A. A. (Agnes Amy) Brooke

Born Agnes Amy Bulley in 1852, she was one of the early women to study at Girton and Newnham Colleges, Cambridge. She is remembered as one of the first two women to sit the Cambridge tripos examinations, though women were still denied the degrees their results merited.

She went on to teach at Manchester High School for Girls and became closely involved in the movement for higher education for women in Manchester. Her work helped support the growth of women’s study there, including the development of a women’s department connected with Owens College.

Writing as A. A. Brooke after her marriage, she also published on women’s lives and work. Her best-known book, co-written with Margaret Whitley, looked closely at women’s employment in the late Victorian period, reflecting her lifelong interest in education, opportunity, and social change.