Eva Hartree

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Eva Hartree
Born
Eva Rayner

(1873-12-24)24 December 1873
Stockport, England
Died9 September 1947(1947-09-09) (aged 73)
Cambridge, England
EducationGirton College, Cambridge
Known forSocial activist and politician
SpouseWilliam Hartree
Children6, including Douglas Hartree

Eva Hartree (née Rayner; 24 December 1873 – 9 September 1947)[1] was the first woman to be Mayor of Cambridge, in 1924–25.

Early life[edit]

Hartree was born Eva Rayner in Stockport in 1873, the daughter of a Jewish doctor, Edwin Rayner and his wife Isabella.[2][3][4]

Hartree read natural history at Girton College, Cambridge from 1892, completing tripos in 1895, but not graduating as women did not then proceed to graduation.[2] Also in 1895 she married William Hartree, a lecturer in engineering.[2] She was a suffragist (not a more militant suffragette).[2]

Civic career[edit]

Hartree was a Borough Councillor from 1921 to 1927, during which time she was the first woman to be Mayor of Cambridge in 1924–25.[2] As a result of suffering from Graves' disease, she had a short period off the council, but was again a Councillor from 1929 to 1943.[2]

Hartree was elected President of the National Council of Women of Great Britain in 1933[5] and in her presidential speech in 1936, she called attention to the rise of Nazism in Germany and the treatment of non Aryan people,[6] called for a committee on broadcasting to be set up so that the organsion could have links with the BBC, and raised concerns over women being excluded from roles in the local government.[7]

She served as Secretary of the Cambridge branch of the League of Nations.[5]

After her husband died in 1943, she resigned from the council and moved to London, to work with refugees.[5]

Personal life[edit]

The Hartrees had six children, only two of whom survived beyond infancy, and only one of those two to adulthood.[2] The surviving son was Douglas Rayner Hartree, who became Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics.[2] Her niece through her brother Edwin, (who became a senior figure at the National Physical Laboratory) was geologist Dorothy Helen Rayner.[8][9] The Hartrees lived at 21 Bentley Road, Trumpington.[10] During the time after William Hartree died and Eva Hartree lived in London, the house was occupied by the scientist John Baker.[10]

Her husband died in 1943, and Hartree herself died in 1947.[2]

Legacy[edit]

The Clay Farm community centre in Trumpington has an Eva Hartree Hall.[11] Her photographic portrait in mayoral robes by Olive Edis is held by the National Portrait Gallery.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Death of Cambridge's First Woman Mayor", Cambridge Daily News, 10 September 1947.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Trumpington Local History Group: Eva Hartree". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Trumpington Local History Group: Life and Times of Eva Hartree". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. ^ "The Year, 2017: "Exile and Exodus", p 14". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Cambridge Mayors: 800 Years" (PDF). Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. ^ Owl, Cambridge Town (16 May 2018). "Eva Hartree's presidential address to the National Council for women, Summer 1936". Lost Cambridge. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ^ Cambridge Independent, Friday 03 July 1936
  8. ^ "Hartree, Douglas Rayner (1897–1958), mathematician and theoretical physicist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33743. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 6 August 2022. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. ^ Varker, W. John (1 January 2005). "Dorothy Helen Rayner, 1912–2003". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 116 (1): 69–70. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(05)80019-7. ISSN 0016-7878.
  10. ^ a b "Trumptington: Bentley Road". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Cambridge Council: Clay Farm Centre". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Eva Hartree (née Rayner) - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
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