Anna McClean Bidder
Encyclopedia
Anna McClean Bidder was a British zoologist and academic. She was the co-founder and first principal of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
.
Anna Bidder was born in Cambridge
, and was educated at the Perse School. She studied for a year at University College, London, before going on to Newnham College, Cambridge
. She obtained her Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1933. She published several academic papers in her career as a zoologist, and worked for a time in Basel
.
During the 1950s, with two academic friends, K. L. Wood-Legh and Margaret Braithwaite, Bidder formed "the Dining Group", which led eventually to the founding of Lucy Cavendish College for mature female students in 1965. Bidder was President of the college from its foundation until her retirement in 1970.
Her Quaker beliefs led to her involvement in the publication of the somewhat controversial 1963 pamphlet, Towards a Quaker View of Sex, which aimed to take a pragmatic view of the changing sexual mores of the time, in the context of religious belief.
Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
Lucy Cavendish College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is a women-only college, which admits only postgraduates and undergraduates aged 21 or over....
.
Anna Bidder was born in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and was educated at the Perse School. She studied for a year at University College, London, before going on to Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
. She obtained her Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1933. She published several academic papers in her career as a zoologist, and worked for a time in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
.
During the 1950s, with two academic friends, K. L. Wood-Legh and Margaret Braithwaite, Bidder formed "the Dining Group", which led eventually to the founding of Lucy Cavendish College for mature female students in 1965. Bidder was President of the college from its foundation until her retirement in 1970.
Her Quaker beliefs led to her involvement in the publication of the somewhat controversial 1963 pamphlet, Towards a Quaker View of Sex, which aimed to take a pragmatic view of the changing sexual mores of the time, in the context of religious belief.