Eva Hartree
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24 December 1873
Eva Hartree | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eva Rayner 24 December 1873 Stockport, England |
| Died | 9 September 1947 (aged 73) Cambridge, England |
| Education | Girton College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Social activist and politician |
| Spouse | William Hartree |
| Children | 6, including Douglas Hartree |
Eva Hartree (née Rayner; 24 December 1873 – 9 September 1947)[1] was the first woman to be Mayor of Cambridge, in 1924–25.
Hartree was born Eva Rayner in Stockport in 1873, the daughter of a Jewish doctor, Edwin Rayner and his wife Isabella.[2][3][4]
Hartree read natural history at Girton College, Cambridge from 1892, completing tripos in 1895, but not graduating as women did not then proceed to graduation.[2] Also in 1895 she married William Hartree, a lecturer in engineering.[2] She was a suffragist (not a more militant suffragette).[2]
Civic career
Hartree was a Borough Councillor from 1921 to 1927, during which time she was the first woman to be Mayor of Cambridge in 1924–25.[2] As a result of suffering from Graves' disease, she had a short period off the council, but was again a Councillor from 1929 to 1943.[2]
Hartree was elected President of the National Council of Women of Great Britain in 1933[5] and in her presidential speech in 1936, she called attention to the rise of Nazism in Germany and the treatment of non Aryan people,[6] called for a committee on broadcasting to be set up so that the organsion could have links with the BBC, and raised concerns over women being excluded from roles in the local government.[7]
She served as Secretary of the Cambridge branch of the League of Nations.[5]
After her husband died in 1943, she resigned from the council and moved to London, to work with refugees.[5]