author
Alice Gardner
1854–1927
A pioneering English historian and teacher, she helped open academic history to women at a time when universities offered them few formal paths. Her books on late antiquity, Byzantium, and Newnham College reflect a scholar drawn to big historical change and careful research.
1 Audiobook
A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge
by Alice Gardner
About the author
Born in Hackney on April 26, 1854, Alice Gardner studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she belonged to one of the early generations of women pursuing higher education there. She went on to build a long career in teaching and historical scholarship, becoming especially associated with Newnham and with the study of the later Roman and Byzantine worlds.
Gardner wrote a range of historical works, including books on figures such as Julian and Synesius, studies of Byzantine subjects, and a history of Newnham College. Her work suggests a historian interested both in ideas and in the institutions that shaped intellectual life. During and after her years at Cambridge, she also took on important academic roles, including work connected with Bristol.
She died in Oxford on November 11, 1927. Remembered as an English historian of real seriousness and range, she stands out both for her scholarship and for her place among the women who helped establish a stronger academic presence in British universities.