Dame

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 Margaret Janson "Meta" Tuke, MA

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

, DBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

(13 March 1862 Hitchin

Hitchin

Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

 Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

- 21 February 1947, Hitchin) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 academic and educator, was the youngest child of James Hack Tuke

James Hack Tuke

James Hack Tuke was born at York, England, the son of Samuel Tuke.He was educated at the Religious Society of Friends school there, and after working for a time in his father's wholesale tea business, became in 1852 a partner in the banking firm of Sharples and Co., and went to live at Hitchin in...

.

Education

She was educated at home until she was 15 and then two years at St John's School in Withdean

Withdean

Withdean is a former village, now part of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The area was originally named in the 12th century, when it was called Wictedene. The area was historically farm land but has been developed, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, with a mix of detached, semi-detached and mid-rise...

, now part of Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, East Sussex

East Sussex

East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

. She also went to Bedford College

Bedford College

Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as a higher education college for the education of women. It was the first institution of its type for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, the college became a constituent school of the University of London. It played a leading role in the advancement...

 in London one day a week in Michaelmas term

Michaelmas term

Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic years of the following British and Irish universities:*University of Cambridge*University of Oxford*University of St...

 1879.
In 1885 she was one of the first women to go up to Cambridge University. She read Modern and Medieval Languages at Newnham, gaining the equivalent of a first class honours degree in 1888. As women were not awarded degrees by Cambridge at the time, her BA and MA were conferred upon her by Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

 in 1905. (Women were only able to receive Cambridge degrees after 1948).

Career

She was Principal of Bedford College from 1906-1929 and a Fellow at Newnham from 1905 to 1936.

In September 1937 Dame Margaret presented the Library of Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...

 with a collection of Italian renaissance letters. Dating from 1526-1697 they deal principally with the family and business affairs of the Florentine Ridolfi family. The Tuke manuscript collection enhanced the research potential of existing works of Italian literature ranging from the sixteenth to twentieth century of which Battitista Guarini's Poetical Works (1630) and Gian Giorgio Trissino

Gian Giorgio Trissino

Gian Giorgio Trissino was an Italian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, and grammarian.-Biography:...

's La Sophonisba (1530) are examples.

Personal life

She shared interweaving, intimate relationships with other female writers with whom she annually shared a rental summer home with Caroline Spurgeon

Caroline Spurgeon

Caroline Frances Eleanor Spurgeon was an English literary critic. She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, Dresden and at King's College London and University College London.-Life:...

 and Virginia Gildersleeve

Virginia Gildersleeve

Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve was an American academic, the long-time Dean of Barnard College, and the sole female US delegate to the April 1945 San Francisco United Nations Conference on International Organization, which negotiated the UN Charter and created the United...

and others.