No women at Cambridge! The 1897 protests, part 1
When the voice of “sweet reasonableness” was drowned in angry clamour
On this drizzly 21st of May 2024, King’s Parade in Cambridge looks much the same as in the photograph above, if a little rainier and considerably less crowded. This is the first of a special two-part post marking the anniversary of 21st May 1897, a notorious date in the history of Cambridge University, when a vote to award women the title of degree became a hugely contested issue. (Part 2, ‘The Women in the Photograph’, describing events that took place later that day, will follow shortly.) Attitudes towards access to higher education are very different today, thanks to the efforts of women and men who worked together over the years. This post contains references to deeply unpleasant historic views of women.
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