SOLID Women Throughout History

At SOLID we are very aware of the gender gap. In the UK only 12.37% of all engineers are women and while 70% of boys aged 11-14 would consider a career in engineering, only 46.4% of girls of the same age would. These are statistics we are fighting to change.

March hosts ‘International Women’s Day’ but it is also ‘Women in History’ month. A month dedicated to celebrating women throughout history, honouring female leaders, activists, and role models, both past and present. The National Women’s History Alliance sets a yearly theme for the event and this year the theme is ‘Women Who Advocate for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.’

Here at SOLID, we have been extremely fortunate in working to preserve a wide range of historical buildings, which celebrate Britain’s varied heritage. With access to so much exciting architecture, our team decided it was time to shout about some of the amazing women who are behind our vibrant history.

Sarah Jane Cooper

SOLID were appointed to help upgrade the Grade II Listed Oxford Jam Factory (built in 1902) to modern office standards. Our methodology for most historical building projects is to unpick the alterations and additions that were carried out over the years. By researching historical records and on-site surveys we can build an accurate picture of what the building looked like at day one.

When researching the Jam Factory, we uncovered another interesting fact that is not related to the foundations of the building. Whilst Frank Cooper has gone down in history as the creator of Oxford Marmalade (with his name on all the labels) it was actually his wife, Sarah Jane Cooper, who was the mastermind behind the marmalade. She used a secret family recipe using just Seville oranges and sugar. Sarah and Frank first sold the marmalade in their High Street shop in 1874. By 1902 it was so popular they had to build the purpose-built factory on Frideswide Square. Whilst production in Oxford has now ceased, the marmalade is still made elsewhere to this day.

Annie Rogers

Equality is, rightly so, the driving force behind many of the builds that we have worked on, take St Anne’s college, for example. SOLID were appointed as Civil and Structural Engineers on the new library building at St Anne’s College. St Anne’s was founded in 1879 by a coalition of radical thinking Victorian women and men who were determined to create a way for women to study at Oxford University without having to be immersed in a college. The Society of Home students was formed to ensure women, no matter their financial background, could study at Oxford. However, despite woman having the opportunity to study at Oxford, they weren’t awarded their degrees until 1920. St Anne’s Student Annie Rogers was the first woman to graduate with full Oxford BA and MA degrees on 14th October 1920. Her degrees were awarded 40 years after taking her exams!

Dorothea Beale

Dorothea Beale was a suffragette and the Head of Ladies College Cheltenham when she founded St Hilda’s College in Oxford (1893) to, again, allow women to further their education. Working on Oxford University buildings like St Hilda’s and the Le Gros Clarke Building it has been clear to see how quickly education was moving at Oxford University through the 1900s. We have been appointed on the extensive refurbishment of the Le Gros Clarke Building. The refurbishment is necessary after years of extensions and additions to the original building to accommodate all the dissection rooms, lecture theatres and teaching spaces required. The alterations left the building feeling disjointed and it no longer meets modern standards.

Despite the obvious growth in education and the efforts of women like Dorothea Beale, advances in equality were much slower paced. Women would not have been allowed to participate in dissections and lectures within the Le Gros Clarke Building without a chaperone. Even once women were awarded degrees, there were still major setbacks. In 1927 The University imposed a quota on how many women were allowed to be enrolled at Oxford, so not to put off any men thinking of joining. The university only allowed 840 women, less than a quarter of the number of men enrolled.

Sarah Foot

We wouldn’t be where we are today without all the pioneering women, both those from the past and those that continue to strive for equality. Jumping to present day, we revisit our Christ Church Project. In the Autumn of 2014, a catastrophic failure of an unbraced purlin was the catalyst of extensive repairs to the Great Hall Roof. These sensitive repairs uncovered a need for yet more corrective action to address missing and disconnected elements. The repair work took several years, and we maintain contact with many of the team behind the repairs. So, we were thrilled to hear that Christ Church, who didn’t allow women to enrol there until 1980, has appointed a female Dean, Rev Professor Sarah Foot, for the first time in its 500-year history. Congratulations to Sarah on the position.

We hope, by sharing a little about some of the amazing women behind the history of our SOLID projects, we may have inspired you to take on your own challenge. Challenges are what we are about here at SOLID, because ambitious designs need SOLID Solutions. If you have a complex heritage building in need of refurbishment, contact our skilled team today.