Clara Millicent Taylor

Clara Millicent Taylor also known as Millicent Taylor (17 October 1871 – 23 December 1960) was an educator and chemist who worked in the fields of organic chemistry and physical chemistry.

Life and times

Millicent Taylor was born on 17 October 1871 in Kingswood, Surrey, England and died in Bristol, England. Taylor was a contributor to the war effort for World War I.

Cheltenham Ladies' College

Taylor attended the Cheltenham Ladies' College from 1888 – 1893 and earned an external BSc from the University of London in 1893, and appointed to the staff at the College. In 1894, Taylor was promoted to Head of the Chemistry Department, and then in 1911 to Head of the Science Department, and served until 1919. Dorothea Beale, the Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College in the late 1890s, made an excellent decision to hire Taylor. Principal Beale hoped to improve the science program at the College, especially the chemistry curriculum. Taylor went so far as to design and have built a science wing for the school, that was completed in 1904. This was a significant step forward for British girls' schools science education for these times. Taylor led the way and reigned supreme over her science program from 1894 until 1921. Taylor left Cheltenham and accepted an appointment at the University of Bristol, where she undertook teaching and research pursuits until her death at the age of 89.^[1][2]

Between 1898 and 1910 she focused her research efforts in organic chemistry and physical chemistry at the University College, Bristol (now the University of Bristol). An accomplished researcher, Taylor produced several papers in these fields. On weekends, she would often cycle the eighty-mile round trip from Cheltenham to Bristol.^[3]

She received the MSc from Bristol in 1910 and a D.Sc. Bristol in 1911.

During World War I Taylor was involved in production of β-eucaine.^[4][5] In 1917 Taylor was appointed a research chemist at H.M. Factory, Oldbury and worked for Dr. Harker at the Ministry of Munitions.^[6]

In 1919 she returned briefly to her post at Cheltenham but left to accept an appointment as Demonstrator in Chemistry at the University of Bristol in 1921. In 1923 she was promoted to Lecturer, a position that she held until retirement in 1937.^[7][8]

After retirement Taylor continued research pursuits and was granted laboratory space in the Bristol Chemical building. She maintained research in the lab until her death in December 1960, at the age of 89.^[9]

Awards and honors

• Chemical Society, Associate, 1919
• Chemical Society, Fellow, 2 December 1920
• Royal Institute of Chemistry, Fellow, 1922

Associates and colleagues

• Professor Francis Francis
• Professor James William McBain
• W. J. Dunning
• H. C. Evans
• Dr. Harker

Patents

Process for the Preparation of Ketones^[10] ***Clara Millicent Taylor, New Zealand Government Research Scholar

Selected works

Publications

• The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids^[11]
• Zur Kenntnis der Konstitution von Seifenlosungen Losungen von Natriumpalmitaten^[12]
• The Discovery of the Nature of the Air, and of its changes during breathing^[13]
• THE TRANSFERENCE NUMBERS OF SODIUM AND HYDROGEN IN MIXED CHLORIDE SOLUTION^[14]
• Elementary Chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft^[15]
• The vapour pressures of concentrated aqueous sucrose solutions up to the pressure of 760 mm^[16]

References

1. Taylor, M. "The new science wing, The Ladies' College, Cheltenham." School World 7 (1905): 222.
2. Rayner-Canham, Marelene F., and Geoff W. Rayner-Canham. "British Women, Chemistry, and Poetry: Some Contextual Examples from the 1870s to the 1940s." Journal of Chemical Education, 88.6 (2011): 726–730.
3. Baker, W. "Millicent Taylor 1871–1960." Proc. Chem. Soc., London. Vol. 94. 1962.
4. G. Meiling, Chem. Ber., 6, 173 (1896).
5. H. King, J. Chem. Soc, 125, 41 (1924).
6. Rayner-Canham, Marelene, and Geoff Rayner-Canham. "British women chemists and the first world war." Bulletin for the History of Chemistry 23 (1999): 20–27.
7. Baker, W. "Millicent Taylor 1871–1960." Proc. Chem. Soc., London. Vol. 94. 1962.
8. Rayner-Canham, M. F. and Rayner-Canham, G. W. "Chemistry was Their Life: British Women Chemists, 1880–1949." Imperial College Press: London, (2008).
9. Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey and Harvey, Joy Dorothy, editors. "The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z." Routledge, New York, (2000), 1499 pages.
10. Easterfield, Thomas H., Taylor, Clara Millicent (1913). Process for the Preparation of Ketones. Patent #1,058,225. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
11. Easterfield, Thomas, and Clara Millicent Taylor***. "CCLIII.— The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids." Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions 99 (1911): 2298–2307.
12. McBain, James W., and Millicent Taylor. "Zur Kenntnis der Konstitution von Seifenlosungen Losungen von Natriumpalmitaten, Z. physik. Chem 76 (1911): 179.
13. Taylor, Clara Millicent. "The Discovery of the Nature of the Air, and of its changes during breathing." (Classics of Scientific Method.) (1923).
14. Taylor, Millicent. "THE TRANSFERENCE NUMBERS OF SODIUM AND HYDROGEN IN MIXED CHLORIDE SOLUTION." Journal of the American Chemical Society 48.3 (1926): 599–603.
15. Taylor, Clara Millicent, and P. K. Thomas. "Elementary Chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft." (1930).
16. Dunning, W. J., H. C. Evans, and M. Taylor. "524. The vapour pressures of concentrated aqueous sucrose solutions up to the pressure of 760 mm." J. Chem. Soc. (1951): 2363–2372.