Sophie Bryant

Who was Sophie Bryant?

Sophie Bryant was an Anglo-Irish mathematician, educator, feminist and activist.

She was the daughter of Revd Dr William Willock DD, Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Dublin and was educated at home, largely by her father. At the age of sixteen she moved to London, when her father was appointed Professor of Geometry at the University of London, and she attended Bedford College. At the age of nineteen she married Dr William Hicks Bryant, a surgeon ten years older than she was, who died of cirrhosis within a year.

In 1875 she became a teacher and was invited by Frances Mary Buss to join the staff of North London Collegiate School. In 1885 she succeeded Miss Buss as headmistress of North London Collegiate, serving until 1918.

When the University of London opened its degree courses to women in 1878, she became one of the first women to obtain First Class Honours, in Mental and Moral Sciences, together with a degree in mathematics in 1881, and three years later was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science. In 1882 she was the third woman to be elected to the London Mathematical Society, and was the first active female member, publishing her first paper with the Society in 1884.