WOMAN GRADUATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 165, 15 July 1938, Page 11

WOMAN GRADUATE.

FIRST IN EMPIRE.

STUDENT AT AUCKLAND.

COMMEMORATIVE DOOR BUILT

In 1877 the first woman in the British Empire received a university degree; and she was a student of the Auckland University College. She was the late Mrs. W. Evans, formerly Mies Kate Millicent Edger. To commemorate her graduation an oak door has been placed near the women's commonroom, with a suitable inscription. I

Miss Edger was capped in the Auckland Choral Hall —around which was afterwards built the old science buiklinjf of the college—on July 11, 1877,. The importance of the occasion was fully realised at the time, and the hall was crowded, many influential citizens being present and making speeches. Complimentary addresses were given by Bishop Cowie, Mr. H. H. Lusk, member of the House of Representatives, and the Rev. David Bruce. Mr. Lusk was chairman, and he drew attention to the difficulties which had confronted Miss Edger in her studies. He pointed out the poor state of the building, which was as little like a university ae was possible to imagine. Mr. Bruce referred to the high standard of the New Zealand University degree, stating that it was then the highest in the world for admission to the B.A. degree. A pupil of the Auckland Grammar School, Mise Edger matriculated in 1874, and was awarded a scholarship in mathematics. In 1875 she secured two scholarships, one in chemistry and the other in natural science, while in May of the following year she was awarded a senior scholarship of a value of £60. After graduating, she accepted a position as an assistant teacher at the Christehurch* Girls' High School at a salary of £300 a year. Subsequently she married the Rev. W. Evans, a Congregational minister. For some years she was an examiner in Latin for the university.