Sarah Emily Davies was a British suffragist, activist, and pioneer in the movement to secure university education for women. She was the chief founder of Girton College, University of Cambridge.
In the 19th century, higher education, like many other things, was closed to women. Many people even opposed the idea of women’s education on religious, economic and social grounds. Some believed that the woman’s body was ill-suited for education. They thought that studying would pose a risk to women’s mental and physical well-being.
In London, she worked with her friends from the Langham Palace group – Barbara Leigh Smith, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Francis Mary Buss to raise the status of women.
Emily Davies was born on April 22, 1830, in Southampton, as the daughter of an Evangelical clergyman. She spent most of her childhood in Gateshead, where her father was a rector. Davies was educated at home. While she was in Gateshead, she witnessed the conditions of local working women. This experience prompted her to establish a branch of the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women in the Northeast.
In January 1862, Davies came to London with her mother, Mary, following her father’s death. In London, she worked with her friends from the Langham Palace group – Barbara Leigh Smith, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Francis Mary Buss to raise the status of women. Davies met Barbara Leigh Smith in Algiers. Barbara encouraged Davies and reassured her that there were many women who shared Davies’ thoughts and ideas. In 1866, Emily put together the first women’s petition and presented it to parliament.
In 1869, Davies and her friends opened the College for Women at Benslow House in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
Davies believed that education was key to improving the status of women in society. She said, “It is no wonder that people who have not learnt to do anything cannot find anything to do.” Along with Dorothea Beale and Francis Mary Buss, Davies gave evidence before the school’s inquiry commission with the aim of getting women admitted to university examinations. She insisted that women be admitted on the same terms as men.
In 1869, Davies and her friends opened the College for Women at Benslow House in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. She made sure that the college followed the same curriculum followed by male students to ensure that women’s achievements were equally rewarded. In 1873, the college was moved to the University of Cambridge as Girton College. Davies served as the mistress of the college between 1873 and 1875. After that, she served as secretary till 1904.
However, the college was not permitted to grant full degrees to women until 1948. In 1998, a special ceremony was held at the university to honour 900 women who had earned but were not awarded a degree between 1869 and 1948.
Even though Davies insisted that female students should take the same examinations as men, she did not want her students to have the same freedom as male students. She expected her students to behave with the utmost propriety. She believed that any unfeminine behaviour might jeopardize the whole project.
In 1870, she sought election to the London School Board. She failed to gain a nomination for the City of London. However, she won a seat at Greenwich and served a three-year term between 1870 and 1873.
In 1889, Davies joined the London Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage and became the secretary in 1904. She resigned from the Society when it merged with the Labour Party in 1912. She then joined the Conservative and Unionist Women’s Franchise Association, becoming one of its vice presidents.
Emily Davies passed away on July 13, 1921, at the age of 91.
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Emily Davies: Britain’s pioneering activist for women’s university education