So there I was, just searching around for some distant Culpins and I found a lady with the rather stunning name of Emmeline Euphrosyne. Apparently she, Euphrosyne, was the Greek goddess of good cheer, mirth and merriment so .... not much for the lady to live up to!! I'm quite impressed with the name and I went to school with a Tryphena.
The other impressive find of the week was again on the distant Culpin side and involved a couple called Wallace and Mary Thoday. They married in 1909 and had a small child by the time of the 1911 census, when they were living in Cambridge.
Wallace is listed as a Demonstrator in Botany, Cambridge University and his wife as Fellow & Lecturer in Botany, Newnham College. Newnham, by the way, is one of the few remaining women's colleges. I wasn't sure whether the Fellow etc bit referred to husband or wife; I consulted one of my friends who suggested it might have been possible for Mary to be the Fellow so, point taken on board, I then went to the Newnham website. And there I noted the email address of the college archvist.
On the basis of "if you don't ask ......", I sent her an email asking the obvious question and, within two hours, got a superb response telling me that Mary had been a student at Girton college (at the time, also a women's college) and that she became a Research Fellow at Newnham in 1909.
So, a "big up" (as the kids say) to the Newnham College Archivist for her kindness and her rapid response. And let's hear it for Mary Thoday, nee Sykes, my first female Fellow!
More soon.
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