Clara Millicent Taylor (12 December 1885 – 10 January 1940) was a research chemist and educator from New Zealand.[1][2]

Biography

Clara Taylor was born in Stratford, Taranaki. She was one of seven children of Robert Taylor, a farmer from England, and his New Zealand-born wife Mary, née Morrison. One of her siblings was Lyra Taylor, who became a lawyer in Australia.[3][4] Another sister, Portia, became a doctor in England, and Taylor's only brother became a barrister.[5][6] Three other siblings died in infancy.[7]

Taylor attended Ngaere School and Stratford District High School, where she was dux of the school.[1][8][9][10] In 1899, while at high school, she won one of six Queen's Scholarships, but was too young to leave high school within the two-year time period specified. The scholarship was worth £40 per year for five years.[11] In 1904, while at Victoria College, Wellington (now Victoria University of Wellington), she applied to have her scholarship extended.[12] Taylor studied chemistry at Victoria College from 1902 to 1910,[13] graduating with a M.A. (Hons) in chemistry.[1][14] In 1908, Taylor was the only student at Victoria College to apply for a government research scholarship worth £100 per year plus laboratory fees. She stated that she would be researching 'The Utilisation of Fats'. Professors Harry Kirk and Thomas H. Easterfield supported Taylor's nomination for the scholarship.[15][16]

Taylor trained as a teacher in Wellington, then taught at Chilton House, a private girls' school in the city, and at public schools.[10]

Taylor moved to England in 1911 to undertake research at Newnham College, Cambridge, working with William Jackson Pope.[17] In 1912 she became a science teacher at Clapham High School. For eight years (1913–1921) she was senior science mistress at St Paul’s Girls’ School, London.[18] She was headmistress of Northampton School for Girls for 5 years (1921–1926) before becoming headmistress of Redland High School, Bristol from 1926 to 1940.[19] [20] In 1930, she and her sister Portia Thomas collaborated to write a school textbook on chemistry.

She was president of the Association of Women Science Teachers, 1925–26, and vice-president for 1927.[21]

She died suddenly on 10 January 1940, at her sister Portia's house in Yorkshire.[22][23] Former students of Redland High School set up a memorial fund in Taylor's name, to provide a small grant for students leaving the school to begin a career.[24]

Publications

Articles

  • Taylor, Clara M. (1909). The phases of sulphur. Reports of the AAAS, 12, 158-159.[25]
  • Easterfield T. H. & Taylor C. M. (1911). The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 2298–2307.[26]
  • Taylor C. M. (1912). The rotatory powers of the d-and l-methylethylphenacylthetine salts. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 1124–1127.[27]
  • Pope W. J. & Taylor C. M. (1913). Cxc.—the resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 : 3 : 4-naphthaisotriazine into optically active components. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 1763–1767.[28]

Books

  • Taylor C. M. (1923). The discovery of the nature of the air and of its changes during breathing. G. Bell and Sons.[29][30]
  • Taylor C. M. & Thomas P. K. (1930). Elementary chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft (1st ed.). John Murray.[31][32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rayner-Canham, Marlene; Rayner-Canham, Geoff (2019). Pioneering British Women Chemists: Their Lives and Contributions. London: World Scientific. p. 339. ISBN 9781786347701.
  2. ↑ "Deaths". Evening Post. Vol. 129, no. 10. 12 January 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2024 – via PapersPast.
  3. ↑ "Women's World: New Zealand author". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Bundock, Anthea, "Lyra Veronica Esmeralda Taylor (1894–1979)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 3 January 2024
  5. ↑ "Current Topics". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  6. ↑ "Wedding in England". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  7. ↑ https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/47673740/person/6821003650/facts
  8. ↑ "Ngaere School Jubilee". Taranaki Daily News. 24 November 1932. p. 14 – via Papers Past.
  9. ↑ "Stratford District High School". Stratford Evening Post. 21 December 1916. p. 5 – via Papers Past.
  10. 1 2 "English Schools - Education of Girls". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Personal paragraphs". New Zealand Graphic. 21 January 1899. p. 82 – via Papers Past.
  12. ↑ "Victoria College Council". New Zealand Times. 20 October 1904. p. 6 – via Papers Past.
  13. ↑ "Past Students | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Victoria College Students, Graduates of Year 1907". University of Wellington. New Zealand Electronic Text Collection. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  15. ↑ "Victoria College". Evening Post. 16 April 1908. p. 4 – via Papers Past.
  16. ↑ "It is Town Talk". New Zealand Free Lance. 13 June 1908. p. 22 – via Papers Past.
  17. ↑ Pope, William Jackson; Taylor, Clara Millicent. "The Resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 3 : 4- naphthaisotriazine into optically active components". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 103: 1763-1767. doi:10.1039/CT9130301763.
  18. ↑ "[untitled]". Western Daily Press. 18 April 1921. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com. Miss Clara Taylor, science mistress at St Pauls School for Girls, Brook Green, London, has been appointed headmistress of Northampton High School for Girls.
  19. ↑ "New Head Appointed, Redland High School". Western Daily Press, Bristol. p.5. 1 June 1926.
  20. ↑ Cooper, Jean (1995). "Second Best". Redland High School Old Girls' Guild Newsletter p.11. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  21. ↑ Rayner-Canham, Marelene; Rayner-Canham, Geoff (2017). A Chemical Passion. London: UCL IoE Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-78277-188-3.
  22. ↑ "Sudden Death of Redland High School Head, Scholastic Career of Miss C. M. Taylor". Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror. p.5. 13 January 1940.
  23. ↑ "Memorial Service for Miss C.M. Taylor". Western Daily Press. 27 January 1940. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. ↑ Redland High School Old Girls' Guild (November 1942). "News Sheet, 1942".
  25. ↑ MacLeod, Roy, ed. (1988). The Commonwealth of science : ANZAAS and the scientific enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-19-554683-5.
  26. ↑ Easterfield, Thomas Hill; Taylor, Clara Millicent (1 January 1911). "CCLIII.—The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 99 (0): 2298–2307. doi:10.1039/CT9119902298. ISSN 0368-1645.
  27. ↑ Taylor, Clara Millicent (1 January 1912). "CXVIII.—The rotatory powers of the d-and l-methylethylphenacylthetine salts". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 101 (0): 1124–1127. doi:10.1039/CT9120101124. ISSN 0368-1645.
  28. ↑ Pope, William Jackson; Taylor, Clara Millicent (1 January 1913). "CXC.—The resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 : 3 : 4-naphthaisotriazine into optically active components". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 103 (0): 1763–1767. doi:10.1039/CT9130301763. ISSN 0368-1645.
  29. ↑ Singer, Charles Joseph (1922). The discovery of the circulation of the blood. Gerstein - University of Toronto. London G. Bell.
  30. ↑ W, F (26 January 1924). "(1) The Discovery of the Nature of the Air, and of its Changes during Breathing (2) Stories of Scientific Discovery (3) Makers of Science: Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy". Nature. 113 (2830): 118–119. doi:10.1038/113118a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  31. ↑ "Elementary chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  32. ↑ P. K. Thomas was Clara's sister Portia.
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