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{{short description|Scott [née Cook], Rachel Susan, British educationist (1848–1905)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rachel Scott
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1848|03|08|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[St Andrews]], [[Fife]], Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1905|11|27|1848|03|08|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Fallowfield]], England
| death_cause =
| other_names =
| known_for = Women's education reformer
| party =
| spouse = [[C. P. Scott]]
| mother = Rachel Susan Farquhar
| father = John Cook
}}
'''Rachel Scott''' (born '''Rachel Susan Cook'''; 8 March 1848 – 27 November 1905)<ref name=":0" /> was a [[Scotland|Scottish]]-born advocate for women's education and a prominent figure in [[Manchester]]'s late 19th-century education reform movement. One of the earliest women to attend the institution that later became [[Girton College, Cambridge|Girton College]], [[Cambridge]], she achieved honours in the [[Tripos|Classical Tripos]] at a time when women's access to higher education was limited. After her marriage to journalist C. P. Scott, she became an organiser, speaker, and administrator in Manchester's growing network of girls' and women's schools.

== Early life and education ==
Rachel Susan Cook came from an academic family in [[St Andrews]], Scotland, one of five sisters. Her paternal line included three generations of divinity professors, including a Moderator of the [[Church of Scotland]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/nov/29/cp-scott-wife-rachel-scott-obituary-manchester-guardian-archive-1905|title=The death of Mrs C. P. Scott – archive, 29 November 1905|date=2016-11-29|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-08}}</ref> Her education was at St Andrew's senior school, [[Madras College]]; by a private tutor; and then as one of the first six female students enrolled at the College for Women at Benslow House in [[Hitchin]], England, which later became the [[University of Cambridge]]'s [[Girton College, Cambridge|Girton College]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Girton College 1869–1932|last=Stephen|first=Barbara|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=155}}</ref> with [[Louisa Innes Lumsden]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women|first1=Elizabeth L. |last1=Ewan |first2=Sue |last2=Innes |first3=Sian |last3=Reynolds |first4=Rose |last4=Pipes |page=212}}</ref> At this time, such women graduates were "rather special people ... exceptionally able, determined, ambitious".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stott|first=Mary|date=June 2018|title=sidelines: Graduated contributions|journal=The Guardian|volume=30 June 1972|page=11}}</ref> In 1873, Cook "graduated" as one of the first women at the University of Cambridge with honours in the classic [[Cambridge Tripos|Tripos]], at second class.

This achievement was notable given the barriers women faced in higher education during the period. Alongside [[Sarah Woodhead]] and Louisa Innes Lumsden, Cook was later described as one of the "Girton pioneers." Contemporary accounts often emphasised her personal presence as well as her intellectual abilities, though such descriptions reflect the conventions of the period rather than her educational achievements.<ref>{{Cite book|title='That Infidel Place': A Short History of Girton College 1869–1969 |last=Bradbrook |first=M. C.|publisher=Chatto & Windus Ltd.|year=1969|location=London|page=47}}</ref> [[George Eliot]] described her as "sylphlike", and the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, and her obituary said that "there still remains in the minds of those who knew her then a memorable picture of her uncommonness, her dramatic instinct and critical quickness, and her eagerness and radiance of mind".<ref name=":0" />

== Campaign for women's education ==
After marrying Charles Scott, known as [[C. P. Scott]], in 1874, she moved to Manchester, where she joined the governing body of the city's Girls' High School. She continued to champion women's higher education by creating a home-based university-level teaching facility, supported by sympathetic professors from Owens College. Through her efforts this became incorporated into [[Owens College]] in 1883.<ref name=":0" />

Scott was also a member of the [[Withington Girls' School]] governing body, was interested in the co-educational school [[Lady Barn House School]] and took a lead role in education in the city; her eloquence at public events to raise support for education for women and girls was remarked upon on in her obituary.<ref name=":0" />

Her final speech in 1900 was in the [[Free Trade Hall]] to the assembled [[Manchester High School for Girls]] community.

Publishing anonymously, Scott translated classical Latin and French texts, including two novels in Balzac's ''[[La Comédie humaine|Human Comedy]]'' novel cycle,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Classe|first=Olive|editor1-first=Olive|editor1-last=Classe|year=2000|title=Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English|doi=10.4324/9780203825501|isbn=9780203825501}}</ref> as well as a guide to pictures in the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition of 1887.

In collaboration with her husband, she contributed literary criticism and commentary to the ''[[Manchester Guardian]]'', where she supported women's suffrage and broader social reform.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004|date=2006|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|others=Ewan, Elizabeth; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian|isbn=978-0-7486-2660-1|location=Edinburgh|pages=212|oclc=367680960}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Scott's influence and contribution to the city of Manchester was recognized in her husband's obituary.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ratcliffe|first=S.K.|date=June 2018|title=C. P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian|journal=The Contemporary Review|volume=London Vol. 146 (July 1, 1934)|pages=144}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/should-we-be-worried-women-outnumber-men-campus
* https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/28/university-gender-gap-at-record-high-as-30000-more-women-accepted

{{Women's suffrage in Scotland}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Rachel}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British activists]]
[[Category:British suffragists]]
[[Category:British women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Education reform]]
[[Category:People from St Andrews]]
[[Category:British education activists]]
[[Category:Educational reformers]]
[[Category:Girls' education activists]]

Rachel Scott (women's education reformer) - Revision history

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