'If a female had once passed the gate ...'

In a memorandum sent to the Board on 9th October 1873 by A.B. Corlett, secretary of the Queen’s Institute of Female Professional Schools, Corlett addresses the need for the higher education of women and states that "It concerns the honor of Ireland that her universities should inaugurate such enlightened policy by inviting women desirous of obtaining the highest education to study in the schools. Nor should it be overlooked that only those women whose influence on Society would be of the most valuable kind are likely to seek their education at mens Universities. The studies to be pursued are not of a nature to attract frivolous minds, nor will many seek for entrance but those who are patiently resolved to devote themselves to gain such an education as will render them benefactors to others."​

In 1892, coinciding with the tercentenary celebrations of Trinity College; the Central Association of Irish Schoolmistresses presented a memorial of 10,560 signatures of Irish women of "the educated classes" asking the board of Trinity College to open its degrees to women.

The memorial tried to win the support of those who did not have an interest in university for themselves and also highlighted the cultural benefit of university education beyond pursuing a career in teaching. However, the Board refused to acknowledge the petition until the following year.​

The Board states that "cases of scandal might from time to time occur", and "even if no worse evil occurred than that parents found the son whom they sent here early entangled in an imprudent marriage, they would not consider that evil small.". ​
The Board were overcome by their fear of the consequences of admitting women to degrees but did enact changes to the examinations for women which allowed them to be examined in senior freshman honour courses and in any moderatorship courses.​
This was a conservative approach as women could study at university level in Oxford and Cambridge but could not be conferred with degrees. The campaign for admission continued.

​John Mahaffy was appointed as Registrar in 1901 and was an active supporter of the Campaign for the admission of Women. ​He proposed to the Board in January 1902 "that the time had come to take action in the matter of giving degrees in Arts to Women". The proposal carried with Provost George Salmon and two others opposing the motion. ​Mahaffy proposed again in March 1902 that a letter from the King should be sought to give women degrees in Arts and Medicine. The Lord Lieutenant then petitioned to ask the King to issue Letters Patent for the admission of women. However, the King was reluctant to promote this legislation as the provost of Trinity College Dublin, George Salmon was so violently opposed to it. In July 1903, the health of Provost Salmon declined, and he wrote to the King to withdraw his opposition and Letters Patent were issued in January 1904. Provost Salmon died eight days later on 22nd January 1904.

The Board adopted on the 4th June 1904, the following Resolution regarding Women Students: "Women Students or Graduates of other Universities in which women are given full academic status, are entitled to every privilege granted to men of the same standing."

Although ‘women students are now equally admissible with men students to lectures and examinations, and to the privilege of reading in the library’ they were subject to college rules and statutes. These rules were strictly enforced in the early years but as women steadily assimilated into college life, they began to gain traction and recognition as both students and staff.​

​In March 1922 a preliminary meeting, with Lucy Gwynn as the chair, decided that an association of Women Graduates was needed for the rising number of female graduates.​ The Dublin University Women Graduates Association was founded on 25th April 1922 and held its inaugural meeting in Trinity Week that year. Lucy Gwynn, the first Lady Registrar of Trinity College was the founding president, with Olive Purser, first female scholar, as vice-president​. The first secretary was Averil Deverell, one of the first women lawyers. Other members included Olive Armstrong, Fridzweeda Berry, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Frances Moran, Lillian Luce and Muriel Thompson. A significant milestone in increasing the status of women within Trinity College was the founding and establishment of the Dublin University Women Graduates Association, now known as Trinity Women Graduates. The association was established so that women graduates could stay connected with the university and with each other. The association had rooms in Number 6 Front Square and organised lectures, visits, weekly gatherings, alumni dinners and an ‘At Home’ during Trinity Week.

In 1904 there were 47 women admitted to Trinity, in 1914 that number grew to 198 and then in 1924 there were 245. By 1922, there was a significant number of women graduates and the Dublin University Women Graduates Association was established with 108 members.​

Several functions were held for DUWGA members in London and after the war the DUWGA went on to set up an official London branch. Events included an annual dinner, theatre outings and talks given by speakers invited from Trinity and elsewhere in Ireland, to keep members up to date. The dinner was the first official gathering of DUWGA members in London. Many Trinity graduates had emigrated there, and the London branch of the Association offered a way for former graduates to stay connected while living abroad, as well as a support network for new graduates moving to Britain.

These celebrations were extremely significant in the history of women and Trinity: An Annual Record states that in 1954 "it is already possible to envisage profound changes in a University where the proportion of women continue to rise, and where ancient statutes, drafted with no thought of women, are held to leave the highest offices open to them."

Trinity News, a student newspaper, covered the celebrations, stated that 215 guests attended the dinner and some of the first women graduates were able to attend (Dublin University Women Graduates' Association, 1954, Trinity News)​.

In recognition of all her work and to mark the jubilee of women being admitted to Trinity Olive Purser, the first woman scholar in 1906 and Lady Registrar from 1918 to 1932, was awarded an honorary MA degree by Trinity College at the Jubilee Dinner. She wrote a succinct history based on her own experiences in Trinity entitled Women in Dublin University 1904-1954. In it she acknowledges how far women in Trinity had come in 1954.

However, in 'Fifty Years of Women' in Trinity: An Annual Record (Michaelmas 1954) Rosaleen Mills, former president of the DUWGA, commented on the achievements of women over the last 50 years. She remarked that while marked improvements had been made, women were still seen as inferior in the College due to the restrictions that still applied to them. Women still had to be off campus by 6pm and membership of the major societies was still closed to them. Trinity Women Graduates also had to request special permission to use their rooms in the evening and women staff still could not be members of the Common Room. ​
"All this after fifty five years, through the influence of individuals, has come by evolution, not revolution. The many change and pass, but the College endures, and may the women ever go from strength to strength" (Christabel Godfrey in the 1959 edition of Trinity: An Annual Record)

On 4th October 1967, the Board decided that women could be admitted to Fellowship and Foundation Scholarship. Women had previously been eligible to apply for non-Foundation Scholarship but could now be appointed as Foundation Scholars.

The 1960s brought about greater equality for women both outside and inside Trinity College. ​​

Women were slowly assimilating fully into College life and by the end of the 20th century they were no longer seen as "a danger to the men."​

These celebrations ensured that "the women students of 2004, who readily accept the privileges of higher education, may honour the previous generations who led the way from that day in 1904 when the first women passed through Front Gate and modestly trod the cobblestones of Front Square." (Susan M. Parkes, A Danger to the Men? A History of Women in Trinity College Dublin 1904-2004).

​In one such memoir entitled Recollections of Tranquility: Trinity Hall 1920-1925 Maura Conran muses that "by today's standards our lives will appear to have been dull and monotonous, but to us it was an exciting new-found freedom. It was accepted for the first time that women had their own opinions and were entitled to express them. […] Of course, many of our more serious discussions revolved around the age-old problem of 'boys' and little did we realise that we were in fact the pioneers of a new world order involving the freedom and independence of women." ​​

Women in Trinity have come a long way since the first women were admitted in 1904 and the Trinity Women Graduates continue to inspire future generations of women graduates of Trinity College Dublin.

The Library of Trinity College Dublin is delighted to have contributed to the centenary celebrations of the establishment of the Trinity Women Graduates and is very grateful to the Trinity Women Graduates for donating their archive and for collaborating with us on this project.

We wish to acknowledge the very generous funding towards the cataloguing, conserving and digitising of the collection provided by the TCD Association and Trust and the support of Trinity Development & Alumni (TDA).