Letter: University women

Sir: The University of Bristol, the first institution in England to admit women as students on a basis of equality with men (1876), is of course delighted that other universities are now appointing non-royal women chancellors (Letters, 28 January). This university may well have been the first to do so.

The Nobel Prize-winner Professor Dorothy Hodgkin OM FRS was appointed as chancellor here on 26 November 1970. We may also have been the first university to appoint a woman to the headship of our administration. Winifred Lucy Shapland served in that capacity from 1931-1950.

Yours faithfully,

DON CARLETON

Information Officer

University of Bristol

Bristol

28 January