Abstract
Edith and Florence Stoney were born in Dublin, Edith in January 1869 and her sister Florence 13 months later. They had two older brothers, Gerald and Robert, and a younger sister Gertrude. Their father, G Johnstone Stoney FRS, was an eminent physicist who was secretary to Queen’s University of Ireland until its closure in 1882. Their mother Sophia died in childbirth in 1871. All five children were tutored at home. Edith and Florence’s upbringing was influenced by their father’s liberal educational ideas. Edith and Gertrude attended the Metropolitan College of Art. They accompanied their father to events at the Royal Dublin Society where he was a vice president. Edith, Florence and Gerald all attended science classes at the Royal College of Science for Ireland. At home they were influenced by Gerald’s engineering interest in cycling, their father’s knowledge of astronomy and Robert’s medical studies. They learned about photography. University opportunities for women were opening but still limited. Edith and Florence both gained firsts in the natural sciences group of subjects in the Cambridge Local Higher Examinations in 1889, two of only six women to achieve that standard.
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Notes
- 1.
The house was renumbered from No. 3 to No. 9 not long after they moved in.
- 2.
Queen’s College Belfast remained independent of the Royal University and became Queen’s University Belfast, which remains to this day.
- 3.
Tuberculosis often ran in families, and at least one of their cousins also died of the disease. This was before the days of contact tracing.
- 4.
The first woman Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries was the American Elizabeth Blackwell, whose name was entered on the Medical Register in 1859.
- 5.
The Dictionary of National Biography 1912 supplement entry for G Johnstone Stoney states ‘it was mainly through his exertions that women obtained legal medical qualifications in Ireland before they were able in England or Scotland’. Florence Stoney’s obituary in ‘The Vote’ says ‘His position as Secretary of the old Queen’s University of Ireland gave him the opportunity to press his views, and through his influence, the first medical licence was opened to women’. Nevertheless, the King and Queen’s College records do not mention Stoney’s involvement, so his influence seems to have been indirect.
- 6.
Materia medica refers to the body of knowledge and beliefs about the therapeutic properties of all substances used to treat illnesses and ailments.
- 7.
The cube root of 1.331 is 1.1.
- 8.
The ‘German governess’ is a plausible invention. That Johnstone Stoney employed a governess to look after the education of his three daughters is highly likely, in line with common practice in many middle-class families at the time. That she was German is suggested by the successful entry of both Florence and Gertrude in the Cambridge Local German examination.
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Thomas, A., Duck, F. (2019). Dublin. In: Edith and Florence Stoney, Sisters in Radiology. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16561-1_1
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