St Andrews
For a small, coastal centre in eastern Scotland, St Andrews possesses an exceptional narrative spanning more than 1300 years. It is also a history which contains very different phases and themes. The earliest of these derives from the development of St Andrews as a religious centre, associated with the relics of the Apostle Andrew and by 1100, at the latest, the main pilgrimage centre in Scotland. This status led to its acceptance as the ecclesiastical capital of Medieval Scotland, a role reflected by its great cathedral, the castle of the bishops, and the friaries which survive in ruined form.
The foundation of the burgh in the mid-twelfth century marked the start of a defined urban community in St Andrews. The form and scale of this settlement provide the framework for the core of the modern town via the street plan and the property boundaries which survive into the modern era.
The other main legacy of the medieval ecclesiastical significance of St Andrews is the university. Scotland’s oldest university, founded in the early fifteenth century, remains centred on the locations in the medieval burgh where land was provided for its masters and students. The earliest university site was on South Street where St Mary’s College was later founded, while the foundation of St Salvator’s College in the early 1450s gave the university a more stable focus. The additional colleges of St Leonard’s and St Mary’s were established in the sixteenth century on sites on South Street.
The Reformation in Scotland which began in 1559 was a revolutionary process which had a huge impact on St Andrews. As the ecclesiastical capital of the kingdom, St Andrews was, inevitably, at the centre of the initial political and religious conflict and many religious buildings were affected. The friaries on South Street and Greyfriars Gardens were destroyed. The cathedral priory was broken up and the great church was allowed to fall into ruin. With the departure of the archbishops, the castle also ceased to be a palatial residence.
The survival of a late sixteenth century map of the burgh provides a unique source for the appearance of St Andrews in this period of revolutionary change. The so-called Geddy Map can be viewed here.
The period between c.1650 and c.1850 was one of relative decline for St Andrews. However, the arrival of the railway in the 1850s began a new and remarkable phase in the town’s history. Golf, played on the links since at least the fifteenth century, grew rapidly in popularity. St Andrews’ central significance to the game fuelled its development as the principal focus for this new passion.
The growth of the town from the 1850s and its acceleration in the 1890s and 1900s can provide a final phase to be depicted on the map. The extension of the town to the west with new houses for middle-class residents (and a new church), residential buildings constructed by the expanding university, and a cluster of imposing hotels alongside the links to cater for golfing visitors, altered the landscape and character of St Andrews.
The focus of modern St Andrews on education and (sporting) pilgrimage does represent a degree of continuity with its early medieval origins.
We have been trying to find out about the women who studied History, or who worked in History, at St Andrews over the last 120 years. These are some of the stories of their lives before, during and after St Andrews – as far as we know them so far! More stories can be found here.
Ruth Macrides (1949-2019)
The esteemed Byzantine historian Dr Ruth Macrides spent around twenty years in a series of temporary teaching roles in the Department of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews, teaching a wide range of different aspects of Byzantine history to generations of students. In 1994, she moved as one half of a part-time job-share to the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Byzantine Studies but always kept her home in St Andrews and retained strong links with the Department of Mediaeval History. In 2000, she was appointed to a full-time post at the University of Birmingham, and she was promoted Reader there in 2013. Ruth Macrides passed away suddenly in Scotland in 2019, having recently returned from Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks, a research facility in Georgetown with a centre for Byzantine Studies, where she was a senior fellow and with which she had long-standing connections. When she died she was, as ever, full of projects, about to take up a fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton and due to host the 53rd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, indicators of the exceptional status she had achieved in her field.
Caroline Doris Ketelbey
(1896-1990)
Doris Ketelbey was the first woman to hold a long-term position as member of staff in History at St Andrews [read about other early women staff]. She was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in 1935; and retired as Senior Lecturer in 1958. Her academic interests ranged from modern European history and international relations to the history of the British empire and its colonies; in her retirement, she devoted herself to local Fife history. Her full name was Caroline Doris Mabel Keteley: she appears to have preferred the name ‘Doris’ for most of her life, but she began using ‘Caroline’ or ‘C.D.M.’ on her published works from the 1950s.
On arrival in St Andrews, Ketelbey seems to have thrown herself (back) into the local community. For instance, she wrote letters to the local paper, and gave talks in the late 1930s on women’s position in Nazi Germany to the St Andrews Christian Institute, the Broughty Ferry Women Citizens Association, and the Workers Educational Association in Dundee.
Anne Wright (1924-1981)
Anne Margaret Chaloner Wright had a life-long connection to St Andrews. She was born here, the daughter of an academic; was educated here; and spent the last 15 years of her life as Warden of Hamilton Hall and lecturer in Modern History. In between, she was a secondary school teacher in London and then in Fife and Tayside.
She studied Modern and Mediaeval History at St Andrews and graduated with Second Class Honours in 1946. According to her obituarist, she had a ‘profound religious faith’, and for four years after graduation, she worked with a Church of Scotland organisation that had provided ‘Huts and Canteens’ during the war: Anne ran a hostel in post-war Berlin for members of the forces and their wives.
After returning from Berlin, she did teacher training in Dundee, and spent the 1950s teaching in various schools in London. She returned to St Andrews in 1961 for ‘personal reasons’ that may have been connected with her mother’s poor health. The retirement notice for Professor Wright would note that for several years, ‘ill-health has prevented Mrs Wright from attending any University functions. But… their elder daughter Anne has been a gracious deputy for her on many occasions.’ Anne Wright was clearly well-known and well-connected in the St Andrews academic community in the 1960s.
Edith Johnston PhD
(1930-2008)
As far as we know, Edith Mary Johnston was the first female St. Andrews PhD historian to go on to an academic career. Born in Belfast, in 1930 to John Worthington-Johnston and Mary Isobel Giraud. She was educated at Richmond Lodge School and Victoria College, which is one of the longest established girls’ schools in the British Isles. Despite disruptions to her education due to wartime bombing, she went on to study her undergraduate degree at the University of St. Andrews.
Alongside studies in History, Edith also studied Philosophy and Latin. She graduated with first class honours in Medieval and Modern History in 1951. Edith went on to pursue a PhD at the University of St. Andrews, specialising in Irish political history. In the acknowledgements of her published works, she notes that it was her PhD supervisor Professor Norman Gash that ‘pointed’ her towards Irish history. Edith completed her PhD in 1956, with a thesis entitled ‘The Government of Ireland 1767-85: A study in Anglo-Irish Political Administration’. This thesis was later developed into the book, Great Britain and Ireland 1760-1800: a study in political administration which was published in the series of University Publications by the University of St Andrews
Lorna Walker (1919-2023)
Lorna Walker studied History at St Andrews in the late 1940s, and returned in the 1960s as a lecturer in Medieval History and Warden of University Hall. She retired in 1991, and lived in St Andrews until her death in 2023.
Lorna was a highly successful student during her time in St Andrews, receiving multiple medals for her achievements. At the end of her undergraduate degree, she hoped to pursue research.
When she started teaching in 1961, the curriculum was largely similar to when Lorna had studied it. The core chronology and courses remained, while lecturers altered what was taught within them. This became wider in scope over the course of her career. At an early stage, Lorna was able to include in some art history to her classes, as at that time there was no School of Art History. She particularly wanted to include elements of French Art History and said that she still gets letters from her students saying that they have visited the places she taught them about and are remembering her tutorials. Lorna also took a group of students on a field trip each Easter break to Durham, to visit the border Cathedrals and the records at Durham University.
Lorna had little opportunity to enjoy research while in the joint position of lecturer and warden, as the wardenship was a full-time job. According to her contract, while warden she did her teaching in the Hall, and did not have an office in St John’s. Lorna hosted her seminars in the Common Room at University Hall. She produced an edition of a book called ‘The North Sea World’ with Barbara Crawford and their American colleagues, the result of a conference held in St Andrews. In the 1970s she produced a volume on the history of ‘The Goldsmiths Company’, which came out under her name and the name of the professor she had worked with while she was with the company.
Lorna Walker’s earliest memories of St Andrews.
In 1991, after thirty years as warden of University Hall, Lorna Walker took early retirement with reengagement. She remained on the teaching staff in Medieval History and had an office in St John’s for three or four years, before she retired from teaching entirely.
In 2013, she was awarded the University Medal, in recognition of “her exceptional and dedicated contribution to the University over most of her lifetime”.