15 Facts About Sophie Bryant

Sophie Willock Bryant was an Anglo-Irish mathematician, educator, feminist and activist.

Sophie Bryant was the first woman to receive a DSc in England; one of the first to serve on a Royal Commission and on the Senate of the University of London.

Sophie Bryant's father was Revd Dr William Willock DD, Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Dublin.

Sophie Bryant was educated at home, largely by her father.

In 1875 Sophie Bryant became a teacher and was invited by Frances Mary Buss to join the staff of North London Collegiate School.

Together with Charles Smith, Sophie Bryant edited three volumes of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, for the use of schools.

When Trinity College Dublin opened its degrees to women, Sophie Bryant was one of the first to be awarded an honorary doctorate.

Sophie Bryant was instrumental in setting up the Cambridge Training College for Women, now Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

Sophie Bryant is said to have been one of the first women to own a bicycle.

Sophie Bryant was interested in Irish politics, wrote books on Irish history and ancient Irish law, and was an ardent Irish nationalist from a Protestant family background.

Sophie Bryant was president of the Irish National Literary Society in 1914.

Sophie Bryant supported women's suffrage but advocated postponement until women were better educated.

Sophie Bryant serve on consultative committees of the national Board of Education with other suffragists like Isabel Cleghorn.

Sophie Bryant rowed, cycled, and swam, and twice climbed the Matterhorn.

Sophie Bryant died in a hiking accident in the Alps in 1922, aged 72.