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Eleanor Purdie (10 January 1872 - 5 May 1929) was an English philologist and the first woman to obtain a doctorate from the University of Fribourg.
Eleanor Purdie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 January 1872 Dalston, London |
| Died | 5 May 1929 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge University of Fribourg |
| Thesis | The Perfective 'Aktionsart' in Polybius (1898) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Classics |
| Sub-discipline | philology |
| Institutions | Cheltenham Ladies' College |
| Notable works | Liviana |
Eleanor Purdie was born in Dalston in 1872 to Elizabeth White Blight and Walter Charles Fry Purdie. Her mother had been a proprietor of a family booksellers in Bideford, who, after her marriage continued to contribute to the family finances by working as a Berlin wool dealer. Her father was a bank clerk who was probably employed by Willis, Percival & Co., bankers in Lombard Street until their demise in 1878. She had two older siblings, Florence (who became Headmistress of the High School, Exeter)[1] and Walter, and a younger brother Cecil.[2][3]
Purdie attended Notting Hill High School for seven years. In 1889, she obtained a St Dunstan's exhibition, which she then held for three years of undergraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge. She obtained a First class in both parts of the Classical Tripos in 1894,[4] gaining a star in Part II and placed top in section E.[5] At the time, women were not awarded degrees by Cambridge University, which posed bureaucratic problems for her when she applied to the University of Fribourg for her doctorate.[6] A Marion Kennedy Studentship enabled her to become the first woman student at Fribourg. After a year of studying Sanskrit, Greek and Indo-European philology, she took a Fellowship at Bryn Mawr College.[7] She obtained a PhD in classical philology from Fribourg in 1896 under the guidance of Wilhelm Streitberg, an Indo-Europeanist.[8]
Purdie taught for a year at her high school, before joining the staff of Cheltenham Ladies' College in 1898.[7] She continued to teach there for 25 years, retiring in 1923 from the position of Senior Classical Mistress.[9][10]
Besides her doctoral thesis, Purdie wrote several primers for Latin language instruction for high school. It has been pointed out that she also co-edited a collection of essays in comparative philology,[11] although her contributions were relegated to the acknowledgements.[12]
Purdie was active in pedagogy, writing articles on women's education in the US, Germany and Switzerland.[13] She was also part of a movement to unify grammatical terminology, submitting a co-written report that made twenty-five recommendations for the standardisation of usage across languages, modern and ancient.[14]
Purdie died on 5 May 1929,[7] and was interred in the Prestbury churchyard.[10]
The Eleanor Purdie Prize for Greek Composition was established in 1936 by Newnham College.[15]
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