Gertrude Elles


Gertrude Lilian Elles MBE was a British geologist, known for her work on graptolites.

Personal life and education

Born in 8 October 1872 in Wimbledon to parents who were Scottish, Elles was educated at Wimbledon High School and Newnham College, Cambridge, where in 1895 she received first class honours in the Natural Science tripos. She travelled to Dublin in 1905, to take her D.Sc. The University of Cambridge was not then awarding women degrees. Between 1904-1907 an arrangement was made between the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and Trinity College, Dublin to award women graduates of Cambridge and Oxford their degree in Ireland.
She did not marry and had no children. In the last 35 years of her life she became increasingly deaf. She finally moved back to Scotland, where she died in 1960.

Academic career

She remained at Newnham College, University of Cambridge throughout her academic career. She worked with Ethel Wood and Charles Lapworth.
Elles was an active member of the Sedgwick Club, the University of Cambridge's official geological society where she played a pivotal role in the club's running.
Her work on the taxonomy and evolution of graptolites, using material from North Wales and the Skiddaw Slates of the Lake District, England and from the Wenlock Shales of the Welsh borders, was of fundamental importance. One of her innovations was to examine fossil communities rather than only individuals. She also worked on the stratigraphy of the Lower Palaeozoic, using graptolites as a tool to delineate time-zones.
Elles was the first woman to be awarded a readership position at Cambridge in 1924. She became Vice-principal of Newnham College in 1930. She continued to lecture and research until her retirement in 1938. She was made Reader Emeritus in 1938, and continued to supervise students.
Her excellence as a teacher was recognised by students. Some of the students that she supervised and mentored at Cambridge had significant careers in geology themselves including Dorothy Hill, Elizabeth "Betty" Ripper and Oliver Bulman.

Awards and Honours

Elles was awarded the Lyell Fund of the Geological Society of London in 1900 for her work on graptolites, but was unable to collect it since women were barred from meetings.
In 1919 she became one of the first female Fellows of the Geological Society, and in the same year won its Murchison Medal.
She was president of the British Association in 1923.
She was awarded the MBE for work with the Red Cross during the First World War.

Publications

The publications resulting from her research on graptolites were brought together in a book:
Other papers that she authored or co-authored include: