Cecilia Mary Ady
Cecilia Mary Ady | |
---|---|
Born | 28 November 1881 |
Died | 27 March 1958 |
Nationality | British |
Education | St Hugh's College, Oxford |
Occupation | Academic historian |
Parent | Julia Mary Cartwright |
Cecilia Mary Ady (28 November 1881 – 27 March 1958) was an English writer, academic and historian. She worked at the University of Oxford, where she became known as an authority on the Italian Renaissance. She came to wider public attention after she was dismissed by a former friend from her college, and her colleagues supported her reinstatement.
Life
Ady was born in
In 1909 she joined St Hugh's as a tutor, where she developed a close relationship with the college's principal, Eleanor Jourdain. Jourdain eventually turned against Ady, allegedly jealous of her popularity.[2] Ady was sacked from her position in November 1923, at Jourdain's insistence, for disloyalty. Jourdain felt that Ady had leaked information to the staff about her plans for introducing a vice-principal to the college.[4] Ady protested, and a mass resignation followed, which included six of the college's council. The matter became of wider public interest, and Lord Curzon (the chancellor of the university) was asked to investigate. Ady's name was eventually cleared, and Jourdain died just before she was to be asked to resign. The inquiry resulted in improvements to the employment conditions of female tutors.[5]
Ady then became a tutor with the Society of Oxford Home-Students. In 1929 her old college re-employed her as a research fellow.[2]
In 1936, to mark 50 years St Hugh's College, Oxford was founded, a "Group Portrait" was painted of Evelyn Procter, History Tutor; Edith Wardale, English Language Tutor; Elizabeth Francis, French Tutor; Barbara Gwyer, Principal; and Cecilia Ady, History Tutor by Henry Lamb.[6]
In 1938 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt), after she published a monograph titled The Bentivoglio of Bologna: a Study in Despotism (1937).[2]
Ady died in Oxford in 1958. Following her death, her colleagues and former research students compiled a memorial volume of donated essays, titled Italian Renaissance Studies (1960).
Works include
- History of Milan under the Sforza (1907)[7]
- Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini): the Humanist Pope (1913)
- A History of Modern Italy, 1871–1915 (translation) of Benedetto Croce's work
- Italian Studies (1934) (Editor)
- The Bentivoglio of Bologna: a Study in Despotism (1937)
- The English Church and How it Works (1940)
- The Role of Women in the Church (1948)
- Lorenzo Dei Medici and Renaissance Italy (1955)[7]
References
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40620. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40619. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30448. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-1-349-07725-0.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48446. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Henry Lamb RA (1883-1960) People and Portraits – catalogue (PDF). Messums.
- ^ a b Ady, Cecila M, LibraryThing, Retrieved 13 November 2016