# Edith Becket

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**Edith Mary Becket** (4 June 1877 – 1952) was a lecturer in Education at [University College Nottingham](/source/University_of_Nottingham) who wrote the first institutional history of the [University College Nottingham](/source/University_of_Nottingham) and was an early biographer of [Nottingham](/source/Nottingham) born mathematician [George Green](/source/George_Green_(mathematician)).

## Early life and education

Becket was born in [Nottingham](/source/Nottingham) on 4 June 1877.[1] Her father, Robert, was a wine merchant who died in 1882 whilst Edith was only a young child.[2] After his death she continued to live with her mother Mary (d. 1923)[3] at the family home of 197 Woodborough Road, Nottingham.[4] After attending Brincliffe School in Nottingham,[5] Becket enrolled at [University College Nottingham](/source/University_of_Nottingham), becoming one of the College's first women students.[6] She passed her intermediate exam in Arts in 1896,[7] and subsequently obtained her first degree in 1898, at that time awarded by the [University of London](/source/University_of_London),[6] followed by her teaching diploma in 1920 from the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge).[8]

## Career

Becket taught for one year as Assistant Mistress at [Nottingham Girls High School](/source/Nottingham_Girls'_High_School).[8] In 1900 she was appointed as a member of staff in the Day Training College at University College, Nottingham and remained there until her retirement in 1947. Becket was a senior lecturer in Education and tutor to the women students in the Secondary Training Department. This was at a time when very few women tutors were employed at the University College.[6] In 1922 Becket was awarded an MA (again from the [University of London](/source/University_of_London)) for her dissertation *The Development of Education in Nottingham during the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to the History of University College*.[6] Between 1912 and 1927 Becket taught history at the University College.[9][10]

Becket's main interest was the history of education.[11] In 1928 she wrote the first single-volume history of the University College, entitled *The University College of Nottingham,* at the time of its move to a new site at University Park.[12] The history details the origins of the University College as a 'child of the city'.[13] It was one of three publications produced by members of staff at Nottingham in the 1920s and 1950s, which provided 'first-hand accounts of events by insiders with a close knowledge of the college and its staff'.[13] In 1936 she was awarded a PhD for her thesis on *The History of Education and of Educational Institutions in Nottinghamshire excluding the City of Nottingham from 1800–1930.*[14]

Becket is a figure in letters written by the writer [D.H.Lawrence](/source/D._H._Lawrence) who was a student at University College Nottingham 1906–1908.[15] The original letters are held within the D.H. Lawrence Collection at the University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections.[16] As well as her work on education, and on education in Nottinghamshire in particular, Becket was an active member of the [Bromley House Library](/source/Bromley_House_Library) in Nottingham. She wrote an article on the Nottingham mathematician [George Green](/source/George_Green_(mathematician)), which was published in *[The Transactions of the Thoroton Society](/source/Thoroton_Society_of_Nottinghamshire)* in 1921. This was important according to later [George Green](/source/George_Green_(mathematician)) biographer [Mary Cannell](/source/Mary_Cannell) as it was the first biography of the mathematician to be produced. It is also thought she was the first to discover the link between [George Green](/source/George_Green_(mathematician)) and [Bromley House Library](/source/Bromley_House_Library), where he was able to develop his mathematical knowledge and widen his social network. Becket's work resulted in attempts to link [George Green](/source/George_Green_(mathematician)) with his mill, an article by S.F. Wilson appearing in *The Miller* in 1924 which was based on Dr Becket's paper.[17] Becket also encouraged the education of women, and, at a 1936 prizegiving, exhorted the graduating female pupils to continue to attend evening classes, to continue their education, even after leaving school.[18]

At the time of her death on 13 October 1952,[11] she was living at 38 Carisbrooke Drive, [Mapperley Park](/source/Mapperley), Nottingham.[19] Papers relating to her research are held at the University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections (MS 559).[20]

## Publications

- Becket, Edith (1921) *George Green, Mathematician 1793–1841,* Transactions of the Thoroton Society, Nottingham
- Becket, Edith (1928) *The University College of Nottingham,* Nottingham
- Becket, Edith (1936) *The History of Education and of Educational Institutions in Nottinghamshire excluding the City of Nottingham from 1800–1930,* Thesis, University of Nottingham

## References

1. ["1939 England and Wales Register"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 19 January 2026.

1. ["England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk/). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 19 January 2026.

1. ["England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk/). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 19 January 2026.

1. ["1901 England Census"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk/). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 19 January 2026.

1. ["General Register Part 3 1901"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk/). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 23 January 2026.

1. Steenson, Kathryn (10 March 2022). ["International Women's Day. Dr Edith Becket"](https://sauonremweblog.blob.core.windows.net/$web/International_Womens_Day_Dr_Edith_Becket_-_Manuscr.html). *University of Nottingham preserved blogs*. Retrieved 23 January 2026.

1. ["Intermediate Examination in Arts, Pass List"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-intermediate-examination-in-a/192489863/). *Daily News*. 1896-08-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-03-02.

1. *The Directory of Women Teachers*. Year Book Press. 1927.

1. Wrigley, Chris (Spring 2006). ["Portrait of a Branch: The Historical Association and History in Nottingham before the Second World War"](https://www.proquest.com/openview/1ad584150a3dcbb1fef00614986ef992/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32374). *Historian*. '***(89): 39. – via ProQuest.***

1. Jones, Beckett, Green (1995). *History at Nottingham*. Nottingham: University of Nottingham.

1. "Obituary". *University of Nottingham Gazette*. **1** (9). January 1953.

1. Beckett, John (2016). *Nottingham: A history of Britain’s global university*. The Boydell Press, Woodbridge. ISBN 978-91-1-000528-0.

1. Noble, Michael John (2022). *An Accidental Purpose: The Impact of the First World War on University College Nottingham (Thesis)*. Nottingham: University of Nottingham.

1. ["University of Nottingham Theses"](https://nusearch.nottingham.ac.uk/discovery/search?vid=44NOTTS_UNUK:44NOTUK&sortby=rank). *NUSearch*. Retrieved 25 January 2026.

1. Boulton, James T. (1968). *Lawrence in Love, Letters from D.H. Lawrence to Louie Burrows University of Nottingham*. University of Nottingham. pp. 1–3.

1. ["Papers of Louie Burrows, 1904-1962, in the D.H. Lawrence Collection"](https://mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk/Calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=La%2fB). *mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk*. Retrieved 25 January 2026.

1. Cannell, D. M. (2001). *George Green: Mathematician and Physicist 1793-1841 The Background to his life and work*. 2nd. ed. Philadelphia, U.S.A.: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

1. ["Sneinton Dale Prize-Giving"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-post-sneinton-dale-prize-giving/192489932/). *Evening Post*. 1937-03-12. p. 7. Retrieved 2026-03-02.

1. ["England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995"](https://www.ancestry.co.uk/). *Ancestry*. Retrieved 19 February 2026.

1. ["Papers of Dr Edith M. Becket (1877-1952), Department of Education, University College, Nottingham, 1922-1952"](https://mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk/Calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=MS559). *mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk*. Retrieved 25 January 2026.

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