Philippa Garrett Fawcett was the daughter of the suffragist Millicent Fawcett. Her aunt was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first English female doctor.
Philippa Fawcett attended Streatham & Clapham High School and went on to study at Newnham College, Cambridge which had been co-founded by her mother. In 1890 she became the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos examinations.
A month before her death in 1948, a decree that allowed women to be awarded the BA degree at Cambridge received Royal Assent. The following year, the LCC recognised Philippa’s contribution to education by naming one of its teacher training colleges in her honour. The Philippa Fawcett Training College for Teachers in Streatham was set up by the LCC to help resolve the teacher shortage that worsened after World War Two.
(SCHS and University of Greenwich)
Images of he Philippa Fawcett Training College in Leigham Court Road, now Dunraven School
