Dear Frank, The Oxford University Gazette vol. 129, 11 Mar 1999, No. 4505, http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/weekly/110399/coll.htm , gives: "OBITUARIES ... Lady Margaret Hall ... KATHLEEN WRIGHT (née Higgins), B.SC., MA, 1 January 1999; scholar 1944--8. Aged 72."
This means that she was born in 1926. (Since she died on 1 January 1999 aged 72, she became 72 between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 1998 - thus she was born in 1926.) Lady Margaret Hall of Oxford University should have a file about her. With Google Books I found that there is a short biography of her (of Who's Who type) in "Directory of British scientists 1964-65", which appeared in 1964 (see http://books.google.com/books?id=npZqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Wright,+Kathleen%22+oxford): "WRIGHT, Kathleen (née Higgins) (retired), ...". Unfortunately, the snippet view does not show more text. As far as I know from other snippet views, this Directory does not give birth dates or years. Google Books also indicates an entry (without preview) in "Who's who of British scientists: Volume 1, 1963", but this must be an error. The first edition of "Who's who of British scientists" appeared in 1970, and there is no entry for Kathleen Wright in it (I have this book in my library). Google Books contains many errors in the bibliographic description. I guess it is the same as above, the "Directory of British scientists", but the previous edition of 1963. I would be interested in learning what is written about her in the "Directory of British scientists", and I would also be interested in seeing the outcome of the work of her biographer. Best regards, Wolfgang -------- Original-Nachricht -------- Datum: Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:53:02 +0000 Von: Frank King <[email protected]> An: [email protected] Betreff: Kathleen Wright Dear All, A biographer has asked me whether I can supply any details of someone he is writing about who seems to have had some interest in sundials. The bare facts are: Name: Kathleen Wright (nee Higgins) Born: Not known but about 1925 Died: 1 January 1999 Oxford University: 1944 to 1947 She wrote some reports on a couple of churches where she particularly drew attention to their scratch dials: Coln St Aldwyns and Bibury. So far, the biographer has identified only one person who was acquainted with Kathleen and he said, unprompted, that she had a research interest in old sundials. I am pretty dismal at remembering names and do not know whether this person is well known to diallists (with better memories than mine) or is quite unknown. It should be easy to find out the date of birth but I haven't managed even that :-( It should be easy to find out her Oxford College but this is proving challenging too. There weren't many women's colleges in those days so I may have to search each one in turn. If anyone has any leads please let me know. Frank King Cambridge, UK --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
