| Administrative History | From the earliest days, women had been submitting papers and museum material to the Society. However not only were they prohibited from membership, they were also barred from attending the Society's Ordinary General Meetings. Towards the end of the 19th century it was recognised that a number of learned societies and the Geologists' Association already admitted women as members or at least allowed them to attend their scientific meetings, and with the development of female formal higher education and the Society itself recognising women's achievements through the award of its research funds, there was a feeling within the membership that ladies should finally be allowed to join.
The first official, but unsuccessful, move was in 1889 when Thomas Vincent Holmes added an amendment to an existing Special General Meeting circular, countersigned by 13 members, requesting that 'her' be added to bye-laws for membership. Six years later, ignoring the thornier issue of female membership, the President Henry Woodward in his annual address tentatively suggested that women might at least be able to attend OGMs and in special cases be permitted access to the Society's facilities. Although women were still barred from the Meetings, individuals such as Margaret Chorley Crosfield were granted use of the library.
The issue of women's attendance at Meetings came to a head in 1900 when Gertrude Elles was awarded the Lyell Fund, then the third woman to have received such an award. As a woman Elles was not allowed to attend the OGMs, consequently she could not collect her award in person. It was proposed by some members of Council that she might be allowed to attend that February's awards ceremony, however following objections it was decided that Thomas McKenny Hughes would instead collect the prize on Elles' behalf. In his acceptance speech, he commented 'I am glad to have to have been asked to receive the Award from the Lyell Fund for transmission to Miss Elles, who is debarred by circumstances over which she had no control from standing here to receive for herself this mark of recognition which the Council of the Society have bestowed upon her.'
Strong opposition to women's presence at the Society's Meetings still existed in some quarters, and was illustrated by Horace Monckton's motion of 7 March 1900 in which he proposed: 'It is not desirable that the Fellows of the Society should be allowed to introduce ladies as visitors at the Ordinary General Meetings', and seconded by William Whitehead Watts. The motion was put before Council on 21 March 1900 but was defeated. These arguments over women's attendance at scientific meetings were eventually settled once and for all when Archibald Geikie simply introduced two ladies to the OGM of 20 March 1901.
In the same year the Reverend John Frederick Blake called for a SGM, issuing a circular on the poor state of the Society's Museum and for women to be finally allowed membership. Following the setting up of a Special Committee to deal with the latter issue, it was decided that the Society should seek legal opinion on the matter. The opinion of Richard Burdon Haldane, KC, was that as the law stood (and taking into consideration the Society's Charter), only unmarried women would be eligible - married women no longer held the 'status of separate persons in law'.
Whilst women's attendance at OGMs was formalised at the SGM of 24 February 1904 and the first woman to be present when her paper was read was Maud Healey in November that year, the matter of female membership did not go away. Between 1906-1907, Council investigated a possible compromise. Women, it was proposed, could become Associate Members, however this motion was also defeated at the SGM of 15 May 1907 by a slim majority of 34 to 32.
After the Society's Centenary celebrations held in September-October 1907, which many women attended, the issue of female membership was again raised. Edward Martin's motion, 'That the Council be requested to take the necessary steps, at an early date, in order to allow the admission of women to full Fellowship of the Geological Society of London', was put before a SGM on 7 April 1908. After discussion, the amendment, 'That it is desirable that women should be admitted as Fellows of the Society, assuming that this can be done under the Present Charter', proposed by Dr Arthur Smith Woodward was voted upon, and passed by 43 to 34. An additional amendment proposed by Horace Bolingbroke Woodward, 'That a poll of all Fellows of the Society Resident in the United Kingdom be taken, to ascertain whether a majority is in favour of admitting women to the Society, and if so, whether as Fellows or Associates' was also passed. A further SGM was called to request a poll of Foreign and Commonwealth Fellows should also be taken, and although both poll results were overwhelmingly in favour of women becoming Fellows the motion, 'That it be desirable under the existing Charter, to admit Women to candidature for the Fellowship of the Society', put before the SGM of 10 February 1909 was defeated by a majority of 50 to 40.
In December 1918, in recognition of women's contribution to the war effort, a committee was appointed by Council to consider, 'The most convenient and expeditous way of effecting the admission of women into the Society'. The following simple motion, 'That it is desirable to admit Women as Fellows of the Society' was finally carried by 55 votes to 12 at the SGM of 26 March 1919. Helped along, no doubt by the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 which would have forced the issue anyway.
On 21 May 1919, eight women were elected as Fellows of the Society. Benefitting from the alphabetical primacy of her surname, Margaret Chorley Crosfield officially became the first female Fellow of the Geological Society. |