Millicent Taylor

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Millicent Taylor
FRSC
Born17 October 1871
Died23 December 1960
EducationCheltenham Ladies College, University of Bristol MSc, DSc
Known forchemical research and as a signatory to the petition for women to be made Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1904)

Millicent Taylor (17 October 1871 – 23 December 1960)[citation needed] FRSC MSc DSc was a chemist who, in 1904, was one of the nineteen women who petitioned to join the Chemical Society[1][2]

Education and early career

Taylor graduated from Cheltenham Ladies College in 1888 to 1893, with an external (London) BSc degree and worked for the college until 1919,[3] becoming Head of Chemistry in 1894. She oversaw the design and building of a science wing for the College in 1904,[4] and later she was appointed Head of Science (1911).[citation needed] During this time she was also undertaking research in organic and physical chemistry at the University College Bristol (later the University of Bristol). She cycled a 80mile return trip each week to undertake her studies. She was awarded Bristol University MSc (1910) and DSc in 1911.[5][2]

The 1904 petition to the Chemical Society

In 1904, Taylor, along with eighteen other British women chemists, signed a petition to the Chemical Society as to why they should be given Fellowship status like male chemists. The petition eventually led to the admission of women years later as Fellows of the Society (one of the Societies that amalgamated to become the Royal Society of Chemistry). Whilst some women petitioners accepted the more limited status of 'Subscribers' following this petition, Taylor and three others did not do so, and wrote a letter to Chemical News in 1909,[citation needed] indicating it was equal Fellowship or nothing. Two other petitioners who studied at Bristol were Emily Fortey and Katharine Isabella Williams.[2] Taylor was therefore awarded her Fellowship in 1920.[2]

Later career

Taylor was involved during World War I in the development of anaesthetic β-eucaine.[6] She worked as research chemist at H.M. Factory Oldbury and in the Ministry of Munitions.[citation needed] After a brief post-war return to Cheltenham College, Taylor became a Demonstrator (1921) and then Lecturer (1923) in Chemistry, at Bristol University[7][8] until retiring in 1937. However she continued to work in the laboratories until she died, aged 89.[9]

References

  1. ^ Creese, Mary R. S. (September 1991). "British women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who contributed to research in the chemical sciences". The British Journal for the History of Science. 24 (3): 275–305. doi:10.1017/S0007087400027370. ISSN 1474-001X. PMID 11622943.
  2. ^ a b c d Rayner-Canham, Marelene F.; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2008). Chemistry was their life: pioneer British women chemists, 1880-1949. London: Imperial college press. pp. 64–68. ISBN 978-1-86094-986-9.
  3. ^ "In Memoriam: Millicent Taylor, D.Sc". Cheltenham Ladies' College Magazine: 144. 1961.
  4. ^ Taylor, M. (1907). "The new science wing, The Ladies' College, Cheltenham". School World. 7: 222.
  5. ^ McBain, James W.; Taylor, Millicent (1911-02-01). "Zur Kenntnis der Konstitution von Seifenlösungen: Lösungen von "Natriumpalmitaten"". Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie. 76U (1): 179–209. doi:10.1515/zpch-1911-7617. ISSN 2196-7156. S2CID 99919097.
  6. ^ "eucaine". Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. 29 (3). October 1896. doi:10.1002/cber.v29:3. ISSN 0365-9496.
  7. ^ Taylor, Millicent (March 1926). "The Transference Numbers of Sodium and Hydrogen in Mixed Chloride Solution". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 48 (3): 599–603. doi:10.1021/ja01414a007. ISSN 0002-7863.
  8. ^ Dunning, W. J.; Evans, H. C.; Taylor, M. (1951). "524. The vapour pressures of concentrated aqueous sucrose solutions up to the pressure of 760 mm". Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed): 2363. doi:10.1039/jr9510002363. ISSN 0368-1769.
  9. ^ Baker, W (1962). "Millicent Taylor 1871–1960". Proc. Chem. Soc. (London). 94.
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