Kate Edger
Kate Edger (born January 6, 1857 in Abingdon-on-Thames , England , † May 6, 1935 in Dunedin , New Zealand ) was an English mathematician and teacher. She was the first woman in New Zealand and one of the first women in the British Empire to graduate from university.
life and work
Edger was the daughter of Samuel Edger , a minister and graduate of the University of London , who in 1862 brought his family from England with the settlers of Albertland to New Zealand, where they settled in Auckland . She was the first girl to be educated at Auckland College and High School after getting permission from the school principal with the help of her father. She was admitted to the University of New Zealand on a math scholarship without specifying her gender in her application. As the university wanted to increase the number of students, their application was accepted. On July 11, 1877, she became the first woman in New Zealand to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and Latin and one of the first women in the British Empire to graduate from university. In 1882, like her sister Lilian, she earned a Master of Arts degree from Canterbury College. After teaching as the first assistant professor at Christchurch Girls' High School, she became the first director of Nelson College for Girls, which opened in 1883. She has taught English grammar, composition and literature, physics, Latin, math, singing, geography and prepared girls for university scholarships. In 1890 she married the Welsh Congregational Minister William Evans and had three sons with him. In 1893 the family moved to Wellington , where her husband joined the Forward movement, which combined adult education with community and philanthropic work. As this was unpaid, she worked in the morning and ran a private school for girls and in the evening she taught adult students. Her husband's appointment to Newtown Congregational Church in 1904 relieved her of some financial burdens. Until 1912 she trained students and during the First World War she worked for two years in the Ministry of Education. After her husband's death in 1921, she continued to live in Wellington until she moved to Dunedin with her second son and his family in 1932. In 1933 she attended the golden jubilee of Nelson College for Girls. Shortly before her death, she was awarded the king's silver medal on May 6, 1935. Obituary articles recognized her importance as the first woman in the country to graduate, undeniably demonstrating the intellectual abilities of women. The importance of her degree and her work in developing two major schools for girls make her a leading pioneer in women's education in New Zealand.
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She was involved in the suffragist movement, a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand, and President of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children. In 2004 the Kate Edger Information Commons was established at the University of Auckland . The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust provides financial assistance to women seeking a bachelor's or post-graduate degree. In 2017 she was selected as a woman for the Royal Society of New Zealand's project "150 Women in 150 Words" . In 2018, the Department of Mathematics at the University of Auckland was temporarily renamed "Kate Edgar Department of Mathematics" on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
literature
- Mary RS Creese, Thomas M. Creese: Ladies in the Laboratory III: South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian Women in Science: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Scarecrow Press, 2010.
- Hughes, Beryl: Redbrick and Bluestockings: Women at Victoria, 1899-1993. Wellington. New Zealand: Victoria University Press, 1992.
- Winifred Macdonald, Molly J. Mabee: Footprints of Kate Edger: A History of the New Zealand Federation of University Women, 1921-1981, New Zealand Federation of University Women, 1982.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Edger, Kate |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English mathematician and teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1857 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Abingdon-on-Thames , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 6, 1935 |
| Place of death | Dunedin , New Zealand |