Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick painted by SirJames Jebusa Shannon, 1889 | |
| Born | Eleanor Mildred Balfour 11 March 1845 |
| Died | 10 February 1936(1936-02-10) (aged 90) |
| Spouse | Henry Sidgwick |
| Parent(s) | James Maitland Balfour Lady Blanche Gascoyne-Cecil |
Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (néeBalfour; 11 March 1845 – 10 February 1936) was a physics researcher assistingLord Rayleigh, an activist for the higher education of women, Principal ofNewnham College of theUniversity of Cambridge, and a leading figure in theSociety for Psychical Research.
Eleanor Mildred Balfour was born inEast Lothian, daughter ofJames Maitland Balfour and Lady Blanche Harriet. She was born into perhaps the most prominent political clan in 19th-century Britain, the 'Hotel Cecil': her brotherArthur would eventually himself become prime minister. Her sister was biologistAlice Blanche Balfour. Another brother,Frank, also a biologist, died young in a climbing accident.
One of the first students atNewnham College in Cambridge, in 1876 she married (and became converted tofeminism by) thephilosopherHenry Sidgwick. In 1880 she became Vice-Principal of Newnham under the founding PrincipalAnne Clough, succeeding as principal on Clough's death in 1892. In 1890 Sidgwick was elected to theLadies Dining Society that had been founded byLouise Creighton andKathleen Lyttleton. Other members included the economistMary Paley Marshall, the classicistMargaret Verrall, the Irish-bornsugffragistMary Ward, former Newnham lecturerEllen Wordsworth Darwin, the mental health campaignerIda Darwin, Baroness Eliza von Hügel and the U.S. socialitesCaroline Jebb andMaud Darwin.[1]
Eleanor and her husband resided at Newnham until 1900, the year of Henry Sidgwick's death. In 1894 Sidgwick was one of the first three women to serve on aroyal commission, the Bryce commission on Secondary Education which was established byJames Bryce.
As a young woman, Eleanor had helpedRayleigh improve the accuracy of experimental measurement of electrical resistance; she subsequently turned her careful experimental mind to the question of testing the veracity of claims for psychical phenomena. She was elected President of theSociety for Psychical Research in 1908 and named President of Honour in 1932.[2]
In 1916 Sidgwick left Cambridge to live with one of her brothers nearWoking, where she remained until her death in 1936.
She was awarded honorary degrees by the universities ofManchester,Edinburgh,St Andrews andBirmingham.[3]
Most of her writings related to psychical research, and are contained in theProceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.[4] However, some related to educational matters, and a couple of essays dealt with the morality of international affairs.
Sidgwick was highly critical of physicalmediumship. In 1886 and 1887 a series of publications by S. J. Davey,Richard Hodgson and Sidgwick in the Journal for the Society for Psychical Research exposed theslate writing tricks of the mediumWilliam Eglinton.[5] Sidgwick regarded Eglinton to be nothing more than a cleverconjurer.[6] Due to the critical papers,Stainton Moses and other prominent spiritualist members resigned from the Society for Psychical Research.[7][8]
In 1891,Alfred Russel Wallace requested for the Society to properly investigatespirit photography.[9] Wallace had endorsed various spirit photographs as genuine.[10] Sidgwick responded with her paperOn Spirit Photographs (1891) which cast doubt on the subject and revealed the fraudulent methods that spirit photographers such asÉdouard Isidore Buguet,Frederic Hudson andWilliam H. Mumler had utilized.[11][12]
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| Preceded by | Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge 1892–1910 | Succeeded by |
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