Frances Melville MA BD LLD OBE 1873 – 1962

Ambassador of women's education and most senior academic woman in Scotland, suffragist, progressive innovator and leader

Frances Melville was born at a time when women were educated primarily to enhance their skills as wives, homemakers and mothers. The 1892 Ordinance under the Universities (Scotland) Act authorising universities to make provision for the instruction and graduation of women enabled her to become one of the first women to matriculate for a degree at Edinburgh University.

Frances enjoyed a brilliant academic career as student, tutor and lecturer and finally, in 1909, as Mistress of Queen Margaret College for Women, a post she would hold until her retirement in 1935. In 1910 she was the first woman in Scotland to gain a Bachelor of Divinity degree, while in 1927 she was awarded an honorary LLD by Glasgow University - again the first female Scottish graduate to be honoured in this way.

Throughout her life, Frances took an active role in a wide range of committees and associations, championing women's education, supporting universal suffrage and tackling social issues. In 1906 she was one of five women who pursued a lawsuit to the House of Lords for women graduates to have the right to vote in Scottish University elections. Later, she was one of the first female Scottish JPs, dealing mainly with cases under the Education and Children’s Acts.

Her reserved demeanour belied the warmth of a woman who cared deeply about all people in need and who was never afraid to criticise male-dominated institutions. She was awarded an OBE in the 1935 Jubilee Honours List in recognition of her work.