# Emily Fortey

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{{short description|British chemist and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Emily Comber Fortey
| birth_date = 1866
| birth_place = Chelsea, United Kingdom
| death_date = 10 September 1946
| occupation = Chemist, politician
}}
'''Emily Comber Fortey''' (1866 – 10 September 1946) was a British chemist and politician. She gained her B.Sc. in 1886 before working with [Vladimir Markovnikov](/source/Vladimir_Markovnikov) and [Sydney Young](/source/Sydney_Young_(chemist)) on [fractional distillation](/source/fractional_distillation).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amtGAwAAQBAJ&q=emily+fortey+chemist&pg=PA271|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Contributions to Research|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780585276847|language=en}}</ref>  In 1904, she was one of nineteen signatories on a [petition](/source/1904_petition_to_the_Chemical_Society) to allow the admission of women to the [Chemical Society](/source/Chemical_Society).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chemistry was their life : pioneering British women chemists, 1880-1949|last=F.|first=Rayner-Canham, Marelene|date=2008|publisher=Imperial College Press|others=Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey.|isbn=9781860949869|location=London|oclc=665046168}}</ref>

After leaving chemical research in 1904, she moved to [Leicester](/source/Leicester) in 1909 to pursue a political career. She was in charge of a shelter for girls during [World War One](/source/World_War_I) and became the first female to be elected as a [Labour](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) Councillor in Leicester.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nednewitt.com/whoswho/F.html|title=The Who's Who of Radical Leicester|website=www.nednewitt.com|access-date=2017-10-10}}</ref>

== Early life ==

Fortey was the daughter of Henry Fortey. Her father worked in India, leaving him largely absent from her adolescence.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSGi_VW04hAC&q=emily+fortey+john+henry+newman&pg=PA261|title=Ever Yours Affly: John Henry Newman and His Female Circle|last=Sugg|first=Joyce|date=1996|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|isbn=9780852443156|language=en}}</ref>  Around age 12, she began thinking of converting from [Anglicanism](/source/Anglicanism) to Catholicism. Fortey wrote to [Fr. John Henry Newman](/source/John_Henry_Newman) at age 16, asking for insight into whether she should convert to [Catholicism](/source/Catholic_Church)  Newman responded, advising her to seek direction from a priest nearby.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H7XGCgAAQBAJ&q=emily+fortey+john+henry+newman&pg=PT657|title=John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters|last=Strange|first=Roderick|date=2015-10-29|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191066351|language=en}}</ref> Though he initially strongly objected to his daughter's conversion, Henry Fortey consented to allowing her to enter the Church after a two-year waiting period. After her conversion, she remained in correspondence with Fr. Newman and met him in person in August 1887.<ref name=":13" />

== Education ==

Fortey attended [Clifton High School](/source/Clifton_High_School%2C_Bristol), before studying [University College Bristol](/source/University_College%2C_Bristol) from 1892 to 1893.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amtGAwAAQBAJ&q=emily+fortey+chemist&pg=PA271|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Contributions to Research|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780585276847|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":13"/> Three years later, she was awarded a chemical scholarship and graduated with a [London](/source/University_College_London) B.Sc. in 1896, earning honors in experimental physics and chemistry.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":22">{{Cite journal|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=1991|title=British Women of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Who Contributed to Research in the Chemical Sciences|jstor=4027231|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|volume=24|issue=3|pages=275–305|doi=10.1017/s0007087400027370|pmid=11622943|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1896 after earning her degree, she was granted an Associateship of University College, Bristol and Exhibition Science Research Scholarship, enabling her to work as a researcher.<ref name=":22"/>

== Research ==

Upon transitioning to a researcher at Bristol, Fortey first researched in [photochemistry](/source/photochemistry). This work was published in 1896.<ref name=":22"/> She then began working with [Sydney Young](/source/Sydney_Young_(chemist)) on [fractional distillation](/source/fractional_distillation). This collaboration produced seven co-authored papers from 1899 to 1903. Much of this research was integral in Young's book, ''Fractional Distillation.''<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amtGAwAAQBAJ&q=emily+fortey+chemist&pg=PA271|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Contributions to Research|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780585276847|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22" /> While her work to contribute to this project was significant, her name was not included in the acknowledgements of the text.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yD_XlVSwJbcC&pg=PR7|title=Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneering British Women Chemists, 1880-1949|last1=Rayner-Canham|first1=Marelene F.|last2=Rayner-Canham|first2=Geoffrey|date=2008|publisher=Imperial College Press|isbn=9781860949876|language=en}}</ref> Another notable project of Fortey's was her research with Russian Vladimir Markownikoff, where she demonstrated that the [cyclohexane](/source/cyclohexane) fractions of [crude oil](/source/Petroleum) from three geographical areas (American, Galician, and Caucasian) were not only the same, but also matched synthetic cyclohexane.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":22" /> Fortey was the sole author of the paper on this work, published in 1898.<ref name=":03" /> There is also evidence that Fortey collaborated with William A. Tilden in 1902 on alcohol-water mixtures. The data generated by Fortey and Tilden contributed to the conclusion that no alcohol hydrates can be formed above 0&nbsp;°C.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Note 111|last=Tilden|first=William|pages=80–1}}</ref>

== Publication list ==

Below is a partial list of Fortey's publications, which include 14 articles and multiple shorter notes.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amtGAwAAQBAJ&q=emily+fortey+chemist&pg=PA271|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Contributions to Research|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=2000-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780585276847|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yD_XlVSwJbcC&pg=PR7|title=Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneering British Women Chemists, 1880-1949|last1=Rayner-Canham|first1=Marelene F.|last2=Rayner-Canham|first2=Geoffrey|date=2008|publisher=Imperial College Press|isbn=9781860949876|language=en}}</ref>
* Fortey, Emily C. Hexamethylene from American and Galician petroleum. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''73''' (Pt.2)(1898) 932-49
* Fortey, Emily C. Hexanaphthene and its derivatives. Preliminary note. [1897] ''Chem. Soc. Proc.,'' '''13''' (1898) 161-2
* Fortey, Emily C. Action of light and oxygen on dibenzyl ketone. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''75''' (Pt. 2) (1899) 871-3
* Richardson, Arthur; Fortey, Emily C. Action of light on amyl alcohol. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''69''' (1896) 1349-52
* Richardson, Arthur; Fortey, Emily C. Note on the action of light on ether. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''69''' (1896) 1352-5
* Richardson, Arthur; Fortey, Emily C. Action of light on amyl alcohol. ''Chem. Soc. Proc.,'' '''12''' (1897) 164-5
* Richardson, Arthur; Fortey, Emily C. Note on the action of light on ether. ''Chem. Soc. Proc.,'' '''12''' (1897) 165-6
* Young Sydney; Fortey, Emily C. The vapour pressures, specific volumes, and critical constants of hexamethylene,. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''75''' (Pt.2) (1899) 873-83
* Young Sydney; Fortey, Emily C. Note on the refraction and magnetic rotation of hexamethylene, chlorohexamethylene, and dichlorohexamethylene. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''77''' (Pt.1) (1900) 372-4
* Young Sydney; Fortey, Emily C. Vapour pressures, specific volumes, and critical constants of diisopropyl and diisobutyl. ''Chem. Soc. J.,'' '''77''' (Pt.1) (1900) 1126-44.
*Young Sydney; Fortey, Emily C. LXXVI.—Fractional distillation as a method of quantitative analysis, 1902. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Sidney |last2=Fortey |first2=Emily C. |title=LXXVI.—Fractional distillation as a method of quantitative analysis |journal=J. Chem. Soc. Trans. |date=1902 |volume=81 |pages=752–768 |doi=10.1039/CT9028100752 |url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1902/CT/CT9028100752 |access-date=13 March 2023}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{1904 Women Petitioners to the Chemical Society}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortey, Emily}}
Category:19th-century British chemists
Category:19th-century British women scientists
Category:1866 births
Category:1946 deaths
Category:20th-century British chemists
Category:British women chemists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Emily Fortey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Fortey) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Fortey?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.