CHAPTER V
PROGRESS, 1900-1914
The years which elapsed between the death of Professor Sidgwick and the retirement of Mrs. Sidgwick from the principalship at the end of 1910 were marked by progress on various lines. The increase of demand for accommodation led to the building of a new Hall, with connecting passages, at right angles to Clough Hall and Kennedy Buildings, and facing the Grange Road. This is on much the same plan as the other Halls, with some very pleasant common rooms, and accommodation for another Vice-Principal (Tutor) and two lecturers, besides about fifty-six students. The central kitchen, which—as already stated—helped greatly to simplify and otherwise improve the domestic arrangements, dates from the same time. Peile Hall was named after Dr. and Mrs. Peile, whose portraits hang in the dining-hall. Dr. Peile died on the very day on which the Hall was opened. It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the service rendered to the College by Dr. Peile from its first beginnings till the day of his death. He was constant in attending the Council, and was President for many years. His wisdom in giving advice in difficulties was equalled by his courage in defending the College in aspersions and attacks. He had been an intimate friend of Professor Sidgwick and an eager promoter of University reform. Mrs. Peile was intensely interested in everything connected with the College till the loss of her eyesight and her enfeebled health withdrew her from her former activities.
Another external addition to the College is the sunk garden, with fountain, in the lawn immediately opposite the Memorial Gates. It was paid for as part of the memorial above mentioned by subscriptions of students past and present, and the stone margin has for legend: "The daughters of this house to those that shall come after commend the filial remembrance of Henry Sidgwick."
No further steps towards a request for degrees was made for many years after the rebuff in 1897, but in the spring of 1904 a recognition of the status of Tripos students came from an unexpected quarter—the University of Dublin. There had been a party favourable to women graduates in Dublin, and the Royal University of Ireland already granted degrees to those women who had passed its examinations, among whom were the students of Alexandra College, the head of which had herself been a Newnham student. After the death of a very highly respected but also very conservative Provost the authorities of Trinity College admitted women to their degrees, and at the same time offered an ad eundem degree to all women who had passed examinations qualifying for a degree at Oxford or Cambridge. Trinity College already granted the ad eundem degree to graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, and this new step amounted to the recognition of the Tripos certificate granted to women at Cambridge as the equivalent of a degree. The result was perhaps surprising to its originators, but not to those who really understood one of the reasons why women students at Oxford and Cambridge had asked for degrees. Numbers of young women trooped over as soon as possible after the results of their tripos were known, to take the B.A. degree. Many others who if degrees at Cambridge had been open to them would have been of M.A. standing took B.A. and M.A. both at Dublin. A few, whose literary or scientific work had made them worthy of a doctorate, were admitted to the higher degree. The Dublin officials were apparently somewhat surprised and puzzled. They generously applied most of the money raised by fees to the establishment of a Hall of residence for women students in Dublin.
This privilege was open to Oxford and Cambridge women for a few years only, since the object which the authorities of Trinity College, Dublin, had in view was to provide for those women who had begun or completed their courses elsewhere and could therefore not make use of the opportunities which the College now offered to women. One great advantage, however, had been derived by the general cause from the temporary grant of Dublin: it had been made clear that the degree of a respected University was, for women, really worth having. Busy women of moderate means do not take long journeys and pay considerable fees (£10 for the B.A. and £20 for the M.A.) for a merely fanciful advantage. Nor would the City Companies, which had granted certain scholarships to Newnham students, have been willing to pay, as they did, the fees for their scholars' Dublin degrees unless they felt sure that these would be to such scholars' advantage. A good many head mistresses felt it an advantage to be able to wear gown and hood, especially when some of their assistants could already wear the academic dress of London or of a Scotch or Welsh University. London did not grant its degrees to Cambridge women without some further test, though it admitted those who had taken Triposes to send in theses for a research M.A. degree without the actual B.A. degree required in men students. The only women who might have taken the Dublin degree, and had not much reason or inclination to do so, were members of the Newnham Staff, whose position was well understood by those around them. If, however, they migrated during the time that the Dublin ad eundem was open to them, they sometimes found it desirable to take it.
MISS KATHARINE STEPHEN.
Mrs. Sidgwick's principalship came to an end in December 1910. Though Staff and students very deeply deplored her withdrawal, it was felt that she was more than entitled to more leisure for scientific pursuits, family enjoyments, and greater liberty generally. She was not lost altogether to Newnham, since she retained for several years the post of Treasurer (afterwards called Bursar), and after Dr. Peile's death she consented to become President of the Newnham College Council. The principalship was offered to Miss Katharine Stephen, who accepted it and held it for nearly ten years. Mrs. Sidgwick moved into a house separated from Peile Hall by the Grange Road only, and thus was easily in touch with College affairs.
One more improvement—and a very important one—was made before Mrs. Sidgwick's retirement: the determination of a fixed age for retirement for the Staff and of a pension to follow. The salaries of all the lecturers were raised and standardized. In the early days the pay had been low, even according to the standard of that time, simply because Newnham had not the funds at its disposal that better endowed Colleges possessed. Still, as we have seen, a great deal had been done for the promotion of learning and research, and some of the lecturers had from time to time benefited by the endowments for this purpose. But by the arrangements which came into force in 1910 the whole status and earnings of the Staff were revised, and a contributory pension scheme initiated, with a liberal provision for making the advantages of the scheme retrospective in the case of lecturers of some years' standing.