encountered some chemistry in my semiconductor module that made me spend extra studying time to carefully understand it, which then sparked my curiosity and ended up with me falling in love with semiconductors!’

Stephanie went on to do a PhD at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. She dived into using terahertz spectroscopy to understand the fundamental optical and electronic processes occurring within semiconductor nanomaterials to improve their performance in solar cells and photodetectors. Below:

As the Constance Work Junior Research Fellow at Newnham, she is now making use of these semiconductor nanomaterials she studied in her PhD as the building blocks of her terahertz detector. Stephanie is focused on improving the bandwidth performance of terahertz detectors that are sensitive to polarisation (the direction in which the terahertz wave travels). Currently, this terahertz detector has a limited detection bandwidth covering only one-third of the terahertz band. ‘It is important to detect the entire terahertz band with a polarisation-sensitive detector as it allows us to exploit and maximise all the advantageous features of the terahertz region. For example, some molecules called enantiomers function differently from each other but have structures that are mirror images of each other with detectable fingerprints in the terahertz region. Such enantiomers can be distinguished from each other by detecting a difference in their absorption of polarised light.’

In the end, her terahertz detector will be used to develop a high-speed terahertz camera suited for high-resolution imaging technologies in medical, sensing and security applications. Proactively, Stephanie has founded Cambridge Terahertz Network to bring together terahertz researchers across the University and city to discuss challenges and progress in the terahertz field: there are five different research groups and a spin-off company in Cambridge.

In January 2025 Stephanie takes up a Royal Society Career Development Fellowship at the University of Cambridge: a four-year, postdoctoral research fellowship with research funding and a comprehensive programme of mentoring, training and networking opportunities to establish a successful research career in the UK, during which she will continue her research to engineer these next-generation terahertz detection technologies. She hopes to keep in touch with Newnham. ‘It’s been so very welcoming and supportive, not hierarchical at all,’ she said.

Constance Work ( Edgar , NC 1930) (1912–1998)

Stephanie Adeyemo is the current Constance Work Research Fellow at Newnham, and her research is supported by Constance’s legacy to the College, given ‘to assist in the awarding of Research Fellowships in any branch of science’. Born in India to Canadian parents, Constance was educated in Bath before coming up to Newnham in 1930 to study Natural Sciences, and she completed a PhD in London in 1937. During the War she worked as a research chemist at ICI Plastics. Her major scientific work, at University College Hospital and the Pasteur Institute, Paris, was on the metabolism of bacteria. She isolated a novel substance, unique for bacteria, which interacts with cell walls, leading to a new understanding of how penicillin works on the surface of bacteria. Her Roll Letter obituary said that ‘she always considered herself a biochemist and was particularly interested in this field that was just opening up. This afforded her the opportunity to use her wealth of research experience and significant intellect to maximum advantage.’

Constance Work

‘The critical conversation is our lab’

Philosophy is a subject in which the supervision process is especially important, because debating the big questions is central to how the discipline has evolved, from life and death to hate speech and AI. Friends, colleagues and former PhD supervisor and student, Professorial Fellow Rae Langton and Bye-Fellow Dr Claire Benn , sat down for a wide-ranging dialogue about the joys and challenges of teaching philosophy.

Rae Langton (left) and Claire Benn (right)

Rae In many ways, the supervision model is especially good for philosophy. Think of Socratic dialogue; philosophy has always been about learning to think in response to other people’s perspectives, other critical voices. I lecture on Descartes’s Meditations , which is written in a conversational style, even though he’s all by himself playing the different personae testing his argument: the self-critical voice, the naïve, the sceptic, the defender of common sense. And his work is all about the questioning of prejudice, so I’m especially happy to teach it to first years because philosophy makes you step back and think hard about the things that you had taken for granted.

Claire I think that’s one of the big challenges of philosophy when teaching, that nothing is off the table to be questioned and we start by taking apart a lot of the assumptions that students arrive with. I think some students, and I definitely did, feel a little lost because the foundations have been removed from you, especially when you do epistemology and you realise that the more you learn the less you know. And some students can become radical sceptics, knocking everything down and refusing to propose anything because whatever you can propose can be challenged. Building students back up to establish foundations is a key part of our job.

Rae We have a lot of philosophy events at Newnham as the current home of the Moral Sciences Club and guests from other subjects sometimes say, ‘Wow, you guys are very aggressive with each other, why can’t you be nicer?’ And that idea of the confrontational culture within philosophy hasn’t helped with recruiting more women: it’s still one woman for every five men, so I’m especially proud that we have terrific women at Newnham. But those conversations that look like they are critical and aggressive are testing our ideas, and absolutely vital. I remember Professor Helen Beebee [of the

British Philosophical Association] saying ‘the critical conversation is our lab’. Philosophy is an activity and it’s best done in a particular kind of probing conversation, or if alone, like Descartes, it needs to have a critical perspective brought to it.

Claire That’s actually one of the key skills we teach students. We constantly remind them to consider all the possible objections to their argument. In the supervision we say to them, OK, I can push back on this now and deepen your argument, but I want you to learn to play the role of the supervisor in your own thinking. When it’s done well, you allow students not to be afraid of criticism but to confront the weakest part of their argument. Students often worry, what if I find out that my argument doesn’t work? And that is one of the best possible outcomes: you were the most convinced about X, and if you find something that convinces even you that X is not the case, then you have the best argument that it’s not true, because you’ve considered all the possible arguments for and against it. That is a feature, not a bug, of the system.

Rae There have been a lot of changes in the philosophy syllabus in the last ten, twenty years. Claire and I are working on topics that philosophers 100 years ago didn’t talk about. And in fact, our students are fascinated by these topics. My paper on speech acts in pornography is part of our political philosophy course; and my research on hate speech explores how language and politics work and fit together and how certain uses of language can convey prejudice in all kinds of background ways which go under the radar.

Claire Philosophy can have the appearance of being old-fashioned and out of touch, or our work is all theory and no action. The exact opposite is true; philosophy is often concerned explicitly with things that are of deep concern to

people. My work now is primarily in the ethics of AI. Almost every fundamental issue about large language models and ChatGPT comes back to philosophy: what is truth – epistemology; how we learn from each other and what structures in society generate knowledge – social epistemology; how we should design intelligent machines that are integrated with our values –ethics; the possibility of creating other sentient beings – philosophy of mind. Philosophers have never been needed more than they are right now.

Rae And philosophy looks outward: almost everyone in our faculty is working with people in other disciplines. It might be a logician who’s working with mathematics, someone in ethics working with medicine, or Claire working with computer scientists and others. Part of the reason is that for every subject, there’s a philosophy of that subject, and we love exploring the conceptual frontiers.

Claire It doesn’t matter what subject you study or if you don’t study anything, almost every person I come across is interested in some philosophical question.

Rae And that comes through in the admissions process. We don’t expect our incoming students to have done any philosophy beforehand, though some will be doing the A-level. But you can always get them to think hard about a question in philosophy, and part of the interest and challenge of the interview process is to think of something that is going to get their philosophical juices flowing. It might be an ethical problem, or it might be whether other people see colours in the same way as you. There are so many essential questions that even children ask that philosophers explore, and we get to pick the students who are going to love philosophy because they have such a curiosity.

Claire Philosophers are open, exploratory and

creative. In ethics we use thought experiments to imagine possible situations. Students can make a contribution to thinking through these from the very start. That made me fall in love with it at sixteen years old, it was the first time someone said, your voice in this matters as much as all the dead people that you’re reading. I’ve never thought of myself as a creative person. You couldn’t distinguish my art from my five-yearold’s art. But here was a place where somehow the imagination can come alive, where you play with ideas and people’s responses, explore potential futures.

Rae I work in the history of philosophy. I love diving into the past, and that’s also an exercise in imagination, in empathy, getting under the skin of what can seem like a very different way of seeing the world, but also seeing what we’ve got in common with them. I think we’re really lucky. Everyone has thought about something that is a philosophical topic and we have the luxury to be able to dive into those questions in more detail, which is tremendous fun.

Can the law save the world?

Dr Liana Minkova ’s postdoctoral research project explores accountability mechanisms for environmental destruction in international law and the proposed new crime of ecocide. She argues that the law can be a key tool to save us from environmental disaster.

Rounds of interstate discussions and painstakingly negotiated UN agreements may one day be augmented by further laws and routes to hold countries and other actors to account for environmental harm. Dr Liana Minkova is investigating how individual persons and states can be held accountable, alongside non-state actors such as oil companies.

Her interest in environmental justice was sparked by one of the big topics in the field, a proposed criminalisation of ecocide, as the fifth international crime. While international lawyers and non-governmental organisations have proposed different definitions of ecocide, the term is generally considered to denote severe damage to the natural environment taking place on a mass scale and/or with long-term impact. If criminalised, ecocide would provide a tool for holding individual persons responsible for such actions. Liana’s research as Kathleen Hughes Research Fellow at Newnham is a progression of her PhD focus on the work of the International Criminal Court, in which she explored how such laws are construed in practice, defining the boundaries of what are considered the gravest acts.

‘I am comparing accountability mechanisms, how they are presented in international governance and the political implications. My goal is to expand the conversation, because a lot of the time scholars tend to focus piecemeal on a particular principle or element: reparations, environmental harm or other concepts. I am looking at the big picture, using comparative research as a foundation for a discussion of the idea of accountability,’ she said.

States have the right to invoke the responsibility of other states if they allege that another has caused environmental harm. In one successful case, Australia took Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for breaching a moratorium on whaling. In another, the Philippines alleged China had violated its obligations towards all other

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in Den Haag, 2018

countries by harming the marine environment in the South China Sea.

Symbolic value

In terms of sanctions, the ICJ has ordered reparations for environmental damages only once, in 2018, for harm suffered by Costa Rica after Nicaragua cut down close to 300 trees and cleared more than six hectares of vegetation. The court made a declaration of wrongfulness, but awarded only $120,000. ‘It was not much; the court was criticised for not really explaining how the judges arrived at their calculation’, Liana said. ‘So there are still questions surrounding the impact of declaring a state is responsible for environmental harm. But at least it has symbolic value and it affirms environmental principles.’

Accountability mechanisms for non-state actors such as companies and individuals are similarly limited. In practice, Liana said, the only cases leading to compensation awards have been for spills while shipping oil overseas. Others, such as the Deepwater Horizon [oil drilling] disaster, for instance, do not fall under the civil liability regime.

‘We have international institutions, but states usually don’t like to be constrained too much by international law, so we often end up with very narrow regimes reflecting the interests of states in a specific area.’

‘Now is really the time to be talking about those questions. We cannot afford to delay any longer.’

Dr Liana Minkova

Ecocide and jurisdiction

A ray of hope, Liana believes, is emerging consensus around definitions of ecocide which have been tailored to match the language of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for the purpose of being incorporated into international law. Even then, for a particular definition to have a chance to be included in the statute of the ICC will require a lot of states to support it, which might take quite a while.

There is a further debate over whether the ICC is the appropriate institution for pursuing environmental justice. Given its remit to investigate crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity, some are concerned the ICC will not have the resources to also address environmental crimes, or may tackle only one or two symbolic cases rather than offering a comprehensive system of accountability.

‘On the other hand,’ says Liana, ‘I under-stand the arguments that some of the campaigners make, that it is much easier to rely on an existing institution than set up a whole new one. When states actually start debating this proposal in the Assembly of States Parties, it will probably be one of the main questions.’

The ICC announced plans two years ago to complete new policies on environmental crimes in 2025, and the Prosecutor made an open call

for expert opinions. Liana submitted a paper to the court drawing on some of the insights from her postdoctoral research. Another paper published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice considers socio-legal questions such as whether limitless growth can be ‘sustainable’ and the pretence of objective rationality when deciding whose interests to prioritise.

‘I also look at whether the perpetrator intended the crime or acted recklessly and the challenges the court might face in establishing this with respect to environmental harm, which is usually a by-product of other activities, as well as the precautionary principle – risk management before taking action when there is a lack of scientific consensus on potential harm – and the challenges of incorporating insights from that.

‘In some ways, in terms of the damage going

on, this feels quite high level. But it could be one of the mechanisms by which we finally do get a grip on this and compel states to take climate change more seriously. Treaties and capacitybuilding have been the main focus, but there is an important role for legal accountability.’

Liana, who is from Velingrad in Bulgaria, this year became a Teaching Associate in the Department of Politics and International Studies in Cambridge and Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, though she remains affiliated to Newnham as a Postdoctoral Affiliate and Director of Studies for Lent 2025. ‘Newnham is such an amazing community, and when I see how the Governing Body and committees work, I feel like it’s a very efficient system. Well, it’s a college run by women, so I guess they are efficient at multi-tasking!’

Dr Kathleen Hughes (1926–1977)

The Kathleen Hughes Research Fellowship held by Liana Minkova is named in honour of Dr Kathleen Hughes (1926–1977), Newnham Fellow, College Lecturer and Director of Studies in History (1955–77), University Lecturer in the Early History and Culture of the British Isles and appointed not long before her early death as the first Nora Chadwick Reader in Celtic Studies.

An undergraduate and graduate student at Bedford College, London, she developed a lifelong interest in Old Irish and Irish history and published several important books and articles in the field. Her friend and colleague Dorothy Whitelock wrote: ‘Her death at the age of fifty is a sad loss for Celtic studies. Her influence will last long, not only from her writings, but from what she gave to students and to numbers of scholars who consulted her and received generous help and counsel. She gave warm affection and understanding to an amazing number of academic and non-academic friends of all ages.’

Dorothy Hahn

Opposite page:

photo by

Milly March

Dr Kathleen Hughes

The Alumnae Year

Highlights of the Alumnae Year

2023

SEPTEMBER

The Medics and Vets Connect event re-inspired and delighted former Medicine and Veterinary Medicine students from Newnham. Organised by Professor Jenny Morton and Development Director Sarah Carthew, the conference featured fourteen speakers on subjects from AI in breast cancer imaging, to working in politics, to drug dependency in prisons.

The London Alumnae Group hosted a lively drinks evening at The Anthologist in the City.

The Principal’s Circle evening for top-level donors included a talk by PhD student Constanza Leeb (NC 2021) on the subject of ‘Me, Myself and AI: AI Augmentation in the Workplace’ and a beautiful recital by mezzo-soprano Katherine Gregory (NC 2020).

The USA Committee welcomed Wei Bi, a secondyear PhD student and the winner of the 2023 Travel Bursary, who worked on an engineering project at Princeton University. During her stay she visited Committee members and alumnae in New York, Washington DC and Boston.

The annual Newnham Conversation featured Fellow Emerita and former Director of Studies in History Dr Gill Sutherland and Honorary Fellow Professor Mary-Beth Norton, making the case for History, arguing that ‘a healthy society needs to know about its past’. Mary-Beth Norton shared her own research on the context for the Salem witch trials to underline the importance of historical enquiry for better understanding the past. Dr Gill Sutherland pointed to the paradox that there was a growth in interest in History shown by demand for historical podcasts, dramas, films and fiction while History research funding is being cut.

During the University’s annual Alumni Weekend , 145 alumnae who matriculated in 1968, 1983, 1993, 2002 and 2003 returned to College for the reunion dinner in Clough Hall. During the weekend, Fellow Dr Sam Lucy (NC 1991) gave a talk on the Trumpington Cross Burial.

The Young Alumnae Committee relaunched its mentorship programme offering support to final year students as they begin to transfer from college life to their next chapter.

The annual Newnham College Telephone Campaign took place . Our wonderful student callers raised £200,000, with over 250 generous alumnae pledging a gift.

OCTOBER

The Family Forum discussed ‘The promise and peril of social media in the family’. Emma Hardy, Communications Director of the Internet Watch Foundation, gave a hard-hitting talk on the subject.

In 2023–4 the Cambridge Group has: puzzled over Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders; briefly discussed Hope is Daffodil Bright by Zoe Jasko and spent longer discussing (a) how a murderer should best dispose of a body and (b) the eating habits of goats; enjoyed At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock by Jane Davis; and explored The Future by Naomi Alderman with fascinating insights from Dr Claire Benn about the ethics and limitations of artificial intelligence; listened to three hugely entertaining life stories from Local Group members: Gemma Simmonds’ The Nun’s Story: Tales of the Totally Unexpected ; Carol Cooper’s Keep Taking the Tabloids – her account of life as The Sun newspaper’s resident medic; and Janet Porter’s Doctor at Sea – reporting on her time as a cruise ship’s doctor; been the rowdiest group at a postgraduate formal hall, and behaved in much more civilised but equally convivial fashion at a Bring and Share lunch.

NOVEMBER

Director of Development Sarah Carthew travelled to Hong Kong to meet with alumnae based there.

The Newnham Associates organised a CV Workshop for undergraduates.

DECEMBER

A festive afternoon of wreathmaking was enjoyed by alumnae in the run-up to Christmas, led by florist Allison Clover from the Wild Clover Flower Company, Ely.

The Scotland Group ’s two book groups, centred on Glasgow and the Edinburgh/Borders areas, continued to meet regularly for relaxed literary criticism and friendly conversation. The groups also met for a pre-Christmas lunch.

2024

JANUARY

Former Principal Professor Dame Carol Black was awarded the rare Dame Grand Cross – the highest level in the order – in recognition for her work on the impact of illicit drugs on society. Later in the year she received an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge in recognition of her achievements.

Alumnae including Karin Horowitz (NC 1978) and Mihiri Jayaweera (NC 1985) organised a day of Life Skills sessions for students, offering soft skills such as dealing with change, managing the fear of failure and identifying your own strengths, and advice on topics such as negotiation, leadership and how to handle difficult situations.

FEBRUARY

The Scotland group welcomed Annette Spencer, President of the Newnham Roll, to an Edinburgh dinner.

MARCH

At the Roll Committee meeting and AGM two newly elected Committee members were welcomed to the Committee: Fiona Lennox (NC 1987) and Lynsey Russell-Watts (NC 1999); three members were re-elected for a second term: Rebecca Ashton (NC 2009), Anne Hewitt (NC 2019) and Lorna Stevens (NC 2003); and the two current Vice Presidents, Libby Richards (NC 2005) and Ruth Shin (NC 2007), were re-elected for a second term.

The Commemoration Weekend was held in College for alumnae who matriculated in 1954, 1964, 1974, 1999 and 2014. Alumnae enjoyed reconnecting with friends and the College, while getting exclusive access to the Newnham and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II exhibition. A reunion dinner hosted in Clough Hall rounded off a wonderful weekend of activities and celebrations.

Right: Commemoration in March was a chance for the year groups 1954, 1964, 1974, 1999 and 2014 to reconnect

Photos by

Dasha Tenditna

APRIL

In April 2024 the Principal, Alison Rose, and the Deputy Director of Development, Dr Emma Raccagni (NC 2000) visited the USA . They travelled to San Francisco, San José, Washington and New York, where they met alumnae at six events, including an evening reception at the home of Committee member Dr Elizabeth Cropper (NC 1963) in Washington DC, a brunch hosted by Margaret Campbell (NC 1966) in New York and a dinner in San José, California. The events were notable for some stimulating discussions on current issues as well as an update on the Campaign and developments at Newnham.

The North Home Counties (Herts/Bucks/Berks) group gathered for a book group discussion about Sarah Winman’s delightful novel Still Life , and a walk in the Chilterns.

MAY

Members of the Sidgwick Society visited College for an afternoon tea event to thank them for their support. We were delighted to present thirty legators with their iris brooches and give them an opportunity to view the Bletchley Park exhibition.

Alison Rose and Emma Raccagni met alumnae at the New York home of Margaret Campbell (second from right)

Photos by Milly March

JUNE

The San Francisco and West Coast group had a wonderful afternoon tea kindly hosted by Lalitha Vaidyanathan (NC 1989) and Marianne O (NC 1984) .

Newnham Associates and Women of the Year Awards convened to discuss ‘The power of making trouble in the most constructive way’ in their annual joint event to celebrate women and all they achieve and contribute in twenty-firstcentury Britain. The event was hosted by Alison Rose (NC 1980) and chaired by ITV News anchor and former President of WOTY, Julie Etchingham (NC 1988). Speakers and panellists included Her Honour Judge Anuja Dhir, Lady Lavender KC, Dr Sophy Antrobus (NC 1988), Dr Amy AtkinsonWard (NC 1996) and Laura Jackson.

A key highlight of the year was the anniversary Garden Party and Campaign Celebration which was a happy day of festivities for hundreds of alumnae, families, students, friends and staff. Highlights included craft workshops, stepping back in time with historic room settings (see feature pp. 84–85), enjoying live music, visiting our Newnham and Bletchley Park exhibition, listening to informative talks, riding on the swing boats, indulging in ice creams, playing lawn games and simply enjoying the borders at their best.

Botanist Agnes Arber (NC 1899) was remembered with a new PhD Prize for botanists. 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of the appointment of the first Professor of Botany at Cambridge; the chair is currently held by Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser (NC 1983).

Left: Alumnae and guests enjoyed a sunny day filled with food, drink, music and good company to celebrate Newnham's gardens and the campaign in June

Blue Plaques were installed by English heritage honouring Newnham alumnae : Agnes Arber (NC 1899) at her Cambridge home where she also had her ‘lab’; Former Fellow and prominent economist, Professor Joan Robinson (NC 1965) at her Notting Hill family home; and mathematician and codebreaker Joan Clarke ( Murray , NC 1938) at her house in Herne Hill.

JULY

A small number of the Scotland group enjoyed an expertly guided summer tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Professorial Fellow Róisín M. Owens, together with Fellow and Associate Professor at Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Dr Lucy Zhao, visited Beijing and met alumnae over drinks.

AUGUST

The San Francisco and West Coast group met for a hike and picnic in Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, California.

The USA Committee , chaired by Margaret Campbell (NC 1966) welcomed the winner of their 2024 Travel Bursary, Els Curry, a secondyear undergraduate undertaking a research project on Maurice Sendak involving visits to the Maurice Sendak Foundation in Connecticut and research in archives and libraries including the Morgan Library, New York Public Library, the Library of Congress and archives at Yale, Harvard and the Boston Symphony.

The Roll President’s Year

ANNETTE SPENCER (NC 1988)

The annual request to draft this reflection on the last twelve months as President of the Newnham Roll offers a delightful pause to remember many events and conversations with alumnae.

Two initiatives have provided continual points of focus throughout the year. First, it has been encouraging to see the progress made towards specific goals in the ‘Shaping Newnham’s Future’ campaign. It will be key to helping Newnham thrive in the medium term, from new posts and student support, to ensuring that the College’s buildings keep their heritage and beauty while being made sustainable. A hard-working Campaign Board and the Development Office team have consistently kept the momentum going.

The second theme was the encouraging renaissance of interest in regional or special interest alumnae groups, from the establishment of a more formal group in the West Coast of the US (to complement the long-standing and very active East Coast group) and the continuing popularity of the Young Alumnae group everywhere, through to a revival and reset for some regional groups in the UK, including in Bristol & Bath, the wider Wessex region and Hampshire & Surrey.

The year was also punctuated by some memorable events – large and small. At the start of February I received a warm welcome from the Scottish alumnae group and their chair, Chris Ayton ( MacLeod , NC 1977), over an informal and entertaining dinner in Edinburgh.

We moved on to the Roll’s meetings and AGM in March, and at the Commemoration Lecture I was particularly delighted to learn that

higher-than-expected numbers of Newnham classicists played vital roles in the codebreaking at Bletchley Park. The ‘breaking the ground’ ceremony in June for a new dedicated Newnham boathouse on the Cam was a tribute to the unwavering work and persuasion of my predecessor, Dr Joanna Burch (NC 1983).

The year ended with a lovely, sunny day enjoying the College gardens as we celebrated the anniversary of their unification at the end of the nineteenth century. I enjoyed seeing them through new eyes after hearing Professor Jenny Morton’s very informative talk on the different plans and evolutions of the gardens over the years.

As we think ahead, supporting the ‘Shaping Newnham’s Future’ campaign and increasing engagement for alumnae groups will remain priorities for the Roll. For me personally, 2024–25 will be the final year in this wonderful role representing Newnham’s alumnae and ensuring we stay connected with each other and with College. I remain hugely grateful for the support of our active Roll Committee members and everyone in Newnham who encourages our work – thank you so much.

Shaping Newnham's Future: campaign update

Alison Rose (NC 1980), Principal

As of October 2024, we have reached £23.5 million towards our target of £25 million for the Shaping Newnham’s Future campaign, with another eighteen months still to go.

Thank you to everyone who has made donations to the campaign. All donations, small or large, legacies, gifts in kind, and gifts of time and advice are hugely appreciated. Especial thanks are due to the members of our Campaign Board, who have been so helpful in sharing ideas, advice and support.

In the financial year 2023–24, Newnham’s income from fundraising was over £4 million. This follows on from a sterling year in 2022–23 when we raised over £8 million and were the fourth highest fundraising college in Cambridge.

Supporting academic learning and research

Last year I mentioned that a very generous anonymous donation had enabled us to create a new Early Career Fellowship in Engineering. Dr Petia Tzkova won that Fellowship and took up her post in October 2024. Her specialist area is structural engineering with a particular focus on decarbonising the built environment. Together with the Chemistry Department, we made the first appointment to the Anne Logue (NC 1936) College Lectureship in Chemistry. Dr Jenny Zhang, who works on semiartificial photosynthesis, bioenergetics and bioelectrochemistry, was appointed in July 2024.

We have also received a legacy from alumna and former Fellow Dr Alison Newton (1950) and

her husband Dr Bruce Newton, for a Research Fellowship in Natural Sciences.

A generous donation from the Woollett family in memory of their mother Enid Woollett (NC 1947) will be added to the Enid Woollett Fund, which supports study in Mathematics. We are grateful to have received a gift from Margaret Campbell (NC 1966) towards the teaching and learning of Modern Languages. Our top remaining priority for this strand of the campaign is raising £1.5m to endow a co-funded University Teaching Officer post in History.

Our History champion, Sarah Dunant (NC 1969) has been tireless in supporting our fundraising activities. Many of you will know, and perhaps have been taught by, Fellow Emerita Dr Gillian Sutherland, who together with Dr Sally Waugh (NC 1973) and Frieda Midgley (College Archivist), continues to illustrate how important History is in our contemporary world with the research and organisation of the 'Newnham and Bletchley Park: Women’s Work in World War II' exhibition. I hope that many of you will have had the chance to see this exhibition in person.

Supporting our students – postgraduate studentships

In October 2024 three new PhD studentships

were funded following generous donations in the previous year. We are always looking to build on our postgraduate community through funded scholarships. I am delighted to announce the first Onassis Special Scholarship for Women in Humanities has been awarded with support from the Onassis Foundation to Vaiva Vasiliauskaite, who is working on a PhD on ‘“Khaĩr, ō theodmáta”: Poetics of worldmaking in

Supporting our students – wellbeing

Our second priority under our student support initiative is to endow the role of Wellbeing Advisor. Since the recruitment of our Wellbeing Advisor in 2022, she has provided support for a great number of our student body. The role of the Wellbeing Advisor is to help students develop positive coping strategies to manage their mental health so that they can participate

‘ I am delighted that we have been able to support the wellbeing initiative at Newnham, something that I would have benefited from during my time as a student … Newnham’s wellbeing initiative … is an important step towards the supportive environment necessary to educate the whole person in today’s world …’

Sarah Gould (NC 1977) and Robert Gould

Ancient Greek hymnic tradition’. We also made the first award from the H S Chau Foundation Scholarship, to a student starting a PhD in Physics working on Quantum Information and Algorithms. The third, the Anne Logue Scholarship, was awarded to a student starting a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry.

New giving in 2023–24 to support our postgraduates includes a very generous donation from the April Trust, which will be used to fund an annual postgraduate studentship in Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science or Natural Sciences for students who originally attended state schools or who were recipients of scholarships to other schools. We also received donations for a new PhD scholarship in Neuroinformatics in the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit from Joanna Buckenham (NC 1980) and for a new Steers Mardinian postgraduate scholarship to support MPhil students in industrial systems and manufacture and management with an integral element of Mechanical Engineering.

actively and successfully in academic life. Thank you to Sarah Gould (NC 1977) and Robert Gould and to Kirsty Nathoo (NC 1998) and Amir Nathoo and others who have given to wellbeing as we work toward the £2 million goal for this role.

Other student support

We continue to lead the Laidlaw scholarship programme across Newnham and three other Colleges, supported by the Laidlaw Foundation. My especial thanks go to the CEO of the Laidlaw Foundation, Susanna Kempe (NC 1984), for her vision and support of this important initiative. The 2023 cohort have just completed their Leadership in Action projects in locations ranging from Peru to Australia. The 2024 scholars are working on research projects ranging from ‘Perovskite solar cells for vehicle surfaces’ to ‘AI narratives and defining humanness’.

Greening Newnham

We are working to raise a fighting fund of £10 million to enable us to continue to shape

a greener future for Newnham. Over the course of the next year, the College will start to address the challenge of making the main College site more energy-efficient. The late-Victorian/ Edwardian Champneys buildings pose particular challenges with regard to insulation and glazing, and the Kennedy building has been selected as the first of these buildings to assess what is possible within the heritage confines of a Grade II-listed building. Reducing the reliance on gas is key.

Elsewhere on-site there has been a programme of green improvements from thermostatic valves being installed on radiators, LED bulbs, energy-efficient electric white goods and electrical submeters to monitor consumption. College is now sending zero waste to landfill.

Our new sustainable boathouse, Newnham’s first, will be operational from autumn 2024. My thanks and those of the Newnham College Boat Club go to Dr Michelle Beretvas (NC 1988) and Dr Cortney Mittelsteadt, as well as many others, for their wonderful support of this initiative.

Telephone campaign

We thank you for supporting Newnham and for your willingness to extend a hand across the generations through the Telephone Campaign. Our wonderful callers raised £200,000, with just over 250 alumnae pledging a gift. ‘I loved the honour of communicating with such wonderful people,’ said caller Gabrielle Farge (NC 2022).

Legacies

During the 150th anniversary celebrations we set ourselves a target of finding 150 new legacy pledges by 2026. We are now at 137 pledges and extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has notified us of an intention to leave a legacy, however big or small. We held our annual event in May 2024 for over sixty alumnae who are members of the Sidgwick Society, which is our way of thanking our legators. We are also very grateful that President of the Sidgwick Society, Miriam Margolyes OBE (NC 1960), was able to visit us this year.

International and regional alumnae groups

Our international and regional groups continue to play an important part in supporting College and I thank all our chairpersons. I am grateful to the leaders of alumnae groups in the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong who have made my international visits so successful. I visited Singapore for the first time in September 2024 and was bowled over by the numbers of alumnae who attended our events and the warmth of their welcome. I also thank Annette Spencer (NC 1988) who agreed to stay on as President of the Roll for an extra-ordinary further year until 2025. Her advice and support have been instrumental in building more connected alumnae engagement post-Covid.

Thank you to our donors for your continued generosity. Thank you to those who have given at all levels. Your gifts continue to shape Newnham’s future.

‘Student life at Cambridge can be amazing but can also present challenges that can impact anyone’s mental health … It’s great that Newnham is at the forefront of support in this area, and to know that our help can make a difference to many students.’

Kirsty Nathoo (NC 1988) and Amir Nathoo

Right: Allocations of income received during the financial year 2023–24

Our Students (not specified)

SHAPING NEWNHAM'S FUTURE

Our Students

Our Students

Be part of our new campaign to raise £25m to support research and teaching, students and working towards greening Newnham.

How to give

You can donate to the campaign by using the donation form on p. 149, online through our website, or by telephone – through our annual telethon or in person. You can choose which area you wish your money to go to or prioritise the area of greatest need.

By signing a Gift Aid declaration you can increase the total we receive by 25% at no cost to you. All donations large or small are hugely appreciated by all of us at Newnham and will help support the generations of Newnhamites to come.

If you wish to discuss how you can assist our fundraising campaign, please contact The Roll and Development Office on +44 (0)1223 335757 or speak directly to the Development Director Sarah Carthew, on 07464 203246.

The Sidgwick Memorial Sundial

The sundial was installed in 1914 ‘in proud and grateful remembrance of the Principalship of Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick’. That year the western approach was widened and this part of the garden landscaped. It has of course been a favourite spot for formal and not so formal student photos over the years.

Student groups in 1919 (Photo: Bassano) and 2022 (Photo: Alyssa Sequera Martinez)

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Cracking the code

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A chance conversation in College inspired Dr Sally Waugh ( Hill , NC 1973) to start a research project that would uncover the amazing breadth of war work and codebreaking by Newnham alumnae in the Second World War and the key role of three powerful College women in recruiting them.

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Over coffee in the SCR, Dr Sally Waugh, then supporting STEM students with Mathematics at Newnham, was passionately arguing for the value of maths and what it could lead to. When someone mentioned codebreaking, Sally talked about a friend who had worked as a codebreaker during the war: Jane Monroe had never spoken about her war work but, after her death, Sally found her referenced with three other ‘students from Girton or Newnham’ in a book about Bletchley Park.

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After the conversation, Sally remembered the other women and wondered about their roles. Her curiosity piqued, she read more and discovered they were all former Newnham students. It was the start of what became an allconsuming project. Further reading revealed more names connected to Newnham, so Sally travelled to Bletchley Park to search their roll of honour, and turned for help to Newnham Archivist Frieda Midgley, as well as historian and Fellow Emerita Dr Gill Sutherland.

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Frieda said, ‘I wasn’t sure at first what light we could shed on women’s lives after they left Newnham, so it was a question of looking for clues. Ironically it was where there was no detail on people’s war work, or where they were described as “temporary clerk in the Foreign Office” that set the bells off.’ That phrase in particular was soon identified as a code of its own. Gill described the process as like ‘assembling a scatter of tiles towards a mosaic’, largely due to the women’s assiduous determination to conceal their vital roles.

Trawling for five years through documents, obituaries and past Roll Letters, the trio uncovered seventy-seven Newnham alumnae who were secretly recruited for codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, along with a wider range of women involved in important war work.

Careful selection

As the numbers grew they realised there was another story to uncover, about how and why so many Newnham alumnae ended up at Bletchley Park. A significant number were recruited to secret intelligence work because of the personal links of three women: Alda Milner-Barry (NC 1912; Tutor), Pernel Strachey (NC 1895; Principal 1923–41) and Ray Strachey ( Costelloe , NC 1905).

Alda had been a cryptanalyst during the First World War and later Newnham Fellow and Tutor, and her brother Stuart was among the earliest members of one of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) huts. Pernel was Newnham Principal and her brother, Oliver, was an experienced cryptanalyst. He was also married to alumna Ray, who ran the Women’s Employment Federation. From September 1938 Ray had made its Joint Placing Register available for government use and in 1939 was asked to draw up an Emergency Register of women with specialist experience.

Less sanguine about prospects for peace than the governments of the day, GC&CS began in the second half of the 1930s to prepare for war.

A letter buried in a Newnham Archive file marked ‘Miscellaneous’ proved crucial in revealing the link. In it, Pernel Strachey wrote to Commander Denniston in January 1939 to confirm that she would provide him with six modern linguists ‘in the event of emergency’.

Ultimately the College sent women with a whole range of skills, including mathematicians, modern linguists, classicists, historians, English graduates and more. Newnhamites played a crucial role in deciphering Enigma. Work at Bletchley Park was arduous and undertaken in difficult physical conditions, on round-the-clock shifts, billeted with local families and forbidden to discuss what they did even with people in other huts. The need for secrecy continued after the war ended, when Cold War tension followed armed conflict.

The researchers worked closely with staff at Bletchley Park, which is now a heritage attraction and museum. Erica Munro, Head of Content at Bletchley Park Trust, said: ‘It is a privilege to be able to help Newnham College tell these veterans’ stories. By 1945, nearly 9,000 people worked for Bletchley Park and its associated outstations, and 75% of those were women. The vital intelligence that was produced helped turn the tide of war.’

The Newnham research has been showcased in an exhibition and features in a Newnham website video* and Bletchley Park podcast; Sally has been delighted by the response. ‘People have enjoyed coming, it’s made them think. I’m just so pleased that it intrigues and encourages other people to further research, because that’s what Newnham is about. If I hadn’t had the opportunities at Newnham that opened doors for me, then I wouldn’t have been able to do this research.’

* Find out more: newn.cam.ac.uk/newnham-and-bletchley-park

Above: The Principal and Fellows in 1936. Principal Pernel Strachey is seated to the left of the table, Alda Milner-Barry stands behind her to the right, and Dorothy Garrod behind Alda to the right

Hills and Saunders, Cambridge

Right: An unexpected discovery from the College Archive: Principal Pernel Strachey writes to Commander Alastair Denniston (GC&CS) at the beginning of 1939 confirming that she can provide students with language skills in the event of war

Photo:

Hidden lives

Hut 6 codebreaker Jane Monroe ( Reynolds , NC 1936), when asked what she did, habitually downplayed her role, saying, ‘Oh, I made the tea.’ She met her husband John while working at Bletchley Park. Their children Robert Monroe, Alice Rogers and Polly Taylor said: ‘Our parents were quite open about the fact that they had worked in Bletchley Park during the war. We knew that they made many lifetime friends there. It was made clear to us from an early age that the work they undertook was totally secret and that they were not allowed to talk about it.’

One of the first Newnham women was recruited in the build-up to war. Fiona Ede (NC 1919) was one of only two women on a reserve list of codebreakers and analysts who could be recruited for an emergency expansion of the GC&CS codebreaking team.

Mathematician Joan Murray ( Clarke , NC 1936) is the best-known Newnham woman at Bletchley Park, featuring in the film The Imitation Game , which tells the story of codebreaker Alan Turing. Joan worked alongside Turing in Hut 8 and was engaged to him for a short while.

The largest group of alumnae were modern linguists. German-speaker Elizabeth Reed ( Langstaff , NC 1934) was given the tasks of reconstructing German messages from raw decryptions, interpreting abbreviations and analysing the results over months.

Wendy Hinde (NC 1937) was one of the first History graduates to arrive at the Park. Post-war she worked at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House

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and edited International Affairs, before working for The Economist and later as an accomplished political biographer.

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Others included Margaret Chester ( Usborne , NC 1937), one of several Newnham Classicists recruited, and statistician

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Violet Cane (NC 1935), in later years a Fellow of Newnham, who was described by Professor Sir John Kingman in a Roll Letter obituary as ‘Something perhaps, of the statistical Miss Marple’.

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Joan Clarke at Newnham in the early 1950s

Reprodu

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Women's war work

Other Newnham women helped to map troop movements and deceive the Nazis in the run-up to D-Day: Betty Main ( Goold-Adams , NC 1936) was sent to work in Wormwood Scrubs prison, which housed the MI5 unit that listened in to radio communications between German infiltrators in Europe.

Joan Curran ( Strothers , NC 1934) specialised in military red herrings: she invented aluminium chaff, which was dropped to confuse radar searches for aircraft or ‘invent’ vessels at sea. It was used extensively in the Channel in the lead-up to D-Day.

Archaeologists were particularly suitable for photographic intelligence work because of their experience in interpreting aerial photographs. Glyn Daniel of St John’s led the way and in 1942 recruited Dorothy Garrod (NC 1913), a Fellow of Newnham and the first female professor in Oxbridge, who came to specialise in the movement of troops and supplies by train.

Lucia Windsor (NC 1939) went straight into the WAAF in 1942, after taking her Geography Tripos. Her ground-breaking work on the use of computers to map the fruits of photographic intelligence with precision led eventually to the headship of the Directorate of Overseas Surveys.

Fundraising for a new History Fellowship

Newnham Principal Alison Rose said: ‘This research demonstrates the vital role of History in telling the stories of other subjects. History deepens our understanding of the future by connecting us with the past.’ We are raising funds to co-fund a permanently employed University Teaching Officer in History who is also a Director of Studies and College Lecturer at Newnham. This will enable succession planning and underpin the continuation of work in History at Newnham. Please contact Sarah Carthew, Development Director if you would like to make a donation: sarah.carthew@newn.cam.ac.uk

Dorothy Garrod

Living at Newnham:

1871 & 1948

At the garden party in June, one of the most popular events was a tour of two reconstructed student rooms, each offering a fascinating glimpse into different eras of Newnham’s history. Guided by Housekeeping Manager Alison Carman, we stepped back in time to explore the evolution of student life, decor and culture over the decades.

Photography by Milly March

1871

Before the College was built, the students lived together in a series of rented houses, which fostered a close-knit community. The students did housework like dusting, sweeping, and making their own beds. They shared one table for dining and studying, as there were no separate study areas, and the bedrooms were too small and cold to be used for that purpose. In the evenings, they sat with Miss Clough in her room sewing. Expenses were tightly controlled, and the lifestyle was extremely simple.

1948

The atmosphere of a Newnham College student room in 1948 was one of practicality and emerging modernity. While still maintaining a focus on academic seriousness, the room reflected the changing times with simpler, more functional furnishings and the beginning of modern conveniences. Personal touches added warmth and individuality, while the overall decor remained relatively understated owing to postwar austerity.

The Young Alumnae

Those who have recently left Newnham might feel a tinge of nostalgia as you read the Roll Letter , but rest assured – there’s an alumnae group dedicated to supporting our youngest members, and we are delighted to tell you more about us. The Newnham College Young Alumnae are an informal group of former undergraduates and postgraduates. Established in 2014, we aim to connect with recent graduates, broadly under the age of thirty-five. We want young Newnhamites to continue feeling welcomed in the College community and feel supported in our post-College pursuits, whether that is seeking or starting a new job, choosing a career in academia or taking time off to explore personal interests. Whereas other alumnae groups are based on geographic location, young alumnae are spread around the world. This creates unique challenges for how to stay connected when so far apart. One way has been hosting Zoom socials to bring us together virtually, even across time zones. It is not quite as casual as passing each other in the corridors, but these digital gatherings are especially cosy and friendly. During these calls, many young alumnae express feeling both anxious and excited about where to go next. There isn’t a right or wrong way into post-College life but having someone knowledgeable you can speak to can be a big help.

Wanting to offer a solution sparked our annual mentorship scheme. Our programme is loosely structured and provides a flexible opportunity for interested young alumnae to discuss career ambitions or receive general guidance from a supportive mentor, a fellow Newnhamite with more experience. We are grateful for the support

we have received from the Newnham Associates in finding interested mentors for this scheme and look forward to continuing it as our flagship service.

Our other initiatives have ranged from volunteering on Family Day to organising meetups in London’s Hyde Park and the South Bank Christmas Market. We are especially excited to restart our ‘Pizza and Prosecco’ networking event, which is hosted in College and allows final-year students to talk to young alumnae.

Follow us

We’re keen to expand our outreach to other alumnae groups, especially in London, and create more interesting events involving young alumnae, so please keep an eye out for us on Instagram: @youngalumnaenewnham or you can email us at: youngalumnae.newnham@gmail.com

The Newnham Associates

The Associates are alumnae who work together to support the students and graduates of today as they plan for their careers. We are women aged from our twenties to sixties who want to make use of our individual experiences and spare time.

The sixty of us have interesting careers across a wide range of areas, including professional, business, academic, public sector and notfor-profit fields. We aim to cover a wide range of traditional and ‘new’ careers and to reflect the reality of many women’s work experience: careers that are not straight-line or are shaped by changing priorities, including children, partners and health. A meaningful career need not be a high-powered career.

The Associates have formal meetings twice a year in Cambridge (typically Saturday mornings in June and November). In addition, we hold a Spring Party in a central London location and occasional other social events.

How do the Associates support Newnham and its students?

Associates contribute to College and support undergraduate and postgraduate students in a variety of ways, depending on their interests, location and availability. The main ways that Associates help are:

• organising career events in Newnham twice a year: currently the offering includes a Graduate Recruitment Workshop and one-to-one sessions, enabling Associates to give advice on CVs, interviews or more general career planning; we also offer more informal, shorter drop-in sessions in the Iris Café

• attending Subject Formal Halls for the subjects

we studied, to support the Director of Studies and make direct contact with students

• working with individual students via our website, offering career advice, mentoring, CV review, interview help, work-shadowing or networking; a group of Associates with relevant experience support Newnham’s postgraduate students with the specific issues they face

• volunteering at College events for current or prospective students, which have included the Pupil Premium Open Day and the Rosalind Franklin Conference for school pupils funding student projects that benefit College but cannot access other funding.

How can I find out more about the Associates?

How can I join?

All Newnham alumnae are eligible to become an Associate. Associates normally join for an initial term of five years, renewable for a further five years, and pay annual subscriptions of less than £30 p.a. The application process is to express an interest to the Associates, and later submit an application form and CV. New Associates are elected at the AGM in November.

Find out more

To find out more, please email our Secretary at: newnhamassociatessecretary2017 @gmail.com or visit our website at: newnhamassociates.org

We look forward to connecting with you.

The beehive

The beehive in the permaculture garden at the back of the Pightle welcomed a new swarm of bees in summer 2024. Their first batch of Newnham honey yielded thirty jars, with most of the nectar believed to have come from the lime trees. Beehives at Newnham go back to Anne Jemima Clough’s ideal of a productive as well as beautiful garden, and as pollinators the bees do an important job in the flower and vegetable borders.

Dasha Tenditna

Lessons in Biochemistry: Newnham pioneers of X-ray Crystallography

The loss of Dr Olga Kennard (NC 1942), who founded and for many years ran the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, came just before the sixtieth anniversary of Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s (NC 1932) Nobel Prize. We highlight the achievements and legacy of the female trailblazers in the field of X-ray Crystallography.

Dr Olga Kennard

Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Dr Rosalind Franklin

X-ray Crystallography is used to determine the structure of molecules that are too small to see. This lets scientists understand the precise size and shape of proteins, drugs, natural products, and functional materials. Scientists first grow a crystal, which in some cases could take years, from a concentrated solution of the molecule of interest.

Once the crystals are formed, they are rotated and bombarded with X-rays, creating a pattern of spots of refracted light. From here mathematical calculations are applied to determine the structure.

This technique was pioneered in part at Cambridge in the early twentieth century by William Lawrence Bragg and his father William Henry Bragg, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in 1915. Lawrence ran the Cavendish Laboratory from 1938. Uncommonly at the time, father and son appear to have supported women working in the field and a significant number benefited from their backing.

In the 1940s and 1950s Crystallography was in its infancy. From today’s perspective ‘it is hard to appreciate just how brutally hard and repetitive Crystallography was’, writes chemist and instrument historian Andrea Sella. Under these conditions, discoveries with immense potential were made: Crystallography revealed the structure of DNA and identified new medications, by uncovering the shapes of biomolecules in the human body so that drugs could be targeted effectively.

Dr Olga Kennard OBE FRS ( Weisz , NC 1942) 1924–2023  Olga Kennard, whose life story is on p. 114, founded what was to become the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) when she began collating structural data in 1965. She realised that bringing together results from individual experiments would lead to a leap in knowledge.

Today the CSD is the world’s largest database of small-molecule crystal structure data, containing over 1.3 million structures.

‘Kennard’s vision on digitisation contributed to developing further databases publicly available worldwide, such as the Protein Data Base (PDB) with more than 225,000 entries’, said Newnham’s special supervisor in the Biology of Cells, Dr Pedro Rebelo-Guiomar. ‘These data allow us to use AI to predict molecular structures, and advance our understanding of proteins in their biological context. Propelled by the development of RNA vaccines, today we are seeing the first steps towards prediction of RNA structures. Experimental data gathered in the coming years will refine predictions and open doors to new therapeutics.’

Olga Kennard’s work built on the discoveries of three fellow alumnae.

Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin OM, FRS, Hon FRSC ( Crowfoot , NC 1932), 1910–94  Dorothy Crowfoot went up to Somerville College, Oxford in 1928, where she took the special course in Crystallography. She did her PhD at Newnham, working with J. D. Bernal, who had been appointed as the first lecturer in Structural Crystallography at Cambridge in 1927 and became assistant director of the Cavendish Laboratory in 1934. Dorothy and Bernal took the first X-ray photographs of hydrated protein crystals.

After a research fellowship Dorothy was appointed an Official Fellow and Tutor in Natural Science at Somerville in 1934 and spent the rest of her career in Oxford. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947, University Reader in X-ray Crystallography in 1956 and Wolfson Research Professor of the Royal Society in 1960.

Dorothy was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1964 for her work at Oxford on the structure of vitamin B12 (1956) and penicillin (1964).

Dr Rosalind Franklin (NC 1938), 1920–58

Were it not for her premature death, perhaps Rosalind Franklin too would have been a Nobel Prize winner, for her vital contribution to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal and graphite.

After her degree in Chemistry she was awarded a research fellowship at Newnham and briefly joined the Physical Chemistry Laboratory. In 1942 she was directed to war work at British Coal Utilisation Research Association. This led to three productive years on the structure of coals and carbons and concerning the design of gas masks, which also produced material for her PhD, with the help of French scientist Adrienne Weill whom Franklin had met when Weill was staying at Newnham during the war. Weill assisted in finding Rosalind work in France at the lab of Jacques Mering, a pioneer in X-ray diffraction. Coming back to London in 1951, to a Fellowship at King’s College, the skills she had learnt in France were used by her, as Bernal wrote in her obituary, to make ’the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken’.

After initial setbacks, James Watson and Francis Crick had resumed their work building a molecular model of B-DNA at the Cavendish, spurred on by the fear of being beaten to the discovery by the Americans. By January 1953 Franklin had concluded that DNA forms had two helices, and had submitted her findings to Acta Crystallographica in Copenhagen. Watson attended her lecture at King’s but took no notes and Crick and Watson’s first model was debunked by Rosalind. Her colleague Maurice Wilkins shared copies of Franklin's diffraction photographs and crystallographic calculations with Crick and Watson and by the end of February the pair were confident in their findings. Crick and Watson published their preliminary paper in Nature on 25 April 1953, in an article describing the double-helical structure of DNA with only a footnote stating they had been ‘stimulated by a general knowledge of Franklin and Wilkins’ “unpublished” contribution.’ The discovery was not recognised by the Nobel committee until 1962, by which time Franklin had died of ovarian cancer. Only posthumously has her contribution been recognised.

Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Dr Rosalind Franklin

Dr June Lindsey

( Broomhead , NC 1941), 1922–2021

June Lindsey also played a key role in determining the structure of DNA. She won a full scholarship to study Physics at Newnham and, after the war, started a PhD in the X-ray Crystallography team at the Cavendish, as one of only four women working alongside 100 male scientists. June used X-ray Crystallography to work out the structure of adenine and guanine, the largest and most complex of the four DNA nucleobases. The structural information map which June created was essential to the discovery of the double helix four years later.

While June’s discoveries were not quoted in Crick and Watson’s submission to Nature in 1953, her contribution was mentioned in their article published by the Royal Society in 1954.

After finishing her PhD, June worked with Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in Oxford on the structure of vitamin B12, but in 1951 she moved to Canada with her husband, physicist George Lindsey, and left Crystallography behind. It was only in the last years of her life that her research was rediscovered and celebrated.

Newnham’s archive received June Lindsey’s papers in 2024. This fascinating collection sheds light not just on her early life, education and career, but also on her colleagues at the

Cavendish, and the life of women in STEM at a time when they were still not full members of the University.  A project to catalogue the collection and make it available to researchers is being planned for the coming year.

Legacy

Dr Jenny Zhang is Anne Logue College Lecturer at Newnham and Assistant Professor in Material Chemistry at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. Her research focuses on new biotechnologies to address societal needs (including for renewable energy generation, carbon recycling, precision farming, environmental sensing and medicine).

‘My research into re-wiring photosynthesis exploded because of the techniques developed by these Newnham women in crystallising biomolecules,’ says Jenny. ‘Now the technology has advanced so we can see a molecule in its natural state using cryo-electron-microscopy, eliminating the need to crystallise molecules and opening up scientific possibilities even further.

‘The early years of X-ray Crystallography were an exciting time in science, but those researchers could never have foreseen how their techniques and discoveries would open up future possibilities. These early pioneers who did all the footwork still shape our research today.’

With grateful thanks to the scientists’ families and colleagues.

Dr June Lindsey

Image credits: Dr Olga Kennard courtesy IUCr; Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin by Ian Dagnall Computing; Dr Rosalind Franklin by World History Archive and Rachel Glaeser / American Society for Microbiology, Museum of London; Photo 51 © Franklin, R. and Gosling, R. G. / Nature; Dr June Lindsey courtesy her family

Alumnae News

All alumnae are warmly invited to share their news, whatever it may be. We would particularly welcome more news of everyday life.

1930s

Honorary Fellow Professor Brenda Milner (NC 1936) was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame and her 106th birthday was featured in The Times . She is considered the founder of the field of clinical neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. She is the Dorothy J. Killam Professor at the Montreal Neurological InstituteHospital, and a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University.

1940s

St Catharine’s College named one of its two new student houses in honour of Dr Marian Silver ( Scrase , NC 1945). Marian, among the first cohort at Newnham to be awarded a Cambridge degree in 1948, was the first woman to be elected to the Fellowship at St Catharine’s.

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Hazel Guest (NC 1946) published a paper in the Transpersonal Psychology Review , and celebrated her ninety-fifth birthday. In the 1970s, she trained in transpersonal psychology, which was first defined in 1970, enabling her to become one of a handful of pioneers in the UK. She started a private practice as a transpersonal psychotherapist in 1976, finally retiring in 1999.

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1950s

Fellow Dr Lucy Adrian (NC 1954) and Lady Alice Bragg ( Hopkinson , NC 1918), leader of the WVS and Mayor of Cambridge, feature in Hope is Daffodil Bright , a new historical novel by Zoë Jasko.

Anna Rist (NC 1955) and her husband Professor John Rist published their joint book, Confusion in the West: Retrieving Tradition in the Modern and Postmodern World (CUP, 2022).

Celebrated author Dame Margaret Drabble (NC 1957) discussed her writing at the 2023 Cambridge Literary Festival.

Dr Marion Blank (NC 1958) has a new company, Dr Marion’s Learning Lab. Her article, ‘Two Thirds of American Kids Can’t Read Fluently’ was published in Scientific American (September 2023).

Barbara Lorna Hudson ’s ( Gullachsen , NC 1958) collection of short stories Do You Remember the Barn Owl? was published by Fantastic Books Publishing (2023).

Dr Barbara Brend (NC 1959), an historian of Islamic art, was honoured with a special issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society : Studies in Honour of Barbara Brend (October 2022).

Jane Corbett (NC 1959) published romantic thriller A Corsican Tale (Beggar Books, 2022).

Orfeo’s Last Act: A Novel in Two Parts (Greenwich Exchange, 2023), the debut novel of Michelene Wandor (NC 1959), was shortlisted for a Society of Authors Award.

1960s

Jenny King (NC 1960) has published a book of poetry entitled Moving Day (Carcanet, 2021).

After the success of her sell-out 2023 tour, Miriam Margolyes (NC 1960) appeared in venues around the UK in 2024 with more juicy stories from her eventful life and career to celebrate the paperback release of her bestselling book, Oh Miriam!

Norma White (NC 1960) has helped turn the tide on deficit spending at the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough (Canada) during her retirement, while also playing glockenspiel, xylophone, recorder, guitar and piano in not one, but four different bands.

Beryl Metcalf (NC 1961) received a Lifetime Achievement Windrush Award (June 2023) for services to the Windrush generation at Mansfield Baptist Church.

There was widespread press coverage for Dame Jane Goodall ’s (NC 1961) ninetieth birthday, which was marked by an exhibition of ninety female photographers entitled The Age of Extinction, supported by The Guardian . Jane also took to the stage at Glastonbury to talk about the importance of looking after the planet.

Nicola Beauman (NC 1963) celebrated her eightieth birthday and the twenty-fifth anniversary of her founding Persephone Books. Nicola’s daughter Francesca Beauman (NC 1995)

is now taking over the running of the publishing house. Both Nicola and Francesca featured in an anniversary piece on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row .

Mary Hoffman (NC 1964) has been made a Fellow of the Society of Authors.

Dr Judith Rose ( Waley , NC 1966) was awarded a doctorate by UCL at the age of seventy-six. Her degree is in the field of adult and further education.

Dr Ann Woodward ( Heard , NC 1966) was awarded the prestigious Grahame Clark Medal for Prehistoric Archaeology by The British Academy to honour her lifetime’s work in British prehistory.

In her career as a breast cancer surgeon, Anne Stotter (NC 1968) enjoyed writing protocols, patient information leaflets and research papers. Since retirement, she has taken an OU Creative Writing course and has recently published her own novel, Mad Eileen .

The Persephone Festival in celebration of 25 years of Persephone Books took place in April 2024 in Bath and featured Newnham History Champion Sarah Dunant (NC 1969) in two separate sell-out events.

1970s

Professor Mary Garson (NC 1971) has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. .............................................................................

Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP (NC 1973) retained her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat at the recent General Election and now has the honorific title ‘Mother of the House’ as the longest continuously serving female MP.

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Professor Dame Mary Beard  (NC 1973) spoke on

‘Shock of the Old’ at the University of Mumbai in February 2024, in a lecture series accompanying the International exhibition ‘Ancient Sculptures: India, Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome’ at CSMVS Mumbai.

Dr Margot Shepherd ( Umpleby , NC 1973) worked in medical research during and after completing her PhD, becoming Professor of Human Metabolism in 2005 at the University of Surrey. Six years ago, she semi-retired and studied for an MA in Creative Writing at West Dean College, Chichester. She has recently published her debut novel, Never Closer .

Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn is a documentary film by BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Sheila Hayman (NC 1974) featuring pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Fiona Maddocks (NC 1974), the Observer ’s classical music critic, published Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile (Faber and Faber, 2023).

Carol Fisher Saller (NC 1974) has been awarded the 2024 Midland Authors Award for Children’s Fiction (USA) for her young adult mystery novel Maddie’s Ghost (Duckweed Books, 2023).

Family and friends came back to Newnham during the Alumni Festival to plant a King of Pippins apple tree in memory of Henrietta (Hetta) Norman (NC 1975).

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Henrietta Bud ’s ( Hooper , NC 1975) sculpture was featured in The Times .

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Miranda Jane Houng (NC 1977) has created a podcast series entitled Mending Lives and recently interviewed her Newnham contemporary Dr Gemma Simmonds (NC 1977).

.............................................................................

Dr Gemma Simmonds (NC 1977) coauthored God’s Call is Everywhere (Liturgical

Press, 2023), which won the 2024 Catholic Media Association First Place Award (Reference/ Academic Studies) in America.

Heather Self (NC 1977) has retired as an accountant and tax adviser. In her career she has worked for large and medium-sized accountancy firms, as Group Tax Director for a FTSE 100 company, for HMRC and as a partner in an international law firm. She has taken on a role as Trustee and Honorary Treasurer for the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Anglia Ruskin University awarded Dr Louise Pryor (NC 1978) an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of her work as a pioneer in modelling the financial and economic impacts of climate change in insurance.

Dame Emma Thompson (NC 1978) stars in a new Apple TV+ thriller, Down Cemetery Road , which will be a companion piece to Slow Horses . She is also filming Three Bags Full , a live-action comedy about a shepherd, with Hugh Jackman.

Dr Sara Bosley (NC 1978) is a co-author of Women Doing Leadership in Higher Education, Academic and Professional Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).

Ann Radmore (NC 1979) was awarded a CBE for services to the NHS in the New Year’s Honours List, 2023. .............................................................................

1980s

Janette Leaf ( Cooper , NC 1980) has been awarded an Honorary Research Fellowship by Birkbeck, University of London for her interdisciplinary and international research.

.............................................................................

In 2024, Dr Jane Metter (NC 1980) was awarded a PhD in History from Queen Mary University

of London, where she previously did an MA in European Jewish History.

Dr Fiona Clark (NC 1981) was awarded a Visiting Professorship from Cranfield University and the Princess Royal’s WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Alison Cork (NC 1982) was awarded an MBE in the 2023 New Years Honours List for services to female entrepreneurship.

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Newnham Associate Monica Buckland (NC 1983) conducted the Balmain Sinfonia in a concert at Leichhardt Town Hall, Sydney, Australia. Kat Williams (NC 2020) played the harp in the concert.

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Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser (NC 1983), Regius Professor of Botany at Cambridge, was interviewed on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions .

.............................................................................

Ann Keep ( Chipperfield , NC 1984) retired in 2022 and is enjoying walking, singing, gardening and volunteering as well as spending more time with family and friends.

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Alexandra Bolton (NC 1985), Director of the Climate Governance Initiative, a global network of over 100,000 board directors committed to climate action, was awarded an OBE for services to the built and natural environment.

.............................................................................

Dr Salima Ikram (NC 1986) featured in a Channel 5 documentary exploring the Mysteries of the Pyramids with presenter Dara Ó Briain.

Anne Thompson-Ahmadova (NC 1986) translated Parisian Days by Banine (Pushkin Press, 2024) and published a translation with commentary of the story ‘Mints’ by Azerbaijani author Ataqam in a special issue of The AALITRA Review: A Journal of Literary Translation (October 2022).

Sarah Breeden (NC 1987) has been appointed Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England. The Newnham Associate and finance expert has worked at the Bank since 1991.

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Professor Wendy Ugolini (NC 1987), Senior Lecturer at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, has published Wales in England 1914–1945: A Social, Cultural, and Military History (OUP, 2024).

Professor Penny Endersby  (NC 1988), was recognised with a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2024 for services to meteorology, defence science and technology.

Broadcast journalist Julie Etchingham (NC 1988) has become Pro Chancellor at Birmingham Newman University.

In 2024 Annie Warburto n ( Banks , NC 1988) became the first female CEO and Clerk of the Goldsmiths’ Company in its 700-year history. Annie is currently the only woman CEO of a ‘Great XII’ City of London livery company.

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A bench was unveiled in Newnham gardens in memory of Dr Victoria Cohen (NC 1989) by her husband Nick Rapley. Victoria studied Medical Sciences and was a consultant eye surgeon.

1990s

Dr Rupa Huq (NC 1990) retained the Ealing Central and Acton seat in the 2024 General Election.

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Clare Balding OBE (NC 1991) launched her new book, The Isle of Dogs: A Canine Adventure through Britain (Ebury Press, 2023) at Ely Cathedral.

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Seanin Gilmore (NC 1991) was appointed as a Crown Court Judge and now sits at Worcester Crown Court.

Dr Elisa Moreno (NC 1992) retired as a psychiatrist and transplant specialist. She is now pursuing a career as a life and executive coach.

Dr Belinda Clarke (NC 1992), Director of Agri-TechE, was awarded an OBE for services to agri-technologies and farming in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Dame Julia Hoggett (NC 1993), CEO of the London Stock Exchange, was honoured for services to business and finance and made a Dame in the King’s Birthday Honours list.

Ruth Haynes (NC 1994) became a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, nineteen years after becoming a Member of the ICE. She has written Structural Robustness and Disproportionate Collapse in Buildings for the Institution of Structural Engineers (2023).

Nicola Garrard’ s (NC 1997) new novel 21 MILES , the sequel to 29 LOCKS (HopeRoad, 2021) was published in 2023.

.............................................................................

Artist Juliette Losq (NC 1997) hosted an Open Studio Event on Eel Pie Island.

.............................................................................

Professor Emma Waring (NC 1997) has been ordained as a Priest in the Church of England and will be serving her curacy part-time as a self-supporting minister at the joint benefice of Christ Church, Skipton and St Mary’s, Carleton. She has also been appointed to a Chair at York Law School in the University of York, where she teaches and researches Property Law and Art Law and leads the LLM in Art Law.

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Dr Katrina Dean (NC 1999), Keeper of Archives and Modern Manuscripts at the UL, has been the archivist lead working on the acquisition of Stephen Hawking's archive, which includes not only scientific papers and early drafts of his bestselling A Brief History of Time , but also his

personal correspondence and souvenirs.

2000s

Laura Hadland ( Coats , NC 2001) has been named CAMRA’s Campaigner of the Year 2024, in recognition of her active contribution to championing independent breweries and pubs, campaigning to protect heritage pub buildings and bringing cask ale to a new audience –especially women.

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Newnhamites from the early 2000s gathered to celebrate the publication of Dr Mary L. Shannon ’s (NC 2001) new book Billy Waters is Dancing (Yale University Press, 2024) at the London launch event at Daunt Books.

Claire Hilliard ( Ingram , NC 2002) gave birth to her third daughter in March 2020.

Dr Úna Monaghan (NC 2002) has been appointed Lecturer in Sound and Music Computing at Queen’s University Belfast. Úna also released her album Aonaracht , an album of new compositions for soloists and computer.

Dr Kirsty Dootson (NC 2003; Research Fellow 2018–21) has been named as one of the 2024 BBC New Generation Thinkers. She is interested in the politics of making images in colour and her work explores how colours might harbour deep political power.

Eve Poole (NC 2004) has published a book titled Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity (CRC Press, 2023).

Dr Fibian Lukalo (NC 2006) has joined the Ban Ki-Moon Centre’s advisory council on Women in Agriculture.

Nasira Ashraf (NC 2007) of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was

awarded an OBE for services to British Foreign Policy in the King’s Birthday Honours.

.............................................................................

Rachael C. Haggerty (NC 2007) and her husband Alastair welcomed their second son Aidan Christopher Haggerty in 2023.

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Dr Hetta Howes (NC 2008) is a senior lecturer in medieval literature at City, University of London. Her latest book is Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2024).

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Julia Rampen ’s (NC 2008) novel The Bay (Saraband Books, 2023) was awarded the Gilpin Prize for Fiction.

2010s

Dr Jenna Dittmar (NC 2012) has been appointed as Assistant Professor of Anatomical Sciences at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Louisiana, USA.

Dr Gaiane Nuridzhanian (NC 2013), associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the Arctic University of Norway, has published her monograph The Principle of ne bis in idem in International Criminal Law (Routledge, 2024).

Hannah Palmer ( Dunnett , NC 2014) gave birth to Josiah in 2023. They are doing well, and enjoying life as a family.

Elspeth Collard (NC 2014) was the orchestrator of a musical theatre production about the life and work of Rosalind Franklin (NC 1938), which had its premiere in December 2023 at the Tank Theatre, New York. After studying Music at Newnham, she moved to New York and took a master’s degree in Musical Theatre Composition at New York University. Elspeth works as a Music Teacher and also pursues various compositional opportunities in New York.

Sitara Bartle Davies (NC 2017) has featured Rita Clifton CBE (NC 1976) and Dame Louise Makin (NC 1979) in her podcast, Snippets with Sitara , which celebrates everyday stars.

Ella Catherall (NC 2018) has produced two shows for the Edinburgh Fringe. The first is  Lost Girl , an exploration of growing up and the expectation of womanhood, through the lens of Jewish–Arabic heritage. The second show is  Fix Your Mind , a show about incels and extreme misogyny from a queer perspective.

Beatrice Beressi (NC 2019) has published her second novel Plaything (Doubleday, 2024), as Bea Setton. The plot involves Newnham's porters, beautiful gardens and the Boat Club.

Music by composer Emily Hazrati (NC 2019) appeared on NMC Recordings’ Young Composers 5 , performed by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

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Lottie Mills (NC 2019) has published a collection of short stories, Monstrum (Simon & Schuster, 2024).

2020s

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Gregory (NC 2020) performed at the Royal Festival Hall in November 2023 as a soloist with the Bach Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra. She also performed at the Principal’s Circle event last September at Newnham.

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Lindsay McNeil (NC 2020) has been guaranteed a place on part two of her Bar course after scoring 91% on Civil Litigation and 92% on Criminal Litigation. Lindsay’s training has been supported by the Kemp Fund.

Deceased Members of the Roll

We are sorry to have been informed of the following alumnae having passed away. Page numbers are given below for alumnae whose life stories are published in this issue.

1930s

1940s

Betty Colville ( Norris , NC 1933) on 31 December 2013

Mithoo Coorlawala ( Chenoy , NC 1938) on 23 April 2024 (p. 106)

Keren (Kay) De Sa ( Tyrrell , NC 1941) on 21 December 2023

Audrey Woodward ( Blakey , NC 1941) on 31 October 2023 (p. 130)

Olga Kennard ( Weisz , NC 1942) in 2023 (p. 114)

Judith Miles ( St George Kirke , NC 1942) on 10 October 2019

Mary Rowlands ( Crosfield , NC 1942) on 24 November 2023 (p. 121)

Sheila Cook ( Holgate , NC 1943) on 13 April 2024

Joan Rudd-Jones ( Newhouse , NC 1943) on 25 May 2024

Hilary Grace Woodward Temple ( Aston , NC 1943) in 2023 (p. 126)

Elizabeth (Ailsa) O’Brien ( Craig , NC 1944) on 30 March 2023

Alice Shalvi ( Margulies , NC 1944) on 2 October 2023

Anne Foister ( John , NC 1945) on 13 September 2023

Inez Mary Patricia (Pat) Goode ( Smeed , NC 1947) in 2023 (p. 110)

Jean (Pat) Harman ( Harrison , NC 1946) on 4 May 2024 (p. 113)

Elizabeth Jane Rowe (NC 1946) on 4 August 2023

Gillian Matthews (NC 1946) on 5 January 2024 (p. 116)

Edith Chinnery ( Robinson , NC 1947) on 14 May 2023

Leila Deakin ( Keane , NC 1947) on 25 November 2022

Elizabeth Carlisle ( Hutt , NC 1947) in 2023 (p. 105)

Margaret (Pat) Arrowsmith (NC 1948) on 29 September 2023 (p. 102)

Patience Purdy ( Fairbairn , NC 1948) on 14 February 2024

Anne Metcalfe ( Page , NC 1949) on 1 October 2022

Diana Phillips ( Hakim , NC 1948) on 31 August 2024

1950s

Margaret Cotton ( Hutchinson , NC 1950) on 26 January 2024 (p. 107)

Elizabeth Mary Jewell ( Cockcroft , NC 1950) on 18 August 2023

Brenda Jillard (NC 1951) on 21 September 2023

Jean Stedman ( Barke , NC 1951) on 18 May 2024 (p. 124)

Janet West ( Abram , NC 1951) on 3 June 2024

Hazel Stibbe ( Rawlinson , NC 1952) on 1 May 2022

Mary Tredennick (NC 1952) on 1 August 2024

Marjorie Horrell ( Jackson , NC 1953) on 24 April 2024

Caroline Taylor ( Scott , NC 1953) on 17 September 2023 (p. 125)

Caroline (Cherry) Baden-Powell ( Oliver , NC 1954) on 28 March 2024

1960s

1970s

Antonia Byatt ( Drabble , NC 1954) on 16 November 2023 (p. 30)

Barbara Goodman ( Arsheen , NC 1954) on 1 March 2023

Doris Matthews ( Brame , NC 1954) on 29 February 2024 (p. 115)

Pamela Pentelow ( Chick , NC 1954) on 5 May 2023 (p. 119)

Jill Abery ( Turner , NC 1955) on 12 July 2024

Jill Crisp ( Ramsden , NC 1955) on 19 May 2023

Margaret Dougherty ( Waghorn , NC 1955) in 2024 (p. 108)

Barbara Edge ( Corsie , NC 1955) on 1 January 2024

Olwen Howard ( Jenkins , NC 1955) on 21 July 2023

Elizabeth Tucker (NC 1955) on 18 May 2024 (p. 128)

Diana Cruickshank (NC 1956) on 22 October 2023

Jocelyn Rennie ( Hill , NC 1956) on 18 December 2023

Fay Thornton ( Nutbeam , NC 1956) on 2 April 2024 (p. 127)

Hilary Wilshaw ( Saunders , NC 1956) on 30 March 2023

Patricia (Pat) Salaman ( Burkett , NC 1957) on 9 January 2024

Sara (Sally) Beales ( Ledbury , NC 1958) on 11 April 2024 (p. 103)

Heather Bliss ( Midmer , NC 1959) on 12 July 2023

Jose Harris ( Chambers , NC 1959) on 13 September 2023

Jennifer Salisbury (NC 1959) on 18 October 2023 (p. 122)

Phyllis Guthardt (NC 1960) in 2023 (p. 111)

Hilary Keesing ( Hammond , NC 1960) on 1 January 2024

Margaret Lobo ( Black , NC 1960) in 2024

Hazel Stedman ( Cooke , NC 1961) on 20 December 2023 (p. 123)

Janet Moreton ( Rowlands , NC 1961) on 15 January 2024 (p. 117)

Judith Horton ( Mettrick , NC 1962)

Susan Meacock ( Hodge , NC 1962) on 1 June 2024

Susan Walkden (NC 1962) in 2022 (p. 000)

Caroline Hall ( Maddrell , NC 1965) on 25 May 2024 (p. 112)

Jane Ward (NC 1967) in 2024

Lyn Webster Wilde ( Webster , NC 1968) on 28 April 2024

Susan (Sue) Roberts (NC 1969) on 6 May 2024 (p. 120)

Jane Snowden (NC 1969) on 26 August 2024

Clare Bigg ( Ashcroft , NC 1971) on 10 March 2024 (p. 104)

Isabella Forshall (NC 1974) on 1 April 2024 (p. 109)

Saskia Murk Jansen (NC 1976) on 19 February 2024 (p. 118)

1990s Jennifer Formichelli (NC 1996) on 26 October 2021

Opposite page:

photo by

Dasha

Life Stories

(MARGARET) PAT ARROWSMITH

1930–2023 (NC 1948)

When Pat Arrowsmith was asked by a journalist how she would like to be remembered, she answered ‘as a persistent but not entirely humourless activist’. The obituaries that appeared in every British broadsheet newspaper on her death aged 93 were a tribute to both her persistent peace campaigning and her ready laughter.

Pat arrived at Newnham in 1948 to study for the History Tripos. It was perhaps her history degree which encouraged Pat to see the value of creating a personal archive, and she kept diaries, photograph albums and newspaper cuttings throughout her life. She spent time in Chicago in the early 1950s, on projects to improve race relations in the city, before returning to England as a social worker and psychiatric nurse.

Pat came to public attention in 1958, when she took on the role of Organising Secretary for the first four-day protest march from London to Aldermaston, to demonstrate against the nuclear weapons research station there. It was the beginning of a long association with the newly founded CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), of which she was vice president

for many years.

Pat was committed to non-violent direct action, and she would be imprisoned eleven times over the course of her life. She was declared Britain’s first prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and questions about her treatment were asked in the House of Commons. Her activism overshadowed her literary talents in the public eye, but Pat was also a poet and novelist. Her memoir I Should Have Been a Hornby Train tells the story of a young lesbian growing up in the repressive atmosphere of the 1940s. Pat had a long-term relationship with fellow campaigner Wendy Butlin and was open about her sexuality, firmly listing her ‘lesbian partnership’ in Who’s Who , the first woman to do so.

In 2004, aged 74, Pat returned to march again from London to Aldermaston, once again making a speech to the crowd. She continued to take part in protests and marches into her 80s.

Pat’s archive of her personal and professional life is held in the LSE Library: a remarkable resource for a new generation of historians.

Compiled by the editors from published sources

SARA JEAN (SALLY) BEALES

1936–2024 ( LEDBURY , NC 1958)

Sally was born in Bath and attended Bath High School. Her education was enhanced by working on Saturdays for her journalist father, writing reports on Bath rugby games, reviewing musical and theatrical performances and extracting details of the victors in local dog shows. In 1955 she was awarded the Reid Scholarship in Classics at Bedford College, London, where she studied Latin and Greek, played tennis and appeared in musicals. She then spent a year at Newnham where she gained the Diploma in Classical Archaeology.

Sally married Derek Beales, a historian at Sidney Sussex College, in 1964. She became Head of Classics at Parkside Grammar School for Girls and later at the new Hills Road Sixth Form College. She and Derek befriended many of his students, inviting them to memorable parties at the family home.

Sally was, she said, certain that she did not want to become a teacher. But after a few years doing administrative work, she was persuaded to try a job at Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol. That experience led to a career inspiring generations of pupils and championing

Classics. Inspired by her love of the literature, she learnt Russian, encouraged by a Norwegian lecturer in Russian at Sidney, with whom she exchanged Ancient Greek lessons. Sally later also taught Russian at Hills Road.

After retiring from teaching, Sally worked part-time and published a biography of Victorian writer Jane Brookfield in 2014. Sally and Derek built their own house, with Sally carrying most of the organisational burden. In 2010 they moved to a flat just a few minutes’ walk from Newnham.

Sally’s abiding interest in people brought a wide circle of friends, going back to her school and university days. She took a deep and affectionate interest in her family, passing on her passion for music as well as for academic pursuits. Sally died after a short illness on 11 April 2024, surrounded by her family. She will be greatly missed by her children, grandchildren and many friends.

Richard and Kitty Beales (son and daughter)

CLARE ELIZABETH BIGG

1953–2024 ( ASHCROFT , NC 1971)

Clare was born in Rugby into a large family of five children. Her father, David, was a master at the famous school of that name. In 1959 David was appointed to the headmastership of Cheltenham College and Clare, having continued her secondary education at St Mary’s school, Calne, spent her final year at Cheltenham. She read Maths at Newnham, gaining a First at the end of her first year.

Clare married Howard in 1980, and after the birth of Michael and Alex in due course, she began a successful teaching career at the Perse School, Cambridge.

On retirement in 2013, Clare trained as a Licenced Lay Minister in the Church of England and served in the parish of St Mary’s, Hardwick.

Clare was greatly loved in the parish and beyond it and will be hugely missed.

Howard C. Bigg (husband)

ELIZABETH CAROLINE (CAROL) CARLISLE

1928–2023 ( HUTT , NC 1947)

Carol Carlisle was born in Berkshire on 4 April 1928. She attended a ‘Dame’ School nearby and then Cheltenham Ladies College, where she saw out the war with ice inside the windows in winter, terrible food and an unabated appetite for science. Her Higher School Certificate from the University of London, dated Midsummer 1946, records her achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. In 1947 she secured a place at Newnham College as one of only three women in her year reading Natural Sciences, out of a total of 130 undergraduates. She loved her time at Cambridge and the academic freedom that it gave her. She went on to do a master’s in what she referred to as the ‘Rutherford Lab’ (The Cavendish Laboratory) where she studied Nuclear Physics. She would have heard the two lectures by Walter Heisenberg on ‘The Present Situation in the Theory of Elementary Particles’ and ‘The Electron Theory of Superconductivity’ that he gave at the Cavendish Lab in December 1947, and kept her copy of The Mysterious Universe by Sir James Jeans (1944) until she died.

Her first job was at Aldermaston, where she was assigned to research beta radiation. Twenty years later, conflicted about the value of nuclear energy and its uses, she joined Scientists against Nuclear Arms (SANA), which had been formed in 1981 by two academics at the Open University. When she married Christopher Carlisle in 1955 she gave up working and turned to raising her family of three children, Isabel, Lucy and Nicholas. But she went back to Physics in 1975, teaching girls at Francis Holland and Godolphin and Latymer schools in London.

Carol had a strong Christian faith and leaning towards the mystics. She trained as a Third Order Lay Franciscan and when, in her later years, both her hearing and sight gave way, it was the strength of her faith that kept her going. She lived independently in her flat near Holland Park in London until the age of 93, only needing care after a fall in November 2022.

Isabel Carlisle (daughter)

MITHOO COORLAWALA

1917–2024 ( CHINOY , NC 1938)

Mithoo studied English Literature and History at Newnham, but had to return to India just before the Second World War. Her years at Newnham were a source of great satisfaction to her and she reminisced about them right till her last years. Mum was delighted when at eighty years old she was invited to and attended the Formal Degree Ceremony for women, held with all pomp and splendour many years after completion of the degree.

At the outbreak of war my father, Lt Col. Khushroo Coorlawala, joined the Indian military and was assigned to the battlefront in Burma. Mithoo volunteered as Head Information Officer and Librarian at the Indian Military Hospital in Trimulgeri. After partition our family lived in many parts of India, most particularly at Ambala and Simla. Eventually, they returned to Bombay in 1951.

With her typical energy and enthusiasm, Mithoo dived into the city’s activities. She was Blood Bank Secretary at St. George’s Hospital and served with the Indian Red Cross Society, the Cancer Society and the Women Graduates Union, in various capacities (Secretary,

Chairperson of the Executive Committee, Trustee). She also served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Cambridge Society of Bombay, and President of the Time & Talents Club. Both organisations sponsored many cultural events that were successful as social events, but also raised funds for charitable institutions providing medical, educational and other forms of relief for those in need.

Her publication the Ahd-Namaha contributes historical research on a little-known subject, the covenants of personal protection and religious freedom granted by the Prophet Muhammad to the Zarathustrians, Jews and Christians of Arabia. Her additional writings consist of reviews, articles and papers on literary and historical subjects. Most recently Mithoo had been serving as a resource for historical archives on the life of the city since Independence, the Citizens’ Archive of India (CAI).

Vivacious, loving and always positive, our 106-year young mother Mithoo will be greatly missed by her dear friends, both young and not so young.

Uttara Asha Coorlawala and Sherena R. Khan (daughters) Mithoo is pictured on her 105th birthday

MARGARET COTTON

1930–2024 ( HUTCHINSON , NC 1950)

Margaret was born in Newark to Lewis and Elsa Hutchinson, and had an older brother, Richard. She was educated at Newark High School and Malvern Girls’ College, where she shone at Mathematics. During the Second World War, she remembered, she walked the Malvern Hills picking up strips of tin foil, which was chaff developed to confuse enemy radar and was tested above the Malvern Hills.

After graduating from Newnham in Mathematics, Margaret was immediately seconded to the Admiralty to solve quadratic equations that maximised the efficiency of torpedo aiming from submarines, and one day a week used the Lyons teashop computer: LEO. In 1953, with three other graduates from Newnham, she rented a wooden Thames sailing barge called The James Piper , built in 1896, with four cabins, a living room, a solid fuel Aga and a bathroom with a lavatory that emptied by a hand pump directly into the Thames.

In 1952 she went on a Mediterranean cruise with her parents and met John Cotton, a petrochemical engineer. They were married in 1953 and rented a house in Southend. Moving to

Welwyn Garden City in 1956, she gave birth to twins followed by a third son eighteen months later. Later she taught Maths at Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School. She was appointed as a Magistrate and served on the Family court.

She enrolled on the first ministerial training scheme with the Diocese of St Albans and was ordained as a deaconess and priest. With her husband she ministered in the Hartford Hundred group of five rural parishes. She finally retired and enjoyed family life with five grandchildren and latterly four great-grandchildren.

We will miss her dedication, kindness and care for others – together with her singlemindedness, which is already showing in her four-year-old great-granddaughter, Hermione!

Jeremy Cotton (son)

MARGARET DOUGHERTY

1936–2024 ( WAGHORN , NC 1955)

Margaret grew up in Edgware, North London. Her background was humble; her father worked for Tilley manufacturing paraffin lamps and her mother had been a domestic servant. Her childhood was naturally affected by the war rationing and she hated waste. If you sat down for a meal with her you had to eat everything off the plate.

Margaret gained a place at Harrow Weald Grammar and this was the start of a great journey. She was the only girl in her class who took the sciences and was in the vanguard of a new generation of women post-war who began to challenge the status quo. After Harrow Weald she obtained a place at Newnham College to read Mathematics. However, to actually matriculate she needed an O level in Latin, since this was compulsory at the time for entrance to Cambridge. She learnt Latin and passed her O level in six months and duly matriculated in 1955. After Cambridge she worked as a statistician at the Admiralty and then as a maths teacher at Cambridgeshire High School for Girls. Marriage to Dr John Dougherty (a Mathematics Fellow of Pembroke) followed, and a break in her work

life to raise a family. She then retrained as a computer programmer and system analyst and spent the rest of her career building IT systems for the retail sector.

Margaret was a warm and generous person with many eclectic interests. She sang amateur opera and played trombone in a big band. She was excellent at many arts and crafts. Her watercolours hang on the walls of all the family homes and just about every bed has one of her beautifully designed and sewn patchwork quilts. Right up to her death she was always busy with different projects.

Margaret leaves two children, Jane (dentist) and Mark (Professor in IT), six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Much of our curiosity about the world and our academic achievements can be traced back to Margaret getting a place at Newnham College.

Mark Dougherty (son)

ISABELLA (ISSY) FORSHALL

1956–2023 (NC 1974)

Issy collapsed and died without forewarning on a train in Argentina, where she and her husband Tim had gone to visit their son Arthur. They had just celebrated her sixty-seventh birthday.

Her sudden untimely death met with an outpouring of grief and admiration. Over 400 people gathered to celebrate her in Clapton, where she had lived in the same house for forty years. She is described as formidable, courageous, committed, indomitable, honest and fearless, but also self-deprecating and modest. Her genuine self-doubt and black humour were her defining characteristics.

Issy’s distrust of authority and convention began in childhood. As a schoolgirl she was caught shoplifting from Biba and she ran away or was expelled from a number of schools. But at Newnham, where, inspired by Sita Narasimhan, she read English, she stayed put, involving herself in radical student politics.

Some were surprised when after Cambridge she chose to read for the bar, then an almost exclusive bastion of white, male, right-wing privilege. But what drove the small, fiercely determined young woman – who was to become,

in the words of Dame Helena Kennedy KC ‘everyone’s favourite barrister’ – was wanting ‘to know why people behaved as they did and why the law was such a blunt instrument’. Her pupillage was in an innovative socialist collective. She fought against the arrests of the Women’s Peace Camp protestors at Greenham Common. In the 1984–5 Miners’ Strike she stayed with their families and spent every day in court, pressing home their right to strike.

In 1990 she joined Doughty Street Chambers where ‘she gained a fearsome reputation as a defender of those considered indefensible’.

Appointed QC in 2010, she specialised in representing children and young people. Sadly, it was only posthumously that a more humane approach to their sentencing, based on her submissions, was formally adopted. Not only did she change lives, she changed the law.

Issy left behind her husband Judge Timothy Greene, children Mary and Arthur and grandson Aydin.

Charlotte Chesney (NC 1973) (friend), with grateful acknowledgement to Dame Helena Kennedy KC

INEZ MARY PATRICIA (PAT) GOODE

1927–2023 ( SMEED , NC 1947)

Pat read Natural Sciences at Newnham and then completed her clinical medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, as Cambridge did not have a clinical school at the time. At Bart’s she met and married a fellow student who was a returned serviceman, Howard Goode, and they subsequently established a shared country general practice in a village outside Dorking in Surrey. They worked together in the practice for over thirty years, dedicated to providing compassionate, round-the-clock care to their patients.

Pat had also completed specialist training in dermatology, and as well continued to work part-time as a dermatology consultant at the Royal East Surrey Hospital. After Howard’s death she did not wish to work in the practice they had established together and returned to full-time dermatology until her retirement from medicine at the age of eighty-one.

She successfully combined careers in two medical specialities with raising a family and dedication to her church life at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Dorking. She served for thirty-seven

years as a lay reader and churchwarden and in 2001 took the Archbishop’s Diploma in Theology. In 2018 she was selected to receive the Maundy Money from the late Queen Elizabeth, in recognition of her services to the church. Pat provided an inspiring role model for women’s achievements and in combining career and family for her own daughters, who would go on to become doctors and vets themselves. She often mentioned that her days at Newnham were some of the happiest and most formative of her life. One of her final pleasures was watching the live streaming of her eldest granddaughter’s procession from Newnham for her graduation at Senate house, as one of a third generation of women doctors in the family.

Dr Geraldine Trevella, Dr Anthea Pipe and Dr Kirsten Hutton (daughters)

PHYLLIS M. GUTHARDT

1929–2023 (NC 1960)

Dame Phyllis Guthardt has a unique place in the history of New Zealand Methodism as the first woman of any New Zealand denomination to be ordained.

As a young woman, Phyl wanted to be a teacher, but she started working as a secretary so she could care for her mother. She trained at Christchurch Teachers’ College and taught in Nelson and Christchurch while undertaking parttime university study. In 1953 she was struck by a ‘clear and irrevocable’ call to ordained ministry. Phyl trained for ministry at Trinity College, Auckland from 1954 to 1956. During this time she also completed her BA. Her ministry was marked by strong Biblical preaching, warm pastoral care and a lively sense of humour. She never took herself too seriously. She was ordained in 1959.

From the start, Phyl felt ‘huge pressure to “do well” and justify the Church’s confidence’ in her. A person who delighted in scholarship, she completed an MA at Canterbury (NZ) in 1959 and a PhD in Biblical Theology from the University of Cambridge in 1963. After her return to New Zealand in 1964, Phyl served as a minister or chaplain over many years in the Presbyterian and

Methodist Churches.

For more than thirty years Phyl was a regular broadcaster on religious and current affairs on Radio New Zealand. She achieved many honours, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato, Foundation Member of the Honorable Order of Jerusalem of the World Methodist Council and in 1993 was awarded a DBE for ‘pioneer services to women’. She served as Pro-Chancellor and Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (NZ). Her inclusive leadership style, hard work, understanding of the university and care for staff and students alike were greatly appreciated.

Phyl spent the last years of her life at WesleyCare in Christchurch, retaining her humour, grace, determination and interest in life. As a preacher and pastor, university leader and radio broadcaster, beloved friend and mentor, Phyllis Guthardt touched and inspired many lives.

Rev

Susan Thompson (friend)

CAROLINE HALL

1947–2024 ( Maddrell , NC 1965)

Caroline had four older brothers. At secondary school in Winchester she was so keen on leading other girls astray that she was required to leave the school’s boarding house. As a teenager she enjoyed tennis and athletics, becoming regional champion discus thrower for her age group. She played hockey for the University.

Shortly after graduating she married Geoff Hall, a psychologist at Caius. Her PhD research involved mother–young interaction in mice at a time when the role of genetic factors in human psychology was a hot topic.

Caroline and Geoff moved to York in 1975 when Geoff took up a lectureship in the new Psychology Department. Caroline worked as a psychologist in the Prison Service, mostly in the training of officers at their Wakefield College. She switched to part-time with the birth of Tom (1980) and Richard (1984). In 1986 her neighbour asked her to start counselling students at the University. It was the perfect job for her, and she successfully established and ran a full student counselling service. Around this time she also began writing poetry. She was active with

the Newnham North Yorkshire group, hosting lunches and organising events.

Retiring in 2007, she threw her energies into new fields: the Village Hall Committee of Sand Hutton near York, where they lived, and the Parish Council. She was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and for many years a tour guide at the Yorkshire Arboretum. She devoted much time and energy to music, singing with many choirs and founding her own. For eight years she was Chair of the North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre, and was highly successful in fundraising. Only as her illness took hold did she slow down.

Caroline died in May of motor neurone disease. As her health declined Geoff became her carer, shouldering medication schedules, admin and housework.

She was a great friend, always lively and witty. The words most often on her lips were ‘I’m enjoying this’.

Geoff, Tom and Richard survive her.

Eve Johansson and Sue Limb (both NC 1965) with help from Geoff Hall (husband)

JEAN PATRICIA (PAT) HARMAN

1925–2024 ( HARRISON , NC 1946)

Born in Chester-le-Street and brought up in Bishop Auckland, and from 1940 in Chester, Pat won a school scholarship to Cambridge University. The Second World War intervened, so she deferred entry and joined the WRNS, serving as a radar operator in Derry/Londonderry, amongst other places. In 1946 she entered Newnham to read History. In 1948 she was among the first cohort of women to be awarded a degree at Newnham. Her vivid memories of Newnham life included stories of friends huddling together around one coal fire to keep warm during the freezing 1947 winter.

At Cambridge Pat met Don Harman (Trinity). He heard her telling a joke in a friend’s rooms, saw her performing in Neville’s Nights Review, singing the music hall number ‘Joshua’, and was smitten. Then they bumped into each other while rushing to hand in essays. Married in 1949, they had three children, Deborah, Melissa and Richard. Married life saw them move to London, Buckinghamshire, Glasgow, Kidderminster, Africa and Chester-le-Street (again) until settling in 1964 back in Kidderminster. They loved their home and garden and the cottage in North

Wales where they enjoyed family holidays. After Don died in 2006 Pat continued living at their beloved home until weeks before her death.

As well as history, she loved literature and had a huge memory store of stories and poems, which she would recite, word-perfect, right up to the last days before her passing. She became a passionate and popular English teacher (1965–1983) at Kidderminster High School (later King Charles I School). She inspired her students to develop a lifelong love of English literature and respect for language and, in some cases, to build a career in the subject.

She was also a great letter-writer and kept in regular touch with her Newnham (and other) friends for years.

Pat was someone who really touched people, who made a difference. The many tributes written by former students and family friends following her death attest to this.

Melissa Harman, Deborah McLachlan and Richard Harman (children)

OLGA KENNARD

1924–2023 ( WEISZ , NC 1942)

Born in Hungary, Dr Olga Kennard moved to the UK just before the outbreak of the Second World War and studied Natural Sciences at Newnham. In 1944 she joined the Cavendish Laboratory under Lawrence Bragg as an assistant to Max Perutz in the Department of Physics. After completing the first X-ray structure at the Laboratory (albeit on a very small structure), she moved to London in 1948, and then to the Cambridge Chemistry Department in 1962.

At this point it was difficult to solve larger structures with Crystallography, and crystallographers often experienced suspicion from more traditional chemists. Dr Kennard persevered and persuaded the department to purchase a diffractometer, the first to be used for small molecule studies. Supported by the Medical Research Council, Dr Kennard and colleagues worked on a variety of medical compounds including antibiotics and (excitingly) the structure of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

As the volume of structural data increased, Dr Kennard, along with Dr J. D. Bernal, realised that the collective use of data would lead to new knowledge and generate insights. This

vision led to the founding of the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) in 1965. From its humble beginnings, the CSD now contains over 1.3 million small-molecule organic and metalorganic crystal structures. Continually growing, big-data learnings from the collective results are used globally to advance scientific research into pharmaceuticals, functional materials, catalysts and more in both commercial and academic research.

Dr Kennard went on to lead the CCDC until 1997 and authored over 140 structures during her career. Her huge contribution to crystallography was recognised by many: she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and, in recognition of her work, there is the Royal Society Olga Kennard Research Fellowship in Crystallography; she received an OBE for ‘Services to Scientific Research on the Structure of Biological Molecules’ and many prizes and honorary degrees. Honours continued to come in right to the end of her life: she was awarded the 2023 Gregori Aminoff Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Adapted from an obituary by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) See also our article on p. 89

DORIS RHODA MATTHEWS

1936–2024 ( BRAME , NC 1954)

Doris was born in Stowupland, Suffolk, attended Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, where she was Head Girl, and then studied Natural Sciences at Newnham.

While at Cambridge she joined the Congregational Church, where she met another student, Rolph Schwarzenberger, who was studying Mathematics, and they married in 1958.

After Doris graduated she worked at the University, undertaking research into X-Ray Crystallography. After Rolph completed his PhD they moved to Liverpool and had two sons, Paul and Alan. Following another move, this time to Leamington Spa, Doris joined the Engineering Department of Warwick University as a Research Assistant where she specialised in Electron Microscopy.

Doris was active in the Congregational Church, enjoyed gardening, nature, plants and flowers, and was very aware of the importance of protecting and safeguarding the environment.

Having first learnt violin at school, she took lessons as an adult, practised extensively and joined Warwick University Orchestra. She enjoyed many concerts at the University Arts

Centre, including from the resident Coull String Quartet.

Doris travelled around the world, including two year-long sabbaticals with her husband Rolph in the USA: Spring Glen in Princeton 1961, and Yale University in 1967.

After her husband’s death in 1992 she moved back to East Anglia, living in Norwich, where she developed interests in complementary therapies including the interpretation of dreams, crystals and homeopathy. She continued her love of music, joining the Sillars Orchestra in Norwich, where she met John Matthews, who played clarinet and saxophone. They married in 1998, and they enjoyed going to concerts together, playing music in orchestras and ensembles, walking and exploring East Anglia.

The church continued to be an important part of her life; Doris regularly attended services at Norwich Cathedral, and joined the Norwich Julian group.

Doris is survived by her younger sister Edna, two sons, eight grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

Alan and Paul Schwarzenberger (sons)

GILLIAN MATTHEWS

1928–2024 (NC 1946)

Dr Gillian Matthews died peacefully in her sleep at the age of ninety-five. She was much loved and admired, as a mother and as a grandmother, as a doctor and as an inspirational leader. She lived in a lovely bungalow in South Croydon. Apart from some mild confusion towards the end, she read the Times every day.

During the Second World War her family moved from London to Cheltenham, partly so Gillian could attend Cheltenham Ladies’ College.

After medical training at Newnham and King’s College London she qualified in 1952 and went to work in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She married Dr Maurice Stein (a GP, and ex-RAF) in 1959, and as well as being full-time doctors they brought up four children in Ashford, Kent. To start a family, she had a short break from medicine, then became a GP, maintaining her interest in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and family planning. Their home was their general practice. She pioneered managing labour at home, sometimes returning to the family home to make breakfast for the family wearing her suit over her nightie. In the late 1970s she retrained in Public Health Medicine and became a

Community Physician. Her many achievements in Public Health included leading (or being heavily involved in): the re-organisation of renal (and transplantation) services in South East Thames; the closure of the Brook Hospital; mergers of Guy’s/Thomas’ and London/ Barts; and the Resource Allocation Working Party (RAWP), which worked to equalise healthcare spending across England.

Gillian was an avid reader – she thought War and Peace an ‘easy read’ – and an expert dressmaker. She was a proud feminist and heavily involved in promoting women in medicine post-war, and through her career. She was always proud to wear Suffragette colours. She was an active Soroptimist, serving as President of the clubs at Ashford and then Croydon (twice).

Above all, she was a ‘family woman’ and held responsibility for and love of family as her most important achievement. She is survived by two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.

Emma Stein, Andrew Stein and Samuel Stein (children)

JANET MORETON

1942–2024 ( ROWLANDS , NC 1961)

Janet Rowlands was born in Portsmouth, where she spent much of her early childhood in the care of her mother and grandmother. Walks with her uncle Len sparked a lifelong passion for walking and wildflowers. The family moved to Stoke-on-Trent, where her school did not teach Physics to A-level, so, keen to study science at university, she taught herself. That same determination, and her ability, gained her a place at Newnham to read Natural Sciences, eventually specialising in Chemistry. Many of her fellow students in Old Hall became lifelong friends. Janet never rode a bike and was often seen walking at great speed between lectures.

Janet had drawn close to Roger Moreton over their undergraduate years and they shared many interests, including a love of nature, the countryside and walking. They also enjoyed music and for a time sang with the choir of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society. After graduation Janet worked at the Welding Research Institute in Babraham for many years, first in the Chemistry Department, and then in the Library, editing papers for publication. It was obviously a broadening experience, since

only recently Janet referred to ‘welding shop language’.

Janet and Roger were married in 1965 and in 1967 bought the house in Emery Street in Cambridge that became their lifetime home. There they entertained their University friends (and those friends’ children) on return visits to Cambridge. Janet’s annual Christmas newsletters kept friends informed of her and Roger’s increasingly vigorous rambling activities, starting with the British long-distance footpaths, but later including Scottish Munros and walks in Europe. They were also heavily involved in rambling in and around Cambridge, and did much valuable work on footpaths in connection with the local authority.

Janet and Roger’s rambling was reduced, but not terminated, by Roger’s stroke in 2013. Janet with other friends continued to walk the local footpaths. She worked vigorously as Roger’s carer even though she herself was becoming more frail. Her hearing difficulties worsened, and more recently she suffered from Parkinson’s disease. She died in February 2024.

Janet

Harris ( Northover , NC 1961)

SASKIA MONIQUE MURK JANSEN

1957–2024 (NC 1976)

Saskia Murk Jansen was Peterhouse’s Development Director from the start of 2011. She passed away from us completely unexpectedly on 19 February 2024. This, and the fact that she was a Tutor to undergraduates and acting Praelector made her sudden loss not only the more of a shock to those who worked closely with her, but it has also been a piercing trauma to the College community as a whole. Her family was Dutch, and she came to Britain as a baby. She was bilingual in Dutch and English. Her education was at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith, before she became an undergraduate at Newnham College in 1976 and took a First in the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos (Dutch and Spanish). Her PhD was on the Beguines in the Middle Ages, particularly their writings in European vernaculars. She was President of Newnham MCR.

After Newnham she migrated to Robinson College as a British Academy Research Fellow and became Graduate Tutor and Praelector from 1989 to 2010. She was Newnham’s Proctor for the years 2003–6, and Senior Proctor for 2004/5.

For some time she combined her academic interests with policy and development work in roles at the Cambridge University Development Office, including as the University’s first Head of Alumni Relations.

Saskia was married with two children. She was a committed Anglican, but interested in interfaith dialogue. Her love for and commitment to her family were always evident, as were her unstinting efforts for Peterhouse. She kept animals and put time and energy at difficult hours into caring for them daily out at her rural property.

Saskia had a character that was loyal, generous, sympathetic and, it seemed, constantly cheerful and commendably charitable, however dreadful the circumstances. Her winning glance was unnerving in a Senior Proctor, and her broad smile was perhaps compelling to donors. Her arrival was regularly heralded and her presence accompanied by joyous laughter. That is how we should best remember her.

Abridged from a tribute published on www.pet.cam.ac.uk/ news/dr-saskia-murk-jansen-1957-2024, with kind permission of Dr P. Pattenden, Emeritus Fellow of Peterhouse Photograph reproduced by permission of Peterhouse

PAMELA PENTELOW

1936–2023 ( CHICK , NC 1954)

Pamela was born in Portsmouth, the daughter of a ship designer for the MOD. The family moved house numerous times before settling in Bath. She attended the City of Bath Girls School and took up a place at Newnham to study Mathematics.

She got involved in University life and was part of the University Rowing Club and rowed for the 2d VIII as well as singing with a choir in King’s College Chapel. She also joined the Congregational Society where she met her husband, John. They married just after graduating and moved to Nottingham, where they stayed throughout their more than sixty years of married life. John worked at Boots and Pamela took a job working for Rolls Royce in the design department working on, amongst other aircraft, the English Electric Lightning. Pamela did not go back to Rolls Royce having had her children, Sheila in 1959 and Keith in 1961. Instead, she worked in schools; not only was she involved in Maths teaching, but also Music as she had attended the London School of Music before going to Cambridge, achieving Grade 7. She joined the staff at Nottingham

University as a Maths Tutor and continued in this role for about twenty years as well as tutoring Maths at the Open University. One of her former students summarised her influence when she said, ‘Pamela’s support and encouragement enabled me to battle through times of doubt and depression to achieve a First’. After retirement she continued to play the sports she loved: tennis, badminton and table tennis. She and John also took up ballroom dancing and holidays were often arranged at a place where there would be some dancing available. Holidays in France and Germany helped to keep up her language skills, with some Italian and Spanish in the mix as well. She enjoyed seeing her three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She passed away peacefully a few days before her eighty-seventh birthday.

Keith

Pentelow (son)

SUSAN (SUE) ROBERTS

1950–2024 (NC 1969)

Susan Roberts was born in 1950, almost avoiding the post-war hardships of rationing and accommodation shortages. Her first year was spent in a cold flat in south-east London, unaware that downstairs her neighbour Mr Galley was devising the core of the British nuclear bomb. Her family soon moved to Blackheath, where she befriended Jennifer Jacobs, a friendship that lasted throughout her life.

Sue was academically gifted, attending Blackheath High School and earning the nickname Sukey, due to the many Susans in her year. She stood out academically and in sports, particularly lacrosse. She read History at Newnham, defying her family’s Oxford traditions; while there she was also awarded a half-Blue in lacrosse, and formed lasting friendships.

After Cambridge Sue spent nearly a year helping Ugandan Asians resettle in Britain, then pursued a Social Studies diploma at Cardiff University. Her career in social work began at Greenwich Council. She then worked for a charity supporting prisoners’ families,

finding the role more rewarding due to tangible results. Her final job was at Childline, part of the NSPCC, where she worked for 20 years, dedicating her life to helping others.

Sue had a rich personal life with varied interests. An avid reader of history and archaeology, she also enjoyed classical music and theatre. She travelled extensively and collected Art Deco items. She engaged with two social groups, the ‘Larks’ and the ‘Old Ruins’ – who took holidays with an archaeological twist – and loved staying in historic houses, often accompanied by her friend Audrey HydeChambers.

A keen sailor from a young age, Sue enjoyed numerous sailing holidays and was partowner of the yacht Jacstar. She cherished family traditions, like hosting Christmas Eve for her brother’s children and grandchildren, demonstrating her empathy with young people.

Sue retired less than three years before her death from endocrine cancer. She had many plans for retirement, but her illness curtailed them, ending a life marked by many friendships, wide interests and great dedication to helping others.

John Roberts (brother)

MARY ROWLANDS

1923–2023 ( CROSFIELD , NC 1942)

Mary followed her mother, Helen Grace Crosfield ( Harvey , NC 1901) to Newnham. Her subject was History, and she was particularly proud of having written a dissertation on St Francis, based on original sources in Latin.

After her marriage in 1947 her focus was strongly on family and homemaking. She drew on her interest in history to write a number of articles and pamphlets about Quakers in North Yorkshire, and in later life she wrote poetry, which gave her much pleasure. She instilled a love of reading and of learning in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mary died just a month after her hundredth birthday and, although she had dementia and much about the celebration passed her by, she was able to appreciate the handwritten card sent by Alison Rose.

Helen Rowlands (daughter)

JENNIFER ANN SALISBURY

1940–2023 (NC 1959)

Jennifer was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and grew up in Southall and Hampton Hill in west London. She was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls, then in West Acton, where she rose to be Head Girl before heading up to Newnham to study Medicine. As an undergraduate Jennifer joined the Christian Union, building on her strong faith that had started in her childhood and endured throughout her life.

On completion of her training in 1965, Jennifer undertook House Physician and House Surgeon roles in St Thomas’ and Portsmouth before commencing her first Senior House Officer role in St Thomas’ Anaesthetics and Intensive Care. In 1970 Jennifer moved to Hornchurch in east London to take on a role in general practice. She developed a strong interest in dermatology, and in 1980 she took the decision to return to hospital medicine as a registrar, whilst bringing up her three boys, James, Nicholas and Andrew. Jennifer took on the additional role of Clinical Tutor at the Royal London from 1987, and in 1990 she was appointed Consultant Dermatologist at Whipps Cross Hospital and the Royal London.

She was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1998 and, after her retirement from the NHS in 2005, continued in private practice until 2007.

Through all of her clinical appointments Jennifer was held in great affection and esteem by her patients and staff; she was a lifelong supporter of medicine de la personne , affirming the enduring value of person-centred delivery of medical care. Jennifer’s strong Christian faith endured throughout her life; she was an active member of her church community and a Trustee of Daybreak, a Christian drug counselling charity based in east London. Shortly before retiring from the NHS she was licensed as a Lay Minister of the Diocese of Chelmsford, where she practiced until 2018.

Jennifer always spoke lovingly of her foundational years in Newnham and the lifelong friendships she made there. Her love, kindness and wise counsel are greatly missed by her surviving family, friends and colleagues.

James Fernandes (son)

HAZEL STEDMAN

1943–2024 ( COOKE ,NC 1961)

Hazel was born in London and was the first member of her family to go to university. In Old Hall she joined a group of scientists and mathematicians; we are all still in touch. Hazel studied Physics, Metallurgy and Crystallography. She met Donald Stedman, also a NatSci; they married soon after graduation and lived in Norfolk, renovating a flint cottage. They moved to London and then to Kansas, where they completed their family of three sons. Hazel studied Dentistry and took a research post in Oral Biology. Later, Donald became a Professor at Denver University in Colorado, where Hazel had a large fruit and vegetable garden. She founded the Colorado Youth Orchestra and was also able to follow her lifelong interest in the local wildlife. They travelled frequently, partly due to Donald’s research interest in pollution. After Don died she moved to California and continued travelling. Her son says, ‘She left us her gracious spirit, intelligent conversation and kindness’.

Janet Harris ( Northover , NC 1961)

JEAN STEDMAN

1933–2024 ( BARKE , NC 1951)

Jean was born in Tottenham, north London, only child of Alf and Winnie. Alf worked in the family greengrocer’s shop. She attended local schools, remaining in London throughout the Second World War, and was Head Girl in her last year at Tottenham High School. She initially studied History, but switched to Archaeology & Anthropology, and went on to work at the BBC, Unilever and Westland Helicopters. She first met her husband Mark (Downing) when they both visited the Senate House Library of the University of London for vacation study. They married in 1956 and moved to Somerset for Mark’s first teaching post. In later years Jean was Mark’s PA at the Assistant Masters & Mistresses Association in London (now part of NEU), until they both retired in 1993, moving to Bollington in Cheshire. Jean was an intelligent, creative and levelheaded person. She continued a lifelong interest in archaeology, and science in general, which she passed on to her three children, Carol (Geology), Thomas (Engineering) and John (Chemistry). She was always there to help out with homework, and later with grandchildren (Jack, Sam and Ben).

Jean also joined Mark in various activities outside work. In London they supported the local community centre, including the Christmas lunch for those otherwise alone – cooking an extra turkey, four puddings and dozens of roast potatoes and sprouts. In Bollington Jean attended civic functions as consort mayoress when Mark was mayor of the Town Council in Millennium Year.

In retirement Jean and Mark travelled widely on their narrowboat, visiting virtually all of the UK canal network. Jean developed an expertise in Chinese ceramics and cloisonné, which they collected. They enjoyed watching football: she was a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter. Jean was recycling and upcycling way ahead of her time: in the 1970s she crushed cans and took them to a bemused north London scrap metal merchant. From the 1960s onwards she created numerous beautiful patchwork quilts from her dress-making scraps and second-hand clothes, continuing to sew squares up until her final short illness.

Mark (husband), Carol, Thomas and John (children)

CAROLINE MARY TAYLOR

1935–2023 ( SCOTT , NC 1953)

Caroline Taylor died in September 2023 at the end of a summer at home with her daughters, with sons-in-law and grandchildren, family and friends nipping in with sustenance – floral and edible following the season (she loved the sweet peas, hated the dahlias).

Caroline was the eldest of the five children of a Newbury doctor, Tom Scott, and his navaldaughter wife Elizabeth Ross. They lived on the Berkshire Downs in a house full of family, friends, goats, gardens, poetry and music.

She and her two sisters went to Cranborne Chase (‘Crichel’). Winning a scholarship to Cambridge, Caroline came up to Newnham to read English, with trepidation and enormous pride. Shortly after her arrival a friend invited her to a ‘black tie’ party. She replied that she would like to attend, but had no black tie. I am not sure that she ever quite felt happy with life’s sartorial requirements.

Newnham clearly consolidated an intellectual framework, arming her with the critical eye that was to make her a formidable editor. She was a wide-ranging reader, faithful to old friends (Trollope, Austen, Hardy, Dickens…).

Other lifelong Newnham friends included Antonia Boll, Jean Gooder and Felicity Meshoulam.

After Newnham Caroline spent a year tutoring cousins in Jakarta, before returning to England and a career in publishing, initially with Methuen in London, and then Ryerson Press in Toronto, where her brother Simon and his fiancée were setting up home.

Returning to London, she began work with Collins, source of lifelong friendships and a husband, Patrick Taylor. In 1976 they left London for Somerset, where they made their life, gardening, writing, editing, feasting and nurturing friendships. Both were sociable and wonderful cooks, and their homes sang with visitors. They had three daughters and six grandchildren. Caroline edited books throughout her life, including those on garden history written by Patrick.

Caroline is buried next to Patrick in a natural burial ground high on a West Country ridge, overlooking the landscape in which she made her life, in the company of skylarks and grazing sheep.

Annabel Gray, Sophie Blatchford and Laura Tucker (daughters)

HILARY GRACE WOODWARD TEMPLE

1924–2023 ( ASTON , NC 1943)

Hilary was brought up in a family where the schooling of girls was firmly supported. She read Mechanical Sciences, on which course she met our father. After his graduation our father was appointed as an engineer in the Colonial Service in Nigeria. Before he went they married, causing, not for the last time in their lives, the authorities considerable angst and Mother was almost sent down. Reason prevailed, however, and she was even allowed out of College at weekends to spend time with her husband.

They spent the next seventeen years in Nigeria, with periods of leave between tours. Despite a government policy not to employ wives, Hilary was the structural engineer for Lagos’s new telephone exchange. In the north of Nigeria, our parents immersed themselves in the community and both became fluent in Hausa. The new Nigerian government were more farsighted and progressive and put Hilary in charge of the housing programme; she climbed ladders to check roof work even when heavily pregnant.

On a later posting back in Lagos our parents

fell in love with sailing, which they continued back in England at Walton-on-the-Naze. Hilary started a hotel booking service for businesses, and later became involved in local planning matters in Kensington, as chair of the Cromwell Road Association and Treasurer of the Earls Court Society.

In 1998 she finally graduated when Cambridge decided to formally admit those surviving women who had been denied graduation. She loved reconnecting with some of her contemporaries from Newnham.

After Father’s death she remained active with art classes, keeping fit and visiting Crete and Turkey with the Cyclamen Society. She attended lectures at Imperial both by Zoom and physically, her interest in scientific development never waning. She was particularly pleased that so many of her grandchildren studied sciences at university, with a granddaughter and grandson becoming engineers.

Mother would remark that she had had a very full life – and indeed she did. While she will be missed by all of us, we can say goodbye with pride in that wonderful life.

Nick Temple (son)

FAY THORNTON

1938–2024 ( NUTBEAM , NC 1956)

Fay was born the eldest of three children near Petworth, where her father was a gardener. After the war, he took a Head Gardener’s job in South Wales. When Fay had reached the sixth form at grammar school, her father was looking for a new job. This time the move was to London, and the job was Head Gardener at Buckingham Palace. Fay was enrolled at Greycoat Hospital School, which in those days did not enter girls for Oxbridge. However, a girl in the year above had pestered the school so much that she was allowed to try – and she was accepted. The following year Fay was accepted to Newnham and read Part I Natural Sciences and Part II Physics.

After graduating Fay went into scientific publishing at the London branch of an American firm. Starting as a subeditor she rapidly mastered the process of converting an author’s script into a published book or a number of articles into a journal. Fay married in 1963 and her first child, a boy, was born the following year. It was her intention to return to work when her children were old enough to be left to a nanny and in the meantime her employer was feeding work to

her at home. At this stage fate stepped in. Her husband was moved to Paignton and her firm to Chichester, and child number 2 was on the way. Subsequently, her husband’s work took the family to Harlow and then Brussels. On return to England she made a home in Hertfordshire for the remainder of her life. She did a lot of work for the disabled, including twenty-five years as Treasurer of the local Society for the Disabled. Gardening was a major interest, not surprisingly in view of her father’s occupation. Travel also took up a lot of time, with a son in California and a daughter in Kenya.

She inherited her father’s sense of discipline and stubbornness, but still had a loving care for her family in the sixty years of her marriage.

Geoffrey Thornton (husband)

ELIZABETH MARY TUCKER

1936–2024 (NC 1955)

Elizabeth was a supremely kind, compassionate and caring lady of immense Christian faith, who touched and influenced myriad people in her rich and varied life.

She arrived from Cheltenham Ladies College at Newnham, where she thoroughly enjoyed her Classical Tripos. This set her on her highly successful path through the education world for thirty-eight years. Her PGCE from Kings College London launched her into her first post as Assistant Mistress at Queen Anne’s Caversham from 1959 to 1964, then a post as Head of Classics at Notting Hill and Ealing High School until 1972. A Classics teacher who joined the school in 1970 remarked to me that she ‘will never forget her kindness and her example’ and ‘the way she was always so joyful to see me’. This joy in seeing people is a beautifully common thread in so many conversations with people who knew her, be they family, friends, colleagues, ex-pupils or ex-staff. Her beaming smile was accompanied by ‘I can’t believe how wonderful it is to see you’. She simply loved people and people could not help reciprocating.

As Headmistress of Christ’s Hospital Girls

School in Hertford she was a happy and inspirational force for good for the school, her pupils and her colleagues. A 1970s pupil became a friend; once they had lunch together, before a talk Elizabeth was giving at the British Museum, during which the former pupil confessed a few crimes and misdemeanours when she did not get caught at school. Elizabeth was extremely amused, and with perfect timing said: ‘Well, it wasn’t your turn to get caught.’

As Headmistress of Headington Girls School in Oxford from 1982 until retirement in 1996 she continued her inspirational work with people and the school. She then became a passionate supporter of the Angola London Mozambique Association (ALMA).

She will be sorely missed as a loving cousin, aunt, great-aunt, and godmother; schoolfriend, Cambridge Classics graduate, inspiring teacher, accomplished headmistress, friend, colleague, mentor, philanthropist, church member, cellist in the Enfield Chamber Orchestra, soprano in the Bach Choir, piano player and neighbour.

Malcolm Young (nephew and godson)

SUSAN BRIDGET WALKDEN

1943–2022 (NC 1962)

Susan grew up in Flore, Northamptonshire, where, along with her sister Jenny, she rode ponies and nurtured a lifelong love of nature and adventure. Having attended Northampton High School, Susan was accepted to Cambridge to read Modern Languages. However, at the age of seventeen Susan’s lifelong back troubles started and she had her first of many major surgeries. Her time in hospital in London inspired her to want to become a doctor and after taking her First MB at St Thomas’, Cambridge University accepted her to study Medicine. She loved her days at Newnham College and retained lifelong friendships from that time.

Susan became a consultant radiologist at Poole General Hospital, where she was Clinical Director and was pivotal in establishing CT and MRI for the Wessex region.

She was also an artist and lover of culture and travel. She always said she was going to focus on her art when she retired. Not content to just potter she gained a BA in Fine Art at the age of seventy-five. Her final degree piece spoke volumes about her life: an installation of X-rays with images of a stained glass window, created

with a pinhole camera. A perfect mix of science, radiology, art and Faith. The installation was called The Light Shines in the Darkness – John 1:5.

Susan was a great observer and a documenter. She had little notes and sketchbooks on so many things, capturing ordinary little moments: wonderful scenes of the beach, her children and grandchildren, and her many travels. The notes reflect her thought processes and her faith – comments on the clouds, global warming, cycle lanes and disabled parking, bacon sandwiches … a list without limits.

Susan – our mum – lived a wonderful and rich life, but one well acquainted with struggles and suffering. She embraced it all and her faith in her later years was an inspiration to many. She left a legacy of ‘a good way to do life’. If you have any memories of Mum you would like to share please do get in touch: lindsaybrazil@me.com.

Lindsay Brazil (daughter)

AUDREY WOODWARD

1923–2023 ( BLAKEY , NC 1941)

Audrey was born in Yorkshire and attended Queen Anne’s School, Caversham, where she became Head Girl, before reading Mathematics at Newnham. She graduated with a titular degree, as did all female undergraduates at that time, and subsequently declined the offer of a ‘real’ Honours degree from the university in 1998 as being an attempt ‘to re-write history’.

After the war Audrey worked at the Bank of England before marrying Frank, whom she had met at Cambridge, and who also had family roots in Yorkshire. It was therefore not surprising that, after raising their young family in Hertfordshire for several years, in 1966 they all moved to Yorkshire. After Frank died in 1994, she moved to Northumberland, close to her youngest daughter and two granddaughters.

Audrey was a gentle and caring person, devoted to her family and with a quiet but keen sense of humour. She had a wide range of interests including, at various times, astronomy (she had been a founder member of the Cambridge University Astronomical Society), Esperanto, poetry and various religions and beliefs including Quakerism, Unitarianism and

Humanism. In her eighties she rediscovered her love for maths and problem-solving, even studying an Open University module. At the age of eighty-seven she moved with her daughter to Clevedon in Somerset, despite never having been there before. She lived independently until deteriorating short-term memory necessitated a care home, where she was always glad to see members of her family (two daughters, a son, four granddaughters and three great-grandsons). Four years later, having celebrated her 100th birthday in August 2023 with a small lunch party for close family and friends, she died peacefully at the end of October.

Elisabeth McCullough (elder daughter)

The garden’s largest plant: the Virginia creeper

For many generations of students, the start of the academic year has been marked by the flaming beauty of the Virginia creeper, believed to be the largest individual plant in the garden (excluding trees).

Dasha Tenditna

TEN ASPECTS OF THE GARDENS

The swing seat

A favourite ‘secret’ spot nominated by the students, the swing was moved to its current location at the orchard near the sundial when the Bird’s Nest bench and four seasons garden were installed at its previous location in 2023.

Dasha Tenditna

Donations, legacies and bequests

These gifts were received from alumnae during the College’s financial year 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. Thank you. Donations received after 30 June 2024 will be recorded in the next Roll Letter.

+ Denotes the donor has passed away * Indicates gifts received through Cambridge in America (CAm)

Alumnae and Students

1920s

Miss E.M.T. Markwick + (NC 1925)

1930s

Mrs Betty Schofield + ( Whitfield , NC 1938)

1940s

Mrs Joan Clegg + ( Kirkpatrick , NC 1944)

Mrs Leila Deakin + ( Keane , NC 1947)

Mrs Helen Jones ( Stephenson , NC 1943)

Mrs Deborah Kent + ( Trower , NC 1949)

Mrs Janet Longden ( Lloyd , NC 1948)

Mrs Helen Longley + (NC 1947)*

Mrs Millicent Munro Harrap + ( Munro , NC 1948)

Mrs Jean Neal + ( Banks , NC 1940)

Lady Elizabeth O’Brien + ( Craig , NC 1944)

Mrs Diana Phillips + ( Hakim , NC 1948)

Mrs Joan Rudd-Jones + ( Newhouse , NC 1943)

Dr Joanna Shaw-Myers ( Shaw , NC 1949)*

Mrs Rachel Warden ( Hudson , NC 1949)

1950s

Professor Meg Alexiou ( Thomson , NC 1958)

Mrs Christabel Ames-Lewis ( Keith-Roach , NC 1959)

Professor Sylvia Barnard (NC 1959)*

Mrs Joan Barraclough ( Ronald , NC 1952)

Mrs Thomasina Beck ( Jeal , NC 1954)

Mrs Claire Biggart ( Moore , NC 1951)

Mrs Jocelyn Blackburn ( Cockcroft , NC 1953)

Dr Shirley Blancke ( Booth , NC 1954)*

Mrs Daphne Boddington ( Fischer-Webb , NC 1958)

Mrs Rachel Boulton ( Gresford Jones , NC 1957)

Mrs Jackie Boyce ( Combes , NC 1954)

Dr Barbara Brend (NC 1959)

Professor Janet Burroway Ruppert (NC 1958)*

Dame Antonia Byatt + ( Drabble , NC 1954)

Mrs Josephine Campbell ( Gilbey , NC 1958)

Mrs Wendy Cater ( Thompson , NC 1951)

Mrs Janet Ceasar ( Green , NC 1953)*

Mrs Barbara Clague + ( Cowin , NC 1951)

Dr Eleanor Clarke ( Bray , NC 1950)

Mrs Ruth Clarkson ( Powell , NC 1954)

Dr Kay Clymo ( Luck , NC 1956)

Mrs Diane Cox ( Williams , NC 1959)

Mrs Effie Crompton ( Marshall , NC 1955)

Rev. Christine Crompton ( Kilgour , NC 1958)

Dr June Crown ( Downes , NC 1956)

Mrs Joan Cull ( Ross , NC 1952)

Mrs Claire Dabbagh ( Martyn , NC 1956)

Mrs Elisabeth Davies ( Leedham , NC 1955)

Mrs Brenda Davies ( Owen , NC 1958)

Dr Dilys Daws ( Kahn , NC 1954)

Mrs Jill Day ( Mapley , NC 1953)

Miss Anne Dennier (NC 1951)

Dr Ruth Donner ( Goldstein , NC 1952)

Mrs Anne Duncumb ( Taylor , NC 1950)

Mrs Ruth Dunlop ( Codd , NC 1959)*

Mrs Constance Elliott ( Webb , NC 1956)

Mrs Marjorie Evans ( Ashwell , NC 1956)

Ms Beatrice Goldie ( Sachs , NC 1955)

Mrs Jean Gooder ( Charlton , NC 1953)

Miss Jean Goose (NC 1957)

Mrs Gillian Goss ( Page , NC 1954)

Miss Janet Gough (NC 1959)

Miss Meryl Gover (NC 1958)

Mrs Judith Grimditch ( Walls , NC 1959)

Mrs Daphne Groat ( Butterwick , NC 1958)

Mrs Ann Hall ( Stickland , NC 1956)

Mrs Jean Hammerton ( Taylor , NC 1952)

Miss Jill Hancock (NC 1954)

Mrs Anne Harris ( Hughes , NC 1954)

Miss Jean Harrison + (NC 1952)

Dr Shirley Hill (NC 1951)

Mrs Virginia Hole ( Adam , NC 1956)

Mrs Brenda Hopkin ( Clayson , NC 1954)

Mrs Olwen Howard + ( Jenkins , NC 1955)

Mrs Barbara Hudson ( Gullachsen , NC 1958)

Mrs Val Humphreys ( Williams , NC 1954)

Mrs Anne Jackson ( Chapman , NC 1959)

Mrs Deborah Jeffs ( Bevan , NC 1951)

Dr Mary Jewell + ( Cockcroft , NC 1950)

Miss Brenda Jillard + (NC 1951)

Mrs Pat Johnson ( Armstrong , NC 1956)

Mrs Pippa Kilgour ( Johnson , NC 1959)

Mrs Jill Kowszun ( Poyner , NC 1955)

Mrs Mary Lambell ( Dicker , NC 1957)

Dr Pamela Langlois ( Stent , NC 1958)*

Mrs Ruth Lock ( Pembrooke , NC 1957)

Mrs Judith Lund ( Hill , NC 1954)

Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell ( Truscott , NC 1956)

Miss Mary Machen (NC 1953)

Mrs Anne Mathews ( Wilcock , NC 1955)

Mrs Susan Mayall ( Hayter , NC 1952)*

Ms Jean McKenzie (NC 1952)

Mrs Jennifer McMahon ( Petty , NC 1951)

Mrs Rosemary Melling ( Lee , NC 1956)

Mrs Mary Mirchandani ( Hoyle , NC 1957)

Mrs Janet Mordike ( Green , NC 1957)

Miss Margaret Morrell (NC 1955)

Dr Hilary Muirhead (NC 1955)

Dr Barbara Mullock ( Stevens , NC 1952)

Miss Janet Newell (NC 1957)

Mrs Anne Newton ( Walker , NC 1958)

Professor Heather Palmer ( Bloom , NC 1957)*

Mrs Fay Pascoe ( Yelland , NC 1954)

Mrs Jane Payne ( Robinson , NC 1958)

Mrs Patricia Peckham ( Hughes , NC 1958)

Dr Ruth Piatkus ( Glynn , NC 1958)

Mrs Bernice Read ( Reeve , NC 1950)

Mrs Anne Renard ( Matthews , NC 1956)

Mrs Jocelyn Rennie + ( Hill , NC 1956)

Mrs Carol Riddington ( Timberlak , NC 1958)

Mrs Jo Rushton ( Twemlow , NC 1956)

Mrs Heather Russell ( Brown , NC 1957)

Dr Pat Salaman + ( Burkett , NC 1957)

Mrs Rosalind Scott ( Allen , NC 1959)

Dr Marjorie Sharp ( Hill , NC 1955)

Mrs Celia Skrine ( Travis , NC 1957)

Mrs Gill Stevens ( Everall , NC 1957)

Professor Kate Stimpson (NC 1958)*

Mrs Daphne Sulston ( Bate , NC 1958)

Mrs Elizabeth Summers ( Forster , NC 1952)

Mrs Fiona Sutcliffe ( Forbes , NC 1953)

Mrs Antonia Till ( Clapham , NC 1957)

Dr Kathleen Trustrum ( Johnson , NC 1955)

Miss Elizabeth Tucker + (NC 1955)

Mrs Janet Upward ( Hutcheon , NC 1958)

Mrs Gillian Wagstaffe + ( Arksey , NC 1958)

Dr Helen Walker (NC 1958)

Mrs Sandra Wall ( Hearnshaw , NC 1956)

Mrs Myriam Warburton ( Rozenblum , NC 1955)

Mrs Celia Wells ( Cox , NC 1954)

Mrs Judy White ( Webster , NC 1951)

Miss Ruth Williams (NC 1953)

Miss Geraldine Willis (NC 1953)

Ms Barbara Windle (NC 1959)

Mrs Susan Wood ( Rundall , NC 1955)

1960s

Miss Elizabeth Abbott (NC 1960)

Mrs Lesley Aers ( Inglis , NC 1965)

Mrs Julie Aldridge ( White , NC 1967)

Mrs Mary Appleyard ( Maurer , NC 1968)

Dr Chris Arthur (NC 1965)

Mrs Gillian Ashmore ( Oxenham , NC 1968)

Professor Rosemary Ashton ( Thomson , NC 1969)

Dr Hilary Baker (NC 1965)

Ms Helen Barber ( Mironoff , NC 1965)

Mrs Margaret Barker ( Thomas , NC 1963)

Mrs Margaret Barnet-Lamb ( Parry , NC 1969)

Mrs Frances Barnwell ( McKnight , NC 1967)

Mrs Janet Batchelor ( King , NC 1965)

Mrs Rosalind Batchelor ( Haworth , NC 1967)

Mrs Anne Bell ( Robinson , NC 1964)

Mrs Jacqueline Birks ( Stimpson , NC 1965)

Mrs Angela Blackburn ( Bowles , NC 1963)

Mrs Janice Bolton ( Faithfull , NC 1967)

Mrs Gill Booth ( Harvey , NC 1965)

Mrs Jane Boynton ( Lyons , NC 1961)

Mrs Ruth Brazier ( Pappenheimer , NC 1962)*

Dr Helen Brittain ( Sanders , NC 1965)

Ms Sally Brodhurst (NC 1968)

Mrs Rosemary Brook-Arbiter ( Brook , NC 1964)

Mrs Sarah Brown ( Dean , NC 1962)

Ms Ruth Brown (NC 1966)

Dr Alice Browne (NC 1966)*

Mrs Katherine Bryant ( Chesshyre , NC 1965)

Miss Julia Burden (NC 1968)

Mrs Joan Butler ( Bush , NC 1962)

Ms Margaret Campbell (NC 1966)*

Mrs Christine Canham ( Jones , NC 1960)

Mrs Diane Carr ( Golton , NC 1963)

Mrs Kathleen Carter ( Matchett , NC 1966)

Dr Judith Chisholm ( Murray , NC 1964)

Miss Mary Clark (NC 1965)

Mrs Margaret Clements ( Hirst , NC 1964)

Dr Sue Coad ( Denton , NC 1965)

Mrs Sandi Cobb ( Rogers , NC 1968)

Mrs Jan Cobley ( Lowe , NC 1969)

Mrs Marie Collister ( Pirquet , NC 1967)

Dr Frances Cook ( Binney , NC 1965)

Mrs Jill Cotgrove ( Storey , NC 1967)

Mrs Jacqueline Cove-Smith ( Morgan , NC 1961)

Dr Elizabeth Cropper (NC 1963) and Charles Dempsey +*

Mrs Jo Cundy ( Boyd , NC 1964)

Professor Louise Cuzner ( MacLeod , NC 1960)

Miss Sara Davies (NC 1968)

Mrs Janet de Luca ( Mears , NC 1964)

Ms Jenny Desoutter (NC 1964)

Dr Moira Dick (NC 1968)

Miss Joanna Dodson + (NC 1964)

Mrs Christine Drewienkiewicz ( Bailey , NC 1967)

Mrs Susan Eden ( Rees , NC 1961)

Mrs Katy Edgcombe ( Padmore , NC 1963)

Miss Margaret Edwards (NC 1961)

Mrs Wendy Ellicock ( Hadfield , NC 1968)

Mrs Mary Emerson ( Thomson , NC 1962)

Mrs Kate Emerson ( Booth , NC 1968)

Mrs Jenny Etheridge ( Hanson , NC 1962)

Mrs Eileen Evers ( Short , NC 1968)

Miss Josephine Falk (NC 1963)

Dr Ann Farebrother ( Fox , NC 1961)

Dr Gill Farnsworth (NC 1963)

Ms Sally Field (NC 1966)

Ms Amanda Finlay (NC 1968)

Mrs Marie Finnis ( McNally , NC 1962)

Mrs Barbara Fireman ( Mollett , NC 1962)

Mrs Susan Fish ( Wood , NC 1967)

Mrs Ros Flinn ( Johnston , NC 1965)

Mrs Mary Francis ( George , NC 1967)

Mrs Anna Franks ( Yarrow , NC 1968)

Dr Christine Fraser-Moodie ( Beasley , NC 1965)

Dr Peggy Frith ( Harvey , NC 1967)

Dr Pauline Frost ( Gibson , NC 1962)

Ms Sophy Gairdner (NC 1960)

Dr Annie Grant ( Stephens , NC 1965)

Ms Sally Greaves ( Doherty , NC 1966)

Dr Judy Greaves ( Robinson , NC 1969)

Mrs Priscilla Green ( Jenkins , NC 1969)

Mrs Margaret Gregory ( Fletcher , NC 1968)

Ms Avril Groom (NC 1967)

Ms Angela Grunsell ( Boulton , NC 1965)

Ms Celia Haddon (NC 1962)

Miss Dorothy Haile (NC 1964)

Professor Christine Hallett (NC 1967)

Miss Jane Hardy (NC 1964)

Mrs Janet Harris ( Northover , NC 1961)

Dr Hatty Harris (NC 1966)

Mrs Anne Harrison ( Scruby , NC 1964)

Mrs Sue Harrison ( Read , NC 1969)

Miss Josephine Haslewood + (NC 1960)

Mrs Celia Hawkesworth ( Williams , NC 1961)

Mrs Marie Hildyard ( Jephcott , NC 1961)

Dr Tanya Hoare ( Palmer , NC 1964)

Mrs Vivienne Hodges ( Beddoe , NC 1962)

Mrs Stephanie Hodgetts ( Adler , NC 1968)

Ms Mary Hoffman (NC 1964)

Mrs Caroline Hope ( Bush , NC 1965)

Miss Pattie Horrocks (NC 1968)

Mrs Susan Hothersall ( Ford , NC 1964)

Professor Deborah Howard (NC 1964)

Professor Jane Humphries (NC 1967)

Mrs Joan Hunt ( Ferguson , NC 1965)

Dr Margaret Hunt ( Jenkins , NC 1966)*

Mrs Valerie Imber ( Syson , NC 1964)

Miss Felicity Jackson (NC 1967)

Professor Patricia Jeffery ( Chambers , NC 1965)

Mrs Lesley Jenkins ( Haines , NC 1967)

Mrs Nalini Jeyapalan ( Silva , NC 1962)

Miss Eve Johansson (NC 1965)

Mrs Alison Johnson ( Steel , NC 1960)

Mrs Jane Jones ( Luscombe , NC 1969)

Mrs Gillian Judd ( Graves , NC 1960)

Mrs Pam Judkins ( Cluff , NC 1966)

Mrs Jenny King ( Greatwood , NC 1960)

Mrs Catharine King ( Boyce , NC 1966)

Dr Linda Kirk (NC 1962)

Dr Christine Kirk ( Humphreys , NC 1967)

Mrs Sibella Laing ( Dorman , NC 1967)

Ms Jean Liddiard (NC 1962)

Ms Margaret Ling (NC 1967)

Mrs Susan Llewellyn ( Stiassny , NC 1964)

Mrs Janet Locke ( Glass , NC 1960)

Dr Louise London (NC 1966)

Professor Gillian Lovegrove ( Lowther , NC 1961)

Mrs Hilary Lowson ( Balsdon , NC 1968)

Mrs Sandra Luscombe (Luff, NC 1965)

Dr Anne Lyon ( Butland , NC 1967)

Mrs Elizabeth MacFie ( Evans , NC 1963)

Mrs Jean MacInnes ( Toulmin , NC 1969)

Baroness Ann Mallalieu (NC 1964)

Dr Rachel Malloch ( Wood , NC 1968)

Mrs Patricia May ( Harrington , NC 1964)

Mrs Lucy McCullagh ( Pearce , NC 1967)

Dr Elizabeth McDowell (NC 1966)*

Mrs Susan Meacock + ( Hodge , NC 1962)

Miss Eliza Mellor (NC 1968)

Mrs Judith Metcalfe ( Pilling , NC 1968)

Mrs Valerie Meyers ( Froggatt , NC 1960)*

Mrs Catriona Mill ( Smith , NC 1967)

Miss Alda Milner-Barry (NC 1966)

Mrs Clare Monkhouse ( Newth , NC 1964)

Lady Judy Moody-Stuart ( McLeavy , NC 1960)

Professor Valerie Morgan ( Hopkinson , NC 1962)

Ms Margaret Moss (NC 1964)

Mrs Libby Mountford ( Ingate , NC 1965)

Dr Penny Murray ( Tomlinson , NC 1967)

Lady Anne-Marie Nelson ( Hall , NC 1960)

Emeritus Professor Jinty Nelson ( Muir , NC 1961)

Mrs Lindsay Nevin ( Greer , NC 1969)

Mrs Jane Nicolov ( Hibbert , NC 1968)

Miss Christine Northeast (NC 1967)

Professor Judith Okely (NC 1969)

Mrs Rachel O’Leary ( Hambridge , NC 1968)

Professor Judy Owen ( Hunter , NC 1969)*

Mrs Barbara Palmer ( Boot , NC 1961)

Professor Linda Paterson ( Tibenham , NC 1962)

Miss Kate Patterson (NC 1969)

Mrs Avril Pedley ( Uden , NC 1962)

Ms Vivien Perutz (NC 1964)

Mrs Sue Perutz ( Gray , NC 1969)

Mrs Janet Pickering ( Lewis , NC 1961)*

Mrs Jennifer Poole + ( White , NC 1963)

Dr Janet Porter (NC 1965)

Mrs Judy Potter ( Chippendale , NC 1963)

Dr Cecilia Powell ( Poulter , NC 1963)

Mrs Judith Pugsley ( Mappin , NC 1963)

Dr Judith Purver ( Olding , NC 1966)

Mrs Elizabeth Ransom ( Gee , NC 1968)

Dr Sally Reynolds ( Wyon , NC 1966)

Professor Alison Richard (NC 1966)*

Mrs Susan Richardson ( George , NC 1964)

Miss Jane Ritchie (NC 1968)

Dr Shelagh Rixon (NC 1966)

Mrs Susan Roome ( Riddick , NC 1966)

Mrs Ursula Ross ( Levy , NC 1964)

Ms Sue Rudd (NC 1964)*

Mrs Betty Sandars ( Yielder , NC 1961)

Miss Jill Saudek (NC 1965)

Mrs Rachel Schicker ( Parks , NC 1963)

Dr Angela Scholar ( Sweet , NC 1960)

Mrs Viv Sebborn ( Miller , NC 1965)

Dr Agnes Segal ( Henderson , NC 1969)

Mrs Isobel Shaw ( O’Beirne , NC 1962)

Dr Lynn Shaw ( Flory , NC 1963)*

Ms Helena Simon (NC 1966)

Ms Anne Singer ( Hallgren , NC 1965)*

Professor Mary Slack ( Slack , NC 1967)

Mrs Catherine Slater ( Malaiperuman , NC 1967) and

Mr Gordon Slater

Professor Angela Smith ( Hookham , NC 1962)

Dr Judy Smith ( Fullard , NC 1962)

Mrs Linda Smither ( Bromberg , NC 1966)

Ms Jane Snowden (NC 1969)

Mrs Pat Southworth ( James , NC 1961)

Dr Janet Spence ( Blakey , NC 1968)

Dr Rosie Spencer ( Stewartson , NC 1967)

Mrs Sarah Squire ( Hutchison , NC 1968)

Mrs Jenny Staples ( Lester , NC 1965)

Professor Anne Stevens ( Ross , NC 1961)

Mrs Sally Stopford ( Woodman , NC 1962)

Mrs Jacqui Stother ( Mott , NC 1964)

Miss Martha Street (NC 1969)

Mrs Jenny Stroud ( Stephenson , NC 1963)

Miss Claire Sullivan (NC 1960)

Ms Jan Sutch Pickard ( Sutch , NC 1963)

Ms Sidney Syson ( Welsh , NC 1966)

Mrs Liz Taylor-Jones ( Cooper , NC 1960)

Professor Elizabeth Thompson (NC 1967)*

Dr Anne Thomson (NC 1969)

Professor Judith Todd Copley ( Booth , NC 1969)*

Dr Pam Tomlin ( Hayes , NC 1965)

Mrs Susan Vine ( McCall , NC 1960)

Mrs Joy Virden ( Webber , NC 1964)

Mrs Emma Wagner ( Johnstone , NC 1968)

Mrs Elizabeth Walder ( Rose , NC 1969)

Ms Ann Ward ( Slee , NC 1960)

Mrs Kate Watkins ( Reed , NC 1965)

Mrs Ann Webbley ( East , NC 1968)

Miss Janet Welch (NC 1965)

Dr Jane Weller ( Weller , NC 1966)

Mrs Muriel Whitchurch ( Stevenson , NC 1968)

Ms Norma White (NC 1960)

Miss Carolyn White (NC 1962)

Mrs Liz Whittle ( Sampson , NC 1966)

Mrs Patricia Wightman ( Taylor , NC 1962)

Professor Faith Williams ( Wright , NC 1963)

Mrs Sue Williams ( Sharpley , NC 1965)*

Mrs Hilary Willmer ( Dimmock , NC 1960)

Mrs Judith Wilsher ( Proudfoot , NC 1960)

Ms Anne Winstanley (NC 1969)

Dr Ann Woodward ( Heard , NC 1966)

Miss Averil Wootton (NC 1963)

Mrs Anne Wright ( Hobbs , NC 1961)

Dr Wendy Yates ( Hill , NC 1965)

Dr Gill Yudkin ( Isaacs , NC 1961)

1970s

Miss Jeannine Addinall (NC 1970)

Ms Pam Alexander + (NC 1972)

Dr Chris Algar (NC 1970)

Dr Joanna Amick ( Hawthorne , NC 1975)

Ms Rolande Anderson ( Anderson , NC 1973)

Dr Annie Ashman ( Ashman , NC 1978)

Dr Felicity Ashworth (NC 1972)

Professor Maggie Atkinson ( Cragg , NC 1975)

Mrs Alison Attfield ( Jones , NC 1977)

Dr Cecilia Bainton ( Elliott , NC 1973)

Ms Jo Baktis (NC 1972)

Mrs Jinty Balch ( Milne , NC 1971)

Ms Imogen Barford (NC 1979)

Miss Dinny Barker (NC 1970)

Dr Joanna Bauldreay (NC 1976)

Mrs Sylvia Baylis ( Long , NC 1977)

Mrs Liz Bickley ( Pyle , NC 1979)

Mrs Jennifer Blanch ( Baker , NC 1975)

Professor Julia Boffey ( Waddleton , NC 1972)

Mrs Hilary Bosworth ( Suddards , NC 1973)

Dr Jennifer Brailsford (NC 1977)

Miss Anne Braithwaite (NC 1972)

Ms Liz Bridge (NC 1970)

Lady Angela Bridges ( Collinson , NC 1974)

Dr Pauline Brimblecombe ( Wald , NC 1973)

Dr Alison Brown (NC 1974)

Dr Rosemary Burton (NC 1971)

Ms Chrissie Calvert ( Wells , NC 1971)

Dr Amaryllis Campbell (NC 1975)

Dr Elaine Carter (NC 1972)

Dr Sarah Chacko ( Willcock , NC 1976)

Miss Wendy Chalfont (NC 1979)

Miss Adele Charles (NC 1971)

Miss Charlotte Chesney (NC 1973)

Ms Sarah Clark (NC 1977)

Mrs Sarah Cobb ( Pryor , NC 1979)

Ms Linda Coe (NC 1975)

Ms Vivienne Dews (NC 1971)

Mrs Andy Collins ( Simcock , NC 1970)

Mrs Julia Collins ( Headington , NC 1974)

Ms Catherine Collis (NC 1971)

Miss Ginny Collyer (NC 1977)

Dr Sue Colwell (NC 1970)

Ms Frances Connelly (NC 1973)

Dr Jane Cope (NC 1972)

Miss Emma Corke (NC 1978)

Dr Jenny Craig ( Hawkings , NC 1978)

Ms Helen Crayford (NC 1971)

Mrs Joanna Crowe ( Stewart , NC 1972)

Mrs Catherine Cruickshank ( Acquah , NC 1972)*

Miss Jenny Davenport (NC 1972)

Ms Kate Davenport ( Hackett , NC 1976)

Mrs Jayne Davies ( Whyman , NC 1976)

Mrs Catharine Davies ( Freer , NC 1977)

Ms Hilary Davies (NC 1978)

Mrs Caroline Davis ( Neal , NC 1976)

Mrs Lindsey Davis ( Locke , NC 1978)

Mrs Janet Day ( Edwards , NC 1971)

Ms Gwyneth Deakins (NC 1976)

Dr Tanya Deavall ( Rogers , NC 1979)

Ms Jane Dennis (NC 1972)

Mrs Susan Dennis ( Berry , NC 1972)

Mrs Anthea Dickson ( Hendry , NC 1974)

Mrs Janet Dixon ( Amos , NC 1970)

Dr Louise Dolan (NC 1979)

Ms Sara Drake (NC 1975)

Miss Amanda Edwards (NC 1971)

Mrs Edwina Ehrman ( Johnson , NC 1971)

Dr Anne Eldred ( Taylor , NC 1976)

Miss Jane Ellison (NC 1977)

Mrs Lucy Elphinstone ( Reynolds , NC 1976)

Ms Liz Erett ( Wallis , NC 1977)

Mrs Pauline Evans ( Whalley , NC 1977)

Dr Isobel Falconer ( Nye , NC 1974)

Mrs Jane Ferretti ( Murray , NC 1971)

Ms Jane Fitzgerald (NC 1975)

Lady Ros Floyd ( Arscott , NC 1970)

Dr Judith Ford (NC 1972)

Ms Sue Forster ( Hunt , NC 1977)

Ms Jane Fransella (NC 1970)

Mrs Amanda Gardner ( Stewart , NC 1979)

Dr Elizabeth Garry ( Kilkenny , NC 1978)

Mrs Carolyn Gibbs ( Lindsey , NC 1978) and

Professor Michael Gibbs

Professor Mary-Louise Gill (NC 1974)*

Dr Ros Given-Wilson (NC 1974)

Lady Patricia Glennie ( Phelan , NC 1972)

Dr Frances Goodman (NC 1977)

Ms Clare Gorst (NC 1971)

Mrs Sarah Gould ( Copeman , NC 1977)

Mrs Ruth Grant ( Allwright , NC 1977)

Professor Christine Gray (NC 1972)

Ms Fanny Greber (NC 1973) and Dr Lloyd Raines*

Mrs Abbie Greene ( Webber , NC 1979)

Ms Ruth Greenwood (NC 1979)

Mrs Jessica Gress-Wright ( Shapiro , NC 1978)

Mrs Julia Griffiths ( Wetherell , NC 1972)

Dr Janet Gruber (NC 1976)

Ms Clare Hadley (NC 1977)

Mrs Kay Hall ( Harper , NC 1978)

Ms Gill Halliday (NC 1975)

Ms Gail Ham (NC 1975)

Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton ( Driver , NC 1973)

Dr Clare Hamon (NC 1974)

Mrs Griselda Hamway ( Heppel , NC 1975)

Mrs Fiona Hanstock ( McEwen , NC 1974)

Dr Kate Hardy (NC 1979)

Mrs Lesley Harling ( Adam , NC 1970)

Dr Christine Haseler (NC 1977)

Mrs Heather Head ( Otridge , NC 1972)

Mrs Petra Herzig ( Rogers , NC 1975)

Dr Wendy Hirsh (NC 1971)

Mrs Lydia Hirst ( Pesate , NC 1976)

Mrs Margaret Hobbs ( MacKay , NC 1979)

Mrs Bridget Hobson ( Main , NC 1976)

Mrs Deborah Hodges Maschietto ( Hodges , NC 1976)

Dr Elizabeth Holloway ( Jamieson , NC 1976)

Dr Lai Ngoh Hooi (NC 1977)

Professor Susanna Hourani (NC 1975)

Mrs Penny Hubbard ( Street , NC 1979)

Mrs Anne Hudson ( Rowse , NC 1970)

Dr Christine Ingram ( Thomson , NC 1973)

Mrs Brenda Jacobmeyer ( Burton , NC 1973)

Mrs Phyllida James ( Dixon , NC 1978)

Professor Dame Anne Johnson (NC 1971)

Mrs Jennifer Johnson (NC 1974)

Miss Charlotte Joll (NC 1973)

Dr Theresa Jones (NC 1970)

Mrs Jill Jones ( Entwistle , NC 1975)

Mrs Olivia Jones ( Webley , NC 1979)

Miss Caroline Kean (NC 1978)

Mrs Margaret Kelly ( Crawford , NC 1974)

Ms Sian Kevill (NC 1979)

Mrs Susan Kew ( Steele , NC 1973)

Dr Sue Kinder ( Kirkup , NC 1974)

Ms Barbara Kirschten (NC 1972)*

Ms Vivien Kitteringham (NC 1971)

Ms Sally Kynan (NC 1971)

Mrs Bridget Langridge ( Bryant , NC 1972)

Ms Naomi Laredo (NC 1974)

Mrs Sally Laurence Smyth ( Coussins, de Ste. Croix , NC 1971)

Mrs Caroline Lawrence ( Weiss , NC 1977)

Mrs Kathy Lazenbatt ( Mellor , NC 1973)

Ms Sarah LeFanu (NC 1971)

Dr Liz Lightstone (NC 1977)

Ms Denise Love (NC 1970)

Ms Kathy Love (NC 1974)

Ms Jane Lydbury (NC 1972)

Mrs Helen Machin ( White , NC 1979)

Dr Ianthe Maclagan (NC 1971)

Ms Fiona Maddocks (NC 1974)

Miss Barbara Magid (NC 1979)*

Mrs Elizabeth Manning ( Neish , NC 1979)

Ms Hazel Marsden (NC 1971)

Ms Het Marsh (NC 1978)

Ms Liz Martin (NC 1974)

Ms Gabrielle Maughan ( Green , NC 1973)

Mrs Rachel Mayers (Trevett, NC 1975)

Dr Fiona McCullough Fells (NC 1974)

Ms Wendy McFee (NC 1973)*

Mrs Christine McIntosh ( Murphy , NC 1979)

Ms Liz McLeod (NC 1973)

Ms Jo McMahon (NC 1972)

Ms Annie McManus (NC 1971)

Mrs Sally McMullen ( Croft , NC 1978)

Dr Jill Millar (NC 1971)

Dr Nancy Miller + ( Lupton , NC 1972)

Ms Noonie Minogue (NC 1976)

Mrs Barbara Moir ( Hughes , NC 1974)

Mrs Jo Morley ( Hayes , NC 1978)

Dr Jane Morris (NC 1971)

Ms Heather Morris (NC 1972)

Mrs Liz Moyses ( Jessop , NC 1974)

Mrs Gillian Mundy ( Turner , NC 1976)

Professor Sheila Murnaghan (NC 1973)*

Dr Caroline Murray ( Thorpe , NC 1970)

Dr Linda Neal (NC 1971)

Dr Catherine Neale (NC 1973)

Dr Fiona Neall (NC 1977)

Ms Hilary Neville (NC 1973)

Dr Liz Newbronner (NC 1979)

Ms Helen Nicholson (NC 1972)

Ms Carol Norfolk ( Ward , NC 1978)

Ms Maggie Norman ( Spencer , NC 1971)

Mrs Helen Norman ( Drake , NC 1972)

Mrs Helen Norris ( Chapman , NC 1976)

Dr Chris Oates ( Archer , NC 1970)

Mrs Jenny Orton ( Schwarz , NC 1971)

Miss Gaye Osborne (NC 1974)

Miss Kate Owen (NC 1975)

Dr Julia Palmer (NC 1975)

Ms Barbara Pankhurst (NC 1975)

Dr Elizabeth Peers (NC 1976)

The Right Reverend Joanna Penberthy ( Penberthy , NC 1978)

Mrs Alice Phillips ( Alban , NC 1979)

Mrs Alison Phillipson ( Jones , NC 1971)

Professor Penny Probert Smith ( Horsburgh , NC 1971)

Mrs Sheila Pugh ( Scott , NC 1977)

Dr Cathy Ragdale ( Hall , NC 1974)

Ms Sita Ramaswami (NC 1971)*

Dr Barbara Randall (NC 1973)

Ms Catherine Rawson (NC 1975)

Dr Sally Read (NC 1979)

Ms Andrea Reid (NC 1977)

Dame Fiona Reynolds (NC 1976)

Lady Biddy Ridley ( Passmore , NC 1970)

Dr Valerie Robinson ( Harpin , NC 1971)

Dame Vivien Rose (NC 1979)

Ms Heyden Rostow ( White , NC 1972)*

Mrs Sue Russell ( Winderam , NC 1971)

Ms Judith Russell ( Fisher , NC 1974)

Mrs Tina Ruygrok ( Basu , NC 1973)

Ms Carol Saller ( Fisher , NC 1974)*

Dr Jane Salvage (NC 1972)

Mrs Isabel Schiller ( Clarke , NC 1977)

Miss Veronica Schwarz (NC 1978)

Mrs Janys Scott ( Allen , NC 1971)

Mrs Carol Seigel Eccleshare ( Seigel , NC 1975)

Mrs Diane Seymour-Williams ( Wilson , NC 1978)

Mrs Penny Simms ( Williams , NC 1972)

Dr Penny Simons ( Brill , NC 1979)

Mrs Victoria Singh ( Markham , NC 1971)

Miss Judith Siporin (NC 1977)*

Ms Gillian Smith ( Oppenheim , NC 1971)

Mrs Vicky Smith ( Browne , NC 1973)

Dr Deb Smith (NC 1974)

Professor Julia Smith (NC 1975)

Mrs Deborah Smith ( Freeman , NC 1977)

Dr Alison Snape (NC 1978)

Ms Deborah Spring (NC 1972)

Mrs Karen Staartjes ( Fielder , NC 1975)

Ms Helen Staddon (NC 1979)

Miss Ruth Stanier (NC 1973)

Ms Victoria Stark (NC 1971)

Miss Kate Stein (NC 1977)

Professor Dr. Anne Stephenson (NC 1973)

Professor Susan Stepney (NC 1976)

Ms Pam Stirling (NC 1971)

Miss Susan Stoughton-Harris (NC 1976)

Mrs Anne Stoye ( Merrilees , NC 1972)

Mrs Kathryn Strachan ( Duncan , NC 1976)

Mrs Jenny Sumerling ( Bassett , NC 1975)

Miss Brigid Sutcliffe (NC 1977)

Dr Judith Talbot ( Cook , NC 1978)

Dr Gwen Tanner (NC 1979)

Dr Virginia Taylor (NC 1970)

Dr Penny Thexton (NC 1973)

Mrs Helen Thompson ( Boutwood , NC 1976)

Mrs Jane Thorp ( Fraser , NC 1975)

Mrs Jane Tilley ( Corby , NC 1975)

The Rev Caroline Titley ( Baker , NC 1976)

Miss Nicola Turner (NC 1973)

Professor Cherry Tweed ( Moore , NC 1976)

Dr Linda Twohey (NC 1976)

Mrs Lindsay Tyndall ( Aston , NC 1971)

Miss Emma Udwin (NC 1978)

Mrs Lucy Ulrich ( Burke , NC 1974)

Dr Yvonne Underhill ( Terry , NC 1975)

Ms Claire Vane ( Lurie , NC 1975)

Miss Kathy Walz (NC 1974)*

Miss Hilary Warburton (NC 1976)

Dr Margaret Ward ( Johnson , NC 1970)

Mrs Lucinda Webber ( Horler , NC 1978)

Professor Lucy Wedderburn (NC 1979)

Ms Kim Wheatley ( Wheatley , NC 1979)*

Ms Janet Wheeler (NC 1975)

Dr Nicky Whitaker (NC 1970)

Mrs Charlotte Wickham ( Matthaei , NC 1975)

Miss Heather Wignall (NC 1979)

Dr Clare Wilkie (NC 1972)

Dr Lucy Willer ( Grove , NC 1978)

Mrs Frances Williams ( Johnson , NC 1970)

Dr Frances Williams (NC 1976)

Dr Susan Williams ( Walpole , NC 1979)

Dr Elizabeth Williams + ( Paulley , NC 1972)

Mrs Jane Willott ( Biddell , NC 1976)

Dr Sarah Wilmot (NC 1978)

Miss Hilary Wilson (NC 1970)

Miss Anne Wilson (NC 1979)

Mrs Emma Wilson ( Thornton , NC 1979)

Ms Paula Wittels (NC 1974)

Mrs Susi Woodhouse ( White , NC 1971)

Miss Alinda Woodrow (NC 1979)

Professor Joanna Zakrzewska (NC 1977)

1980s

Prof Melissa Aaron (NC 1986) in honour of Richard Beadle*

Mrs Andrea Abraham ( Potter , NC 1981)

Dr Gillian Acum (NC 1984)

Dr Elizabeth Alam ( Shaw , NC 1984)

Mrs Marie Allen ( White , NC 1980)

Mrs Sally-Ann Angel ( Enoch , NC 1980)

Dr Sophy Antrobus ( Gardner , NC 1988)

Dr Linda Arch (NC 1982)

Mrs Elizabeth Armitage ( Robertson , NC 1986)

Mrs Diane Ashby ( Wheeldon , NC 1980)

Dr Tanya Basu (NC 1987)

Ms Daphne Becket ( Becket-Chary , NC 1982)

Mrs Justine Belton ( Wood , NC 1988)

Mrs Sheila Bennett ( Wearmouth , NC 1981)

Mrs Elizabeth Bennett ( Cox , NC 1985)

Mrs Jill Bithell ( Priestley , NC 1987)

Mrs Lydia Bosworth ( Clatworthy , NC 1989)

Mrs Gill Brackenbury ( Huddart , NC 1982)

Ms Sarah Breeden (NC 1987)

Ms Catherine Breheny (NC 1989)

Miss Sarah Briggs (NC 1986)

Miss Maxine Briggs (NC 1987)

Dr Mary Brodey ( Bettey , NC 1984)

Mrs Caroline Brown ( Tuckwell , NC 1982)

Miss Carole Brown (NC 1988)

Mrs Andrea Brown ( Stacey , NC 1989)

Mrs Kate Bruges ( Farara , NC 1981)

Ms Joanna Buckenham (NC 1980)

Miss Diana Buckley (NC 1988)

Ms Ali Burdon (NC 1988)

Ms Georgina Burge (NC 1989)

Dr Julia Burkett ( Aked , NC 1983)

Mrs Fiona Byrd ( McLeod , NC 1986)

Mrs Sarah Caffyn ( Wergan , NC 1980)

Ms Jane Campbell (NC 1981)

Miss Claire Campbell Smith (NC 1981)

Dr Ruth Charles (NC 1987)

Dr Emma Chojnowska ( Nate , NC 1983)

Mrs Vicky Chung ( Hancock , NC 1983)

Mrs Kathryn Clapp ( Watson , NC 1988)

Professor Fiona Clark ( Dziegiel , NC 1981)

Mrs Victoria Clark ( Melotte , NC 1983)

Mrs Anne Clarke ( Pudsey-Dawson , NC 1980)

Miss Verity Coates (NC 1984)

Dr Laura Cohen (NC 1982)

Dr Emma Coleman-Jones ( Coleman , NC 1989)

Ms Ruth Colenso (NC 1985)

Mrs Jane Collins ( Nelson , NC 1980)

Dr Felicity Cooke (NC 1981)

Mrs Belinda Copland ( Walsh , NC 1985)

Dr Rosie Crabtree (NC 1981)

Mrs Sara Crouch ( Pennington , NC 1982)

Ms Katherine Dailinger (NC 1989)*

Dr Jane Dancer (NC 1981)

Mrs Alison Davies ( Curtis , NC 1984)

Ms Katharine Dexter (NC 1986)

Miss Belinda Dodd (NC 1983)

Mrs Anna Dowler ( Tims , NC 1987)

Ms Katie Driver (NC 1987)

Dr Kirsten Duckitt ( Duckitt , NC 1983)

Dr Anna Duckworth (NC 1982)

Dr Helen Duncan ( Wood , NC 1981)

Mrs Melanie Duncan ( Powell-Shedden , NC 1987)

Dr Jenifer Dye (NC 1987)

Ms Jo Eames (NC 1983)

Mrs Jenny Elliott ( Biddle , NC 1981)

Dr Rachel Elliott ( Malin , NC 1987)

Professor Penny Endersby ( Corran , NC 1988)

Ms Jenny Evans (NC 1980)

Mrs Helen Evans ( Riley , NC 1987)

Ms Caroline Field ( Siddons , NC 1981)

Dr Laurie Flentye (NC 1982)*

Revd Sarah Foot (NC 1980)

Mrs Emma Fowler ( Kelly , NC 1989)

Dr Antonia Fried (NC 1987)*

Miss Linda Gaal (NC 1980)*

Ms Gill Gardiner (NC 1982)

Mrs Caroline Gardner ( Burrows , NC 1988)

Mrs Julie Gardner ( Etchingham , NC 1988)

Mrs Carolyn Garner ( Hopkins , NC 1982)

Ms Elizabeth Gee (NC 1980)

Dr Louise Gibbs ( Dickson , NC 1982)

Mrs Alison Glen ( McIntosh , NC 1982)

Ms Fiona Goldberg ( Dewson , NC 1986)

Ms Shoshana Goldhill ( Rosenfeld , NC 1980)

Ms Rachel Goult ( Grafham , NC 1989)

Dr Ruth Grady (NC 1987)

Ms Debbie Green (NC 1984)

Miss Julia Griffith (NC 1982)*

Dr Jackie Hall (NC 1984)

Professor Henrietta Harrison (NC 1986)

Mrs Carolyn Harrison ( Burns , NC 1987)

Mrs Lucy Hartley ( Sheils , NC 1986)

Ms Susan Haslam ( Kenyon , NC 1981)

Dr Diane Hatton ( Shufflebottom , NC 1984)

Ms Rachel Hatton (NC 1987)

Ms Yoko Hayashi (NC 1987)

Mrs Maria Jane Hayton ( McKinley , NC 1987)

Mrs Eileen Hepworth ( Gillibrand , NC 1982)

Mrs Vicki Hind ( Forrest , NC 1983)

Ms Caroline Hobbs (NC 1981)

Mrs Kathy Hodder-Williams ( Wood , NC 1983)

Mrs Liz Hooley ( Tribe , NC 1980)

Mrs Alison Hopper ( Poxon , NC 1986)

Ms Christine Hore (NC 1984)

Ms Gill Houston (NC 1980)

Ms Christine Howard (NC 1989)

Miss Claire Hutchison (NC 1988)

Dr Helen Jacobsen (NC 1980)

Dr Sarah Jewitt (NC 1986)

Ms Libby Johnson (NC 1980)

Mrs Caroline Johnson ( Freyer , NC 1982)

Mrs Caroline Johnson-Seiter ( Johnson , NC 1981)

Mrs Claire Johnston ( Ramsden , NC 1988)

Dr Clare Jones ( Strong , NC 1989)

Professor Laurie Kaplan (NC 1988)

Ms Susanna Kempe (NC 1984)

Mrs Alice Kilner ( Olliver , NC 1986)

Dr Bobbie King ( Morris , NC 1981)

Mrs Kirsteen King ( White , NC 1989)

Miss Jane Ladlow (NC 1989)

Dr Helen Lambert ( Wiener , NC 1983)

Mrs Claire Lannon (NC 1989)

Mrs Clare Lavender ( Dickson , NC 1983)

Miss Vickie Lee (NC 1986)

Ms Al Levett (NC 1984)

Mrs Sibby Lewis ( Salter , NC 1987)

Mrs Kate Lidiard Nelson ( Lidiard , NC 1981)

Mrs Lyn Lindsay ( Burgess , NC 1982)

Ms Morag Loader ( Wilson , NC 1983)

Mrs Jane Lowe ( Roberts , NC 1983)

Miss Jennifer Lowe (NC 1984)

Mrs Carmen Malaree ( Garces , NC 1987)

Ms Sophie Mallinckrodt (NC 1986)

Mrs Frances Marshall ( Batty , NC 1987)

Professor Gail Marshall (NC 1988)

Ms Sophie Mavor (NC 1986)

Dr Kirsty McLaren (NC 1988)

Dr Julie McLeish ( King , NC 1981) & Professor

Tom McLeish

Mrs Elizabeth Meadows ( Manley , NC 1989)

Dr Penelope Meakin ( Coxon , NC 1981)

Mrs Shefalika Mehta ( Agarwal , NC 1986)

Dr Jane Metter ( Lipton , NC 1980)

Ms Lydia Meyler ( Osmond , NC 1980)

Ms Laura Miller ( Miller , NC 1989)

Ms Tess Moffett (NC 1988)

Dr Alice Morgan (NC 1980)

Mrs Rachel Morgans ( Elsy , NC 1989)

Mrs Lucy Mori (Malein, NC 1985)

Dr Mei Ng (NC 1987)

Ms Ivy Ng (NC 1989)

Miss Helen Nicol (NC 1983)

Mrs Clare Normand ( Threlfall , NC 1985)

Ms Maureen O’Donoghue (NC 1983)

Ms Sally O’Neill (NC 1980)

Mrs Charlotte Ostoja-Petkowska ( Dahms , NC 1984)

Dr Sophie Otton (NC 1986)

Mrs Janet Pack (Ray, NC 1984)

Mrs Sally-Ann Paine ( Turrell , NC 1984)

Mrs Gabrielle Parikh ( Downing , NC 1984)

Mrs Penny Parker ( Dyson , NC 1981)

Mrs Dominica Parry ( Pullen , NC 1986)

Dr Deepa Parry-Gupta ( Gupta , NC 1987)

Ms Katharine Parsons (NC 1988)

Mrs Heather Pentney ( McCallum , NC 1984)

Dr Jane Perera ( Critchley , NC 1982)*

Mrs Hazel Petty ( Day , NC 1983)

Mrs Liz Pickard ( Finney , NC 1980)

Dr Liza Pickett ( Everett , NC 1980)

Mrs Claire Plackett ( Parker , NC 1982)

Ms Felicity Poirier ( Lincoln , NC 1988)

Mrs Kate Porteous ( Pickup , NC 1985)

Mrs Jacqueline Rashbass ( Davidson , NC 1984)

Mrs Felicity Read ( Read , NC 1980)

Mrs Jayne Rendell ( Hamilton , NC 1981)

Ms Elizabeth Renshaw (NC 1987)

Mrs Elaine Robinson ( Burkinshaw , NC 1981)

Mrs Sophie Robinson ( Lee , NC 1987)

Professor Pippa Rogerson (NC 1980)

Dr Catherine Rohll ( Brodey , NC 1984)

Dr Deborah Rooke (NC 1981)

Ms Alison Rose (NC 1980)

Ms Alison Rowe ( Jonas , NC 1980)

Mrs Katharine Rowe ( Wilson , NC 1986)

Mrs Sophie Rowe ( Rowlatt , NC 1988)

Ms Julie Runacres ( Newton , NC 1980)

Mrs Amanda Rupp ( Joyce , NC 1987)

Ms Emma Rushton (NC 1981) in honour of

Dr M Mullinger*

Ms Katie Rutter (NC 1984)

Ms Louise Rutter (NC 1989)*

Dr Alison Sansome ( Rhind , NC 1982)

Miss Elizabeth Schneirov (NC 1983)*

Dr Helene Seppain (NC 1982)

Dr Annabel Sharp ( Deutsch , NC 1985)

Mrs Helena Sikorski ( Boas , NC 1989)

Mrs Jacqui Simpson (NC 1985)

Mrs Debbie Singleton ( Featherstone , NC 1986)

Mrs Julie Smith ( Grimwade , NC 1980)

Mrs Emma Soares ( Howe , NC 1987)

Ms Harriet Stack (NC 1981)

The Ven. Dr Jane Steen ( Bastin , NC 1983)

Mrs Helen Steers-Mardinian ( Steers , NC 1981)

Mrs Clare Stevenson Hamilton ( Pooley , NC 1988)

Mrs Anne Stopford ( Patrick , NC 1982)

Mrs Helen Sullivan ( Batchelor , NC 1984)

Dr Jo Sutton ( Reynolds , NC 1989)

Mrs Rosalind Swede ( Shaw , NC 1983)

Mrs Gabrielle Taylor ( Dorland , NC 1984)*

Ms Lucy Thorpe (NC 1982)

Mrs Angela Tjay Mazuri ( Grady , NC 1981)

Mrs Melanie Todd ( Thomas , NC 1980)

Mrs Frances Tosdevin ( Stanford , NC 1980)

Mrs Rebecca Triggs ( Farris , NC 1986)

Dr Joanne Twaddell ( Hodge , NC 1980)

Mrs Jackie Tyler ( Gray , NC 1989)

Ms Jenny Urwin (NC 1987)

Ms Lalitha Vaidyanathan (NC 1989)*

Dr Yasmin Vawda (NC 1983)

Dr Katie Vinen (NC 1984)

Ms Kersti Wagstaff (NC 1980)

Ms Annie Warburton (NC 1988)

Dr Rachel Ward (NC 1981)

Dr Rachel Warren (NC 1982)

Mrs Charlotte Westwood-Dunkley ( Westwood , NC 1984)

Mrs Rosemarie Whitaker ( Nickerson , NC 1986)

Ms Sophie White (NC 1983)

Mrs Claire Whitehead Adnams ( Whitehead , NC 1989)

Mrs Anne Williams ( Paris , NC 1980)

Ms Sarah Wilson (NC 1984)

Mrs Carol Winterburn ( Bent , NC 1981)

Dr Jo Withers ( Gurney , NC 1984)

Ms Sarah Woolven (NC 1981)

Dr Barbara Wyllie (NC 1986)

Dr Sarah Wyllie (NC 1988)

Miss Winnie Yeung (NC 1989)*

Dr Anna Mary Young (NC 1985)

1990s

Dr Mary Argent-Katwala ( Argent , NC 1995)

Mrs Tracy Armitage ( Myint , NC 1996)

Mrs Amy Atkinson-Ward ( Ward , NC 1996)

Ms Emma Austin (NC 1990)

Ms Clare Balding (NC 1990)

Ms Katy Barnes (NC 1998)

Dr Carolyn Barshay-Szmidt & Mr Ben Barshay*

Mrs Claire Bennett (NC 1993)

Miss Charlotte Berrow (NC 1994)

Dr Georgina Bhattacharyya ( Milroy , NC 1994)

Miss Vicki Birch (NC 1996)

Mrs Sarah Blomfield ( Hartley , NC 1990)

Dr Kerry Boardman ( Relph , NC 1997)

Miss Emma Bowman (NC 1992)

Ms Katie Breathwick (NC 1991)

Mrs Mary Brooking ( Chapman , NC 1993)

Mrs Jo Brown ( Gammie , NC 1996)

Dr Trudi Buck (NC 1991)

Mrs Charlotte Bullock ( Reece , NC 1990)

Dr Helen Burgess ( Poyner , NC 1997)

Ms Laura Burnett (NC 1995)

Ms Lucy Bushill-Matthews (NC 1990)

Miss Emma Bussey (NC 1994)

Mrs Zoe Butler ( Ridley , NC 1990)

Mrs Caroline Cake ( Gledhill , NC 1992)

Dr Rachel Cartlidge-Eighan ( Cartlidge , NC 1990)

Dr Jo Cecil (NC 1990)

Mrs Fiona Chalk ( Steele , NC 1992)

Dr Nicola Chan (NC 1993)

Professor Emily Clark (NC 1998) and Mr Ron Biava*

Ms Suzanne Coles (NC 1990)

Miss Beth Coll (NC 1994)

Dr Sarah Collinge (NC 1994)

Mrs Kate Crawley ( Ward , NC 1991)

Mrs Jackie Crockford (NC 1997)

Mrs Jane Cull (Foster, NC 1992)

Miss Rebecca Dawson (NC 1997)

Mrs Phillippa De’Ath ( Pyatt , NC 1999)

Dr Laura Dean (NC 1995)

Ms Gabriela Dhir (NC 1998)

Dr Aimee Di Marco-Kwasnicki ( Di Marco , NC 1997)

Mrs Edda-Jane Doherty ( Weal , NC 1996)

Mrs Amy Driver ( Thomson , NC 1992)

Dr Naomi Dyer ( Foster , NC 1999)

Ms Anna Egan (NC 1992)

Ms Rebecca Eldredge (NC 1995)*

Mrs Imogen Ellis ( Thomas , NC 1999)

Dr Jane Essex ( Essex , NC 1995)

Mrs Nicole Foster ( Clarke , NC 1995)

Ms Rachel Foster (NC 1998)

Miss Susan Fowler (NC 1998)

Dr Liz Fox (NC 1994)

Mrs Sarah Frost ( Lee , NC 1990)

Mrs Caroline Gilbertson ( Wakeling , NC 1998)

Ms Amanda Gill (NC 1993)

Mrs Nicola Gilpin ( Houston , NC 1993)

Mrs. Hannah Godfrey ( Godfrey , NC 1996)

Ms Caroline Godkin (NC 1993)*

Dr Cristina Gonzalez (NC 1999)*

Mrs Sophie Goodall ( Labram , NC 1998)

Mrs Karina Govindji ( Ishani , NC 1995)

Mrs Charlotte Halkett ( Nolan , NC 1997)

Mrs Sophie Hammond ( Bomford , NC 1992)

Ms Annabel Hargreaves ( Deuchar , NC 1993)

Mrs Rachael Hayek ( Dickie , NC 1995)

Mrs Suzannah Henderson ( Branigan , NC 1993)

Dr Kathrin Hicks ( Buhr , NC 1994)

Miss Christine Hill (NC 1999)

Ms Emily Hirst ( Hirst , NC 1997)

Dame Julia Hoggett (NC 1993)

Ms Rachel Horsford ( Finneron , NC 1990)

Ms Saskya Huggins (NC 1990)

Dr Aoife Hulme ( Mulhall , NC 1999)

Mrs Rebecca Hunt ( Hunt , NC 1994)

Mrs Victoria Hunter ( Manby , NC 1996)

Miss Lorrie Ip (NC 1998)

Dr Julia Jackson ( Lennon , NC 1996)

Ms Fran James (NC 1995)

Ms Claire Jeffs (NC 1991)

Miss Tabitha Jenkins (NC 1996)

Dr Ffion Jones (NC 1992)

Miss Rebecca Jones (NC 1993)

Mrs Angela Keogh ( Freeman , NC 1992)

Ms Georgina Kon (NC 1998)

Mrs Beverly La Ferla (NC 1996)

Ms Caroline Lamont-Smith (NC 1994)

Ms Sarah Lavelle (NC 1990)

Dr Sophie Lawrance ( Strong , NC 1992)

Mrs Kelly Lee ( Wright , NC 1995)

Ms Rachel Leitch-Devlin (NC 1993)

Ms Rebecca Leong (NC 1992)

Mrs Debra Logan ( Jackson , NC 1998)

Mrs Mun-Ling Logue ( Liu , NC 1992)

Mrs Lucy Lynch ( Wilson , NC 1992)

Dr Fiona MacCallum (NC 1991)

Mrs Joanne MacFarlane ( Ganley , NC 1995)

Ms Claire MacKenzie (NC 1994)

Mrs Faryal Maggs ( Khattak , NC 1999)

Ms Sam Mardell (NC 1993)

Mrs Louise Marston ( Morrow , NC 1997)

Miss Elinor Mathieson (NC 1991)

Mrs Bridget Matthews (NC 1998)

Dr Katrina Mayson ( Blandy , NC 1992)

Mrs Rosie McTavish ( Bond , NC 1999)

Miss Samantha Mercer (NC 1996)

Dr Danielle Miller ( Taylor , NC 1992)

Mrs Sonja Mitchell ( Whittle , NC 1997)

Dr Philippa Moore ( Baines , NC 1996)

Miss Annabel Morgan ( Lawrence , NC 1998)

Mrs Anna Morgan ( Sloan , NC 1998)

Ms Beth Morrey (NC 1996)

Miss Elizabeth Morris (NC 1993)

Mrs Catherine Mungall ( Tighe , NC 1996)

Mrs Kirsty Nathoo ( Hall , NC 1998) & Mr Amir Nathoo

Mrs Hannah Nesbit ( Babor , NC 1993)

Mrs Nina Odhams ( Pickett , NC 1997)

Ms Catherine O’Hara (NC 1991)

Ms Irene Omaswa (NC 1995)

Mrs Eleanor O’Shea ( Casey , NC 1994)

Miss Alexandra Owen (NC 1996)

Dr Sally Parnell ( Washbourn , NC 1997)

Miss Sophie Paul (NC 1991)

Dr Laura Perry (NC 1996)

Dr Tamsin Poole ( Hodgetts , NC 1995)

Mrs Natasha Pope ( Sai , NC 1995)

Dr Laura Pugsley (NC 1995)

Mrs Haley Ramsden ( Tam , NC 1993)

Dr Anneli Randla (NC 1995)

Mrs Jenny Reavell ( Etty-Leal , NC 1994)

Ms Marianne Rigby (NC 1991)*

Mrs Eileen Ritchie ( Logan , NC 1995)

Miss Karen Robinson (NC 1996)

Dr Antonia Ruppel (NC 1998)

Professor Kanchana Ruwanpura (NC 1997)

Dr Kate Salmon ( Maresh , NC 1998)

Mrs Emily Sam ( Brittain , NC 1999)

Dr Athena Scaperdas (NC 1990)

Mrs Laura Shield ( Comber , NC 1996)

Mrs Jo Siddle Brown ( Siddle , NC 1994)

Ms Ellie Simons (NC 1991)

Ms Kate Simpson-Holley (NC 1993)

Mrs Holly Skeet ( Webb , NC 1994)

Miss Fiona Smith (NC 1993)

Dr Merry Smith (NC 1993)

Dr Renuka Sornarajah (NC 1992)

Mrs Michaela Southworth ( Brown , NC 1994)

Miss Chantal Stein (NC 1998)

Dr Tessa Stone ( Niblett , NC 1991)

Ms Lucy Stoy (NC 1998)

Mrs Kimberly Summe (McCoy, NC 1992) in honour of Catherine Seville*

Ms Emma Taylor (NC 1993)

Mrs Sarah Taylor ( Harrison , NC 1994)

Mrs Emily Temple ( Weir , NC 1998)

Ms Carol Thompson (NC 1991)

Professor Hannah Thompson (NC 1992)

Dr Ruth Toulson (NC 1996)*

Ms Elisabeth Traugott (NC 1991)

Ms Cat Tully (NC 1994)

Mrs Franni Vincent (NC 1993)

Dr Arani Vireswer ( Nitkunan , NC 1993)

Professor Carrie Vout (NC 1991)

Ms Antonia Wade (NC 1995)

Dr Elisabeth Wadge (NC 1993)

Ms Sarah Wallace (NC 1996)

Mrs Christine Walls ( Smith , NC 1994)

Ms Charlotte Wassermann (NC 1995)

Mrs Elizabeth Westlund ( Griffiths , NC 1990)

Mrs Karen Whitlock ( Fletcher , NC 1995)

Mrs Sarah Wilder ( Dowden , NC 1998)

Dr Mary Wilson (NC 1990)

Ms Flora Wilson (NC 1995)

Miss Anna Wishart (NC 1998)

Dr Heather Wolfe (NC 1993)*

Mrs Claire Wolseley ( Harvey , NC 1991)

Miss Cecilia Wong (NC 1998)

Dr Sally Wood (NC 1994)

Dr Alison Woolford (NC 1994)

Ms Ji-Sook Yoon (NC 1996)

Dr Johanna Ziegler (NC 1999)

Miss Joanna Zinaberg ( Solomon , NC 1993)

2000s

Dr Becky Anderson (NC 2005)

Ms Kylie Ansbro ( Steven , NC 2004)

Mrs Laura Appleton ( Rouse , NC 2007)

Mrs Claire Ardan ( Dudley , NC 2001)

Mrs Sarah Louise Aykuta ( Mascie-Taylor , NC 2001)

Mrs Kirsty Bell ( Naylor , NC 2001)

Mrs Alice Berry (NC 2002)

Miss Ruth Blackshaw (NC 2009)

Dr Victoria Bostock (NC 2001)

Ms Becky Bradley ( Bishop , NC 2000)

Ms Nicola Buckley (NC 2003)

Dr Xiaonan Che (NC 2006)

Miss Christina Chen (NC 2002)

Mrs Lorna Clarke ( Stevens , NC 2003)

Mrs Katherine Claxton ( Guiver , NC 2002)

Dr Ginna Closs (NC 2001)*

Miss Eleanor Coen (NC 2004)

Dr Lizzie Coker (NC 2008)

Miss Bethany Condron (NC 2006)

Mrs Emma Cox ( Handbury , NC 2001)

Mrs Becky Crawford ( Cupit , NC 2008)

Miss Michelle Cross (NC 2002)

Mrs Joanna Cross ( Walters , NC 2004)

Ms Lucy Cundliffe (NC 2002)

Ms Gemma Dalton (NC 2005)

Ms Julia D’Arcy (NC 2005)

Miss Sophie Davies (NC 2009)

Ms Jenny Delaney (NC 2000)*

Miss Sabrina Derham (NC 2008)

Mrs Jane Dobson ( Huckstep , NC 2004)

Ms Katie Dougan-Hyde ( Hyde , NC 2005)

Miss Tracy Du (NC 2009)

Miss Katie Duffell (NC 2008)

Ms Polly Ehrman (NC 2004)

Miss Kate Evans ( Williams , NC 2003)*

Ms Rebecca Feldman (NC 2003)

Miss Jess Ford (NC 2008)

Ms Sarah Fuller (NC 2002)

Miss Amelia Garnett (NC 2008)

Miss Rebecca Gemmell (NC 2008)

Dr Liz Gloyn (NC 2001)

Ms Anna Goulding (NC 2007)

Mrs Eleanor Gower-Pimenta ( Gower , NC 2004)

Miss Michelle Green (NC 2005)

Miss Jacqueline Greenwood (NC 2002)

Mrs Jia-Yan Gu (NC 2004)

Dr Kathryn Hall (NC 2005)

Ms Maria Haughton ( Sedelnikova , NC 2004)

Ms Ellie Hayes (NC 2006)

Miss Bee Heller (NC 2005)

Mrs Thea Holford ( Wilson , NC 2002)

Mrs Emily Holton-Walsh ( Walsh , NC 2008)

Miss Helen Hoogewerf-McComb (NC 2009)

Dr Alexa Horner (NC 2005)

Miss Philippa James (NC 2008)

Dr Zahra Jawad (NC 2000)

Mrs Zoe John (Taylor, NC 2006)

Miss Helen Jones (NC 2003)

Miss Hannah Jones (NC 2008)

Dr Fatima Junaid (NC 2008)

Miss Alice Keen (NC 2002)

Ms Shireen Khattak (NC 2001)

Miss Shirley Lau (NC 2009)

Mrs Saoirse Leonard (NC 2005)

Mrs Jane Lin (NC 2009)

Ms Thea Loch (NC 2003)

Miss Helen Lomas (NC 2004)

Dr Jenny Long (NC 2001)

Dr Claire Ma (NC 2004)

Miss Victoria Mackay (NC 2005)

Mrs Hannah Madsen ( Lovett , NC 2003)

Dr Jesmeen Maimaris ( Maleque , NC 2000)

Miss Louise Marchant (NC 2000)

Miss Elena Marshall (NC 2004)

Miss Louise Marshall (NC 2008)

Miss Sinead Martin (NC 2006)

Mrs Victoria Maynard ( Batchelor , NC 2000)

Miss Zoe McBride (NC 2007)

Mrs E McCobb ( Finlay , NC 2002)

Miss Nel McDonald (NC 2008)

Miss Patricia McGill (NC 2000)

Miss Grainne McGread (NC 2008)

Miss Rachael Mell (NC 2005)

Mrs Lizzie Miere ( Lawrenson , NC 2004)

Miss Naomi Miles (NC 2007)

Miss Daisy Mitchell (NC 2008)

Dr Florine Morrison ( de Haas van Dorsser , NC

Miss Freya Morrissey (NC 2005)

Mx Eleanor Nicholson (NC 2009)

Miss Hannah O’Sullivan (NC 2003)

Miss Hannah Pack (NC 2009)

Dr Sarah Pallas ( Wood , NC 2001)*

Miss Roseanna Pendlebury (NC 2008) 2002)

Miss Diana Pilkington (NC 2000)

Dr Judith Plummer-Braeckman (NC 2008)

Miss Victoria Poole (NC 2001)

Miss Kirsty Potter (NC 2007)

Ms Katie Poupard (NC 2006)

Dr Emma Raccagni ( Beddoe , NC 2000)

Dr Agalya Ramanathan ( Sivakumar , NC 2009)

Mrs Ruxandra Recoseanu ( Codreanu , NC 2008)

Dr Libby Richards (NC 2005)

Miss Katherine Roberts (NC 2004)

Mrs Eleri Robinson ( Jones , NC 2004)

Ms Bryony Robinson (NC 2007)

Ms Camy Ruck (NC 2008)

Ms Selina Russell ( Gough , NC 2002)

Miss Charlotte Russell (NC 2006)

Mrs Magda Rutkowska ( Zurkowska , NC 2008)

Miss Jane Saunders (NC 2006)

Mrs Sarah Scott ( Morley , NC 2001)

Dr Frances Scott (NC 2007)

Miss Mary-Ann Sebborn (NC 2001)

Miss Nicola Shadbolt (NC 2008)

Mrs Rachel Sheridan ( Chadwick , NC 2008)

Mrs Ruth Shin ( Innes , NC 2007)

Dr Amita Shortland (NC 2008)

Mrs Ruth Sibley ( Carter , NC 2009)

Mrs Lucy Simson ( Spray , NC 2006)

Miss Alice Smalley (NC 2006)

Mrs Helen Smith ( Webb , NC 2003)

Dr Maya Stavisky (NC 2005)

Miss Emily Stennett (NC 2008)

Mrs Lottie Sugden Heron ( Heron , NC 2004)

Dr Imon Sultana (NC 2004)

Mrs Laura Tane ( Birkinshaw-Miller , NC 2008)

Ms Naomi Tarawali (NC 2008)

Miss Krithika Theyagarajan (NC 2008)

Mrs Amy Thompson ( Healey , NC 2000)

Mrs Naomi Tiley ( Herbert , NC 2003)

Miss Madeleine Traylor (NC 2004)

Dr Anna Watkins ( Bebington , NC 2001)

Miss Sarah Watling (NC 2008)

Mrs Siobhan Westbrook ( Lambe , NC 2001)

Miss Helen Whimpanny (NC 2007)

Mrs Amelia Williams ( Raymond , NC 2001)

Mrs Kim Williams ( Johnson , NC 2002)

Mrs Lucy Williams ( Osborne , NC 2005)

Mrs Grace Wise ( Neal , NC 2002)

Ms Cindy Wong (NC 2002)

Ms Emily Woodhouse (NC 2008)

2010s

Miss Yousra Ahmed-Salim (NC 2012)

Ms Katie Akers (NC 2012)

Miss Cat Bar (NC 2015)

Miss Sitara Bartle (NC 2017)

Miss Meghan Bird (NC 2015)

Ms Hettie Blohm (NC 2015)

Miss Anastasia Bogatyreva (NC 2010)

Ms Fran Brandon (NC 2011)

Ms Evie Button (NC 2012)

Miss Carolina Campos Santos (NC 2016)

Miss Feilun Cao (NC 2014)

Dr Alexia Cardona (NC 2011)

Miss Sarah Cattley (NC 2013)

Ms Emma Charlesworth (NC 2015)

Ms Tiffany Chow (NC 2012)

Dr Ophelia Crawford (NC 2010)

Miss Georgia Crowley (NC 2015)

Ms Louisa Dales (NC 2014)

Miss Agnès de Varine (NC 2012)

Dr Jenna Dittmar (NC 2012)

Miss Fiona Dobson (NC 2015)

Dr Jessie Fyfe (NC 2015)

Dr Fang Wen Gan (NC 2011)

Miss Ella Griffiths (NC 2011)

Miss Lea Hampton-O’Neil (NC 2010)

Ms Chloe Harris (NC 2011)

Miss Camilla Harris (NC 2011)

Miss Molly Hindhaugh (NC 2014)

Dr Josephine Holt (NC 2012)

Ms Merryn Hughes (NC 2017)

Mrs Ruth Ingleby ( Wheatley , NC 2010)

Miss Sangida Khan (NC 2012)

Miss Shirley Liu (NC 2015)

Miss Georgia Lowe (NC 2014)

Ms Robyn Moates (NC 2010)

Dr Kaysia Molenda ( Wasilewska , NC 2011)

Miss Nitika Mummidivarapu (NC 2019)

Ms Halie Murray-Davis (NC 2016)*

Miss Elishna O’Donovan (NC 2013)

Miss Emmaline Okafor (NC 2015)

Mrs Hannah Palmer ( Dunnett , NC 2014)

Miss Sofia Papaspyropoulou (NC 2016)

Miss Mithula Parayoganathan (NC 2017)

Ms Aleks Pedraszewska (NC 2013)

Miss Patricia Perez Simpson (NC 2012)

Ms Georgia Prasad ( Woodhead , NC 2015)

Miss Sushila Ramani (NC 2014)

Miss Alicia Recuerda (NC 2013)

Miss Anna Reynolds (NC 2013)

Miss Roxana Rosca (NC 2011)

Ms Isabella Rosner (NC 2015)

Miss Éilis Rowan (NC 2017)

Ms Laura Russell (NC 2010)

Miss Abigail Sage (NC 2016)

Mrs Linda Savin (NC 2014)

Ms Fern Schofield (NC 2012)

Miss Olivia Scott-Berry (NC 2013)

Miss Jenni Scurr (NC 2013)

Miss Rachael Shannon (NC 2012)

Ms Imogen Shaw (NC 2014)

Mrs Imogen Smazanovich ( Butler , NC 2012)

Miss Vicky Smyth (NC 2016)

Miss Georgina Spittle (NC 2012)

Miss Miranda Stewart (NC 2010)

Ms Judith Swinhoe-Standen (NC 2010)

Ms Maariyah Syeda (NC 2011)

Miss Vee Tames (NC 2018)

Dr Maria Thompson ( Preuss , NC 2011)

Miss Gaylen Trant-Sinclair ( Sinclair , NC 2010)

Miss Lanxi Tu (NC 2014)

Miss Clare Williamson (NC 2011)

Miss Sarah Wong (NC 2012)

Dr Mengying Xia (NC 2014)

Senior Members and supporters of the College

Mr Fraser Carter

Mrs Katharine Cheney

Mr Colin Edgar

Dr Michael Gifford

Miss Elizabeth Goodman

Drs. Constantine & Sophia Goulimis

Professor Norman Hammond in honour of Dr Jean Wilson MBE (NC 1964)

Professor Percy Hammond, husband of the late Babette Hammond ( White , NC 1936)

Ms Jill Hanna

Ms Damaris Hayman +

Mr Andrew Hine

Ms Claire Hotz de Baar in memory of Alison Hotz de Baar ( Cook , NC 1968)

Ms Rachel Isherwood, in memory of Chris Isherwood ( Outhwaite , NC 1965)

Mr Kaifeng Kang

Mr Ian Kemp

Mr Tony King

Sir John Kingman

Canon Dr Judith Maltby

Professor Nicholas Manton

Dr Alan Munro, husband of the late Mary Munro ( Robertson , NC 1957)

Professor Yoko Odawara

Rt Hon The Baroness Onora O’Neill of Bengarve

Dr John Oxbury, husband of the late Mrs Susan

Oxbury ( Gardiner , NC 1956)

Ms Letty Porter

Mr Graham Pratten, husband of the late Hazel Pratten ( Pinner , NC 1960)

Professor Ian Pyle, husband of the late Margaret Pyle ( Pugh , NC 1952)

Dr Joyce Reynolds +

Ms Kristina Rothstein

Ms Lynn Rozental*

Dr Trudi Tate

Mr Timothy Treanor

Ms Cynthia Walker* +

The April Trust

The Baker Charitable Trust

Dunsmore Charitable Trust

Eleanor Hamilton Educational Trust

Frances Cobb Irrevocable Trust*

Honorary Associates of Newnham College

The John and Sally Reeve Charitable Trust

Maureen Bateman Charitable Trust

NCBC 2003 crew donation

SHAPING NEWNHAM'S FUTURE

DONATION FORM

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www.newn.cam.ac.uk/alumnae/giving-to-newnham/how-to-give/fundraising-promise Newnham College holds your personal data securely and will treat it confidentially and with sensitivity, and in accordance with the appropriate laws on data protection. Read our full statement: www.newn.cam.ac.uk/alumnae/ keeping-in-touch/data-protection We will hold the data you supply for the purposes of managing your donation. Please be assured that we will continue to honour any communication preferences you have made us aware of. If you would like to change your communication preferences, please email us at alumnae-database@newn.cam.ac.uk.

The lime walk: the oldest trees in the garden

The lime walk pre-dates the College. Its core of half a dozen trees was part of the original road through the gardens until development of Sidgwick Avenue allowed diversion of through traffic and the gardens to be united.

Dasha Tenditna

‘Bird’s

This contemporary yet traditional bench has a distinctive Arts and Crafts feel to it, despite its modern aesthetic. Cambridge-based joiner Jamie Cakebread has a background in Fine Art, a range of carpentry and joinery qualifications, decades of experience and a true love of heritage buildings and all things oak. The bench, near Peile, is surrounded by newly laid out seasonal beds, with each section taking centre stage at a different time of year. Snowdrops and aconites have already established in the winter section, together with wildlife-friendly shrubs with berries, while the summer bed is a riot of purples, oranges and blues.

Nest’ bench by Jamie Cakebread (2023)

Dasha Tenditna

Alumnae A–Z

Everything you need to know

While every effort has been made to ensure information was correct at the time of going to press, please note that details might be subject to change. For the latest information, refer to the alumnae pages on www.newn.cam.ac.uk.

Any questions? Please contact the Roll and Development Office on +44 (0)1223 335757 or roll@newn.cam.ac.uk.

Please don’t forget to contact the Roll and Development Office if you would like to let us know about a change of address or any other information. Follow our alumnae social media channels on: Instagram: @newnhamroll and X: @NewnhamRoll

A LUMNAE BENEFITS

As an alumna of Newnham College, you can enjoy a wide range of benefits: the monthly ‘News from Newnham’ email newsletter; the annual Roll Letter by post; invitations to reunions, garden parties, concerts and special events; local alumnae groups offering regional events and meet-ups; the opportunity to get involved with the Young Alumnae Group or the Newnham Associates or stand for the Roll Committee; access to the College Library – with prior notice to the Librarian; dining in College up to three times per year at formal halls or subject formal halls; a 10% discount on bed and breakfast rates; booking meeting rooms and catering in College all year round.

In addition, you also have the following University benefits (see www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/ all-benefits): access to journals and online digital resources; a cantab.ac.uk or cantab.net email address; the CAMCard with special offers; lifelong learning and access to the University Library; access to the University Sports Centre; international hospitality.

A LUMNAE GROUPS

The following groups are currently active and would love to hear from you. If you would like to set up your own group in an area that isn’t currently covered, please contact the Roll and Development Office.

UK

BRISTOL AND BATH

To be put in touch, contact the Roll Office

CAMBRIDGE

Jo Burch (NC 1983) joannaburch1964@gmail.com

HAMPSHIRE AND SUSSEX

To be put in touch, contact the Roll Office

LONDON

Elizabeth (Libby) Richards (NC 2005) libby_richards@hotmail.com

OXFORDSHIRE

To be put in touch, contact the Roll Office

MANCHESTER

To be put in touch, contact the Roll Office

NORTH HOME COUNTIES

(HERTS/BUCKS/BEDS/BERKS)

Joanna Withers ( Gurney , NC 1984) jo@redholme.com

WESSEX

To be put in touch, contact the Roll Office

YORKSHIRE

Liz Newbronner (NC 1979) liz@newbronner.com

SCOTLAND

Christine Ayton ( Macleod , NC 1977) cmaytons@btinternet.com

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRALIA

Melissa Fisher (NC 1996) mfisher@ninewentworth.com.au

HONG KONG

Joyshan Kung ( Lam , NC 1989) newnhamhk@gmail.com

SINGAPORE

Eleanor Great (NC 1987) egreat@mac.com and Sharon Chin (NC 1996) sharon.w.chin@gmail.com

USA

Margaret Campbell (NC 1966) margaret.campbell1@verizon.net

SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA

Lalitha Vaidyanathan (NC 1989) lvaidyan@gmail.com

Marianne O (NC 1984) marianneO@lumenadvisors.com

B OOK OF REMEMBRANCE

The Book of Remembrance can be found in the College Library. Each page carries, in wonderful penmanship, a memorial to an alumna. It has been the tradition that a friend, a group of fellow alumnae or the family makes a donation of at least £150. This will first cover the costs of the inscription, and any surplus up to £150 will be placed in the Roll Remembrance Fund. This fund ensures that we can record, without charge to the family or friends, a tribute to any current student (or graduate within the previous five years) who passes away. Any donations received in excess of £150 in memory of a particular person will be used to purchase books for the Library. Should anyone wish to take up this opportunity, to remember a College friend, mentor or Fellow, please contact the Roll and Development Office.

C OMMEMORATION

Commemoration is one of the most important occasions in the College year. Alumnae celebrating their 70th, 60th, 50th, 25th or 10th matriculation anniversary are invited back in spring to enjoy a range of activities in College and the Commemoration Dinner, which recognises and thanks our Founders and Benefactors. The next Commemoration Weekend will be 12–13 April 2025.

D ATA PROTECTION

Newnham College will use your data to manage and develop the ongoing relationship between you and Newnham, including keeping in touch with you, keeping up to date on your achievements and engaging with you on how you can continue to contribute to College life and otherwise support Newnham. It will not divulge it to a third party (other than to recognised alumnae

groups and to agents contracted by Newnham for particular alumnae-related projects). You have the right to inform us at any time if you do not wish your data to be used for any of these purposes. Please see our full Data Protection Statement on the website: newn.cam.ac.uk/alumnae/keepingin-touch/data-protection or request a written copy from the Roll and Development Office.

D ONATIONS

Newnham has an incredibly generous community of supporters and your gifts really do make a difference. With your help we are ensuring that Newnham is an outstanding place of education for generations to come. For more information on giving to Newnham please visit www.newn.cam. ac.uk/alumnae/giving-to-newnham. We are always delighted to talk through your options; please email development@newn.cam.ac.uk or phone +44 (0)1223 335757.

E VENTS

The College hosts regular alumnae events, including talks, dinners and garden parties, which are advertised by email, post and the website. Alumnae will also receive invitations to specific events based on their location, subject and matriculation year.

F AMILY FORUM

The annual Family Forum, organised by Hannah Plews (NC 1995) and Ruth Shin (NC 2007),  is a discussion forum for all those interested in contemporary issues affecting families, with invited speakers and audience members all participating in a lively and thoughtful discussion.

G UILD OF FRIENDS

The Guild of Friends Committee manages a fund made up of donations given specifically to support the life of the College, broadly defined. It awards large and small grants to the College, JCR and MCR, and to individual students, for special projects, events, travel or improvements.

I RIS CAFÉ

The Iris Café, just off the Porters’ Lodge, is open to all, serving delicious drinks, snacks and light lunches. It is good to see alumnae using it to catch up, but please do check the website to check the current opening hours.

L EGACIES

We are very grateful to the numerous alumnae and friends who choose to remember the College in their will, either with a gift of a capital amount, or a percentage or share of the residue of their estate. There is no need to rewrite your will if you already have one – simply add a codicil. Further information about legacies can be found on our website or by contacting emma.raccagni@newn. cam.ac.uk or calling +44 (0)1223 335749. We recommend you also seek professional advice when writing your will.

L IBRARY

While alumnae are normally welcome to visit and work in the Library during staffed hours, please contact librarian@newn.cam.ac.uk to check current arrangements for access. The Library is delighted to receive copies of publications by alumnae, or donations of books or funds to acquire books and to support special projects

such as rare book conservation.

L OST ALUMNAE

Over the years we have unfortunately lost contact with some of our alumnae and would very much like to hear from them again. If you are in contact with any alumnae who have not heard from us for a while, or who are concerned that they may not be on our mailing lists, please encourage them to make contact with us via roll@newn.cam.ac.uk, and we will gladly update their contact details. Please note that owing to GDPR we cannot use contact details provided by a third party.

M ERCHANDISE/COLLECTIBLES

Newnham produces a range of memorabilia, from postcards to scarves and mugs. These are often on sale at alumnae events, or to see the current selection and to order, visit https:// newnhamcollege.myshopify.com.

N EWNHAM ASSOCIATES AND HONORARY ASSOCIATES

This dynamic group of sixty alumnae from all walks of life supports the College by offering careers support to students and recent graduates, helping with events for current and future Newnham students, acting as subject points of contact and organising occasional social meetings. The Honorary Associates are former Newnham Associates who, after completing their maximum ten-year term, have opted to continue their active involvement with the College. The current Co-Presidents of the Associates are Dr Amy Atkinson-Ward (NC 1996) and Sian Sheng (NC 2012). See also p. 87.

N EWNHAM CONVERSATION

This annual event takes place on the Sunday of the Alumni Festival weekend and involves interesting speakers engaged in topical debate.

N EWS & OBITUARIES – SUBMITTING

If you would like to submit an item of news for the next Roll Letter or alumnae newsletter, share a memory or submit an obituary for a Newnham member, please email roll@newn.cam.ac.uk.

P RINCIPAL'S CIRCLE

The Principal’s Circle is a group of our highest level of donors. Members are invited to special events to thank them for their support.

R EMEMBRANCE FUND

The Roll Remembrance Fund is invested as part of the College portfolio, and brings in a small income which can be used for grants to present or past students for financial distress or special research work; to make up any shortfall in funding for the calligraphy in the Remembrance Book, and to replace the book when it is full; or in association with the costs of memorials, flowers or programmes.

R EUNIONS

Please see Commemoration and University Alumni Festival for details.

R OLL COMMITTEE

The Roll Committee represents the lifelong, mutually supportive connection of all Newnham alumnae, including all current and former students, Senior Members, Principals and nominated College Officers. The Committee contributes ideas and helps to organise events, celebrations and initiatives within the College, in the UK and around the world. It meets twice a year, in spring and early autumn. Elections take place each spring and, as members may only serve for up to two 3-year terms, there are regular vacancies. Contact the current President, Annette Spencer ( Wrigley , NC 1988) via roll@newn.cam. ac.uk if you are interested in becoming a member of the Committee.

S IDGWICK SOCIETY

The Sidgwick Society is a group made up of alumnae who have let us know that they have made a legacy pledge in their will to Newnham College. Members are invited to special events to thank them for their support.

T ELEPHONE CAMPAIGN

The Telephone Campaign is an essential part of our regular fundraising. It is an opportunity for students and alumnae to share experiences, enabling you to gain an insight into life in College today and allowing current students to learn from those who have gone before them. We contact alumnae all over the world, updating you on College news and asking for your support towards Newnham’s fundraising efforts. Our students thoroughly enjoy hearing your stories and we do hope that you enjoy speaking to them too. We are extremely grateful for to all who support Newnham.

U NIVERSITY ALUMNI FESTIVAL

The Alumni Festival Weekend is hosted annually in the autumn by the University of Cambridge. At Newnham we invite back specific yeargroups to celebrate the 55th, 40th, 30th or 20th anniversary of their matriculation. For more information please visit the College website.

V ENUE HIRE AT NEWNHAM

We can facilitate a range of events for up to 150 guests, from conferences and lectures, to weddings, dinners and away days. Alumnae receive a 10% discount. For up-to-date information, visit www.newn.cam.ac.uk/ conferences, or contact the Conferences & Events team at conference@newn.cam.ac.uk.

V ISITING THE COLLEGE

Alumnae are always welcome to visit and enjoy the buildings and grounds. If you wish to bring a group please contact the Porters’ Lodge in advance.

Y OUNG ALUMNAE

The Newnham Young Alumnae group connects recent graduates (aged 35 and under) through social and networking events. See p. 86 for more details.

Z ZZZ… SLEEPING IN COLLEGE

Outside of term, rooms may be booked via accommodation@newn.cam.ac.uk. Alumnae receive a 10% discount.

This place I know...

Professor Gabriela Ramos reflects on the greater diversity among academics since she arrived in Cambridge, and why the Senior Combination Room is a special place for her.

It was 2003 when I came to Cambridge to join the History faculty. I visited five colleges and there was something special about the reception I got at Newnham. Terri Apter was the Senior Tutor and Onora O’Neill was Principal at the time; I was very impressed by her personality. Newnham was also the most beautiful college. I like very much the SCR. I think it’s one of the most beautiful rooms in Cambridge. People are very friendly and open, I really enjoy meeting the other Fellows. The Hall is beautiful too. I always feel proud bringing people to College.

I came from a culture that has some important differences. I was born in Lima, Peru, and had been to graduate school in the US. I had a master’s degree from Columbia University, partially funded by the Fulbright programme, and took my doctorate with a scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. For Latin American history the US is the place to go, they have important resources. It’s more informal than here, though the rhythm of work is more intense, but then I came here not as student but as an academic. People here are much more reserved than in the US. And there

‘Being at Newnham gave me a rest from a very hierarchical and maledominated environment’

Professor Gabriela Ramos

were more international academics in the US: everyone is coming from somewhere else. When I started here my colleagues in History were mainly men and from Oxford or Cambridge. That has definitely changed. They did not have much experience dealing with what they call minorities; that has changed for the good at the faculty and there are more young people. From that point of view being at Newnham gave me a rest from a very hierarchical and male-dominated environment. People say Cambridge University is not diverse enough and more could be done, but there has been an intention to change. Today, twenty years later, I can see the young academics and students are more international and the faculty is more diverse and open to new ideas.

I am Director of the Centre for Latin American Studies. I look at the social and cultural history of Latin America, particularly the Andean region, and my research has focused on Peru’s indigenous cultures and religions as people encountered European colonisers. Many were forced to convert to Catholicism, which brought

enormous change to people’s lives. My main interests are religion and politics and how they are interconnected. That has been the focus of my own research over the years, because I wanted to understand the process of change, looking at History but also Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology, what’s known as Ethnohistory.

Coming to Newnham and Cambridge University has been a great opportunity to study European and World History. The libraries here have been wonderful in that regard. Spain and Italy were the countries that had more exchange with the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Reading about their history, culture and political institutions has enriched my comprehension of colonial Latin America. I have learned a great deal and enjoyed

the connection with early modern European historians. I ran a conference on Indigenous Intellectuals and out of it came a book which I co-edited with historian Yanna Yannakakis, Indigenous Intellectuals: Knowledge, Power and Colonial Culture in Mexico and the Andes (Duke University Press, 2014); it is still widely read in American universities.

College gave me a very quiet and nice place to work. Throughout my career, I always had the support from Newnham. I value the fact I have been able to work independently, and to work in collaboration with colleagues from the United States and Europe.

I am retiring completely – well, nearly. I will stay in touch with College. I’m looking forward to the freedom to read and to write full-time.

Dasha Tenditna

Editors

Sara Gaines (Director of Communications)

Dr Maartje Scheltens (NC 1995; freelance editor)

Editorial Board

Sarah Carthew (Director of Development)

Lindsey Charlesworth (Roll and Development Office; editor, Life Stories)

Professor Emily Clark (Senior Member)

Cait Findlay (Young Alumnae)

Emma Menniss (Alumnae Communications)

Frieda Midgley (Archivist)

Dr Emma Pomeroy (Fellow)

Alison Rose (NC 1980; Principal)

Annette Spencer (NC 1983; President of the Roll)

Dr Sheila Watts (Senior Tutor)

Thanks also to all the Fellows and staff of Newnham College.

Design: Paul Oldman at Smith (www.smithltd.co.uk)

Printing and mailing: Sterling Solutions

Packaging: 100% home compostable potato starch. Please check local kerbside collections. The Roll and Development Office Newnham College

Cambridge CB3 9DF

Tel +44 (0)1223 335757 www.newn.cam.ac.uk

Cover photo by Dasha Tenditna.

Inside front cover: detail from La Contadina  (1889) by Anna Julia Pertz (1855–1911). Oil on Canvas. NCVP–16. Gift of Miss Dorothea Pertz (1929).

The flowers depicted in this painting include irises, which are also Newnham’s flower – a fact likely to have been known to Dorothea Pertz, the artist’s sister and botanist, who gave the painting to Newnham. Dorothea Frances Matilda ‘Dora’ Pertz (1859–1939; NC 1882) was among the first women admitted to full membership of the Linnean Society. She studied Natural Sciences at Newnham and subsequently undertook research into plant physiology, working under Francis Darwin with whom she published five papers. She also produced two papers independently. Pertz later abandoned her research, but continued work on indexing German literature on plant physiology. Pertz also produced illustrations for her friend Edith Rebecca Saunders’ series of papers on floral anatomy, and both the papers and illustrations were highly respected.

Save the date!

Alumnae Events 2025

Personal invitations will be sent out for events marked with * . Further details of all events will be shared by email nearer the time.

25 January Family Forum

This lively forum offers a chance to explore complex issues affecting families and to learn from experts in specific fields. All welcome.

28 February Unveiling of the Principal’s portrait *

12–13 April Commemoration Weekend *

This year we are welcoming alumnae who matriculated in 1955, 1965, 1975, 2000 and 2015 to join us for Commemoration Weekend at Newnham.

17 May

Sidgwick Society Event *

We thank all those who have informed us of their intention to remember Newnham in their will at the annual Sidgwick Society event at Newnham College.

Date TBC

May Bumps

Formal opening of the new Boathouse.

28 June Garden Party and Campaign Celebration

Marking the 150th anniversary of Old Hall being opened, we welcome all alumnae and their families back to Newnham for a day of activities celebrating one year to go on the Shaping Newnham’s Future campaign. All welcome.

5 September Principal’s Circle Dinner *

We thank all our high-level donors by hosting a dinner in College.

22 September–

6 October Telephone Campaign

Our Telephone Campaign creates a sense of connection and community between our current students and alumnae, who generously share their own experiences of life at and beyond Newnham. It also plays a crucial role in raising funds for a variety of important areas across College, especially the major themes of our campaign, Shaping Newnham’s Future .

Are your contact details up to date? If you need to update your contact information, please contact the Roll and Development Office on: 01223 335757 or alumnae.database@newn.cam.ac.uk

27–28 September

Alumni Festival *

We will be extending a special invitation to alumnae who matriculated in 1970, 1985, 1995 and 2005 to return to Newnham during the University’s Alumni Festival, for a special weekend of alumnae events and a dinner.

30 November Music for the Festive Season

The Raleigh Society’s specially chosen repertoire of classical and modern music is guaranteed to make you feel merry and bright. All welcome.

During 2025 we will be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of astronomer Cecilia PayneGaposchkin (NC 1919) and the 100th anniversary of her groundbreaking discovery of the composition of stars.