Living History: Hannah Shepherd

My defining moment at Trinity

As a historian who often finds herself tracing unusual connections and far-reaching networks, there have been a couple of moments, related especially to women connected to the College, that have stuck in my mind since arriving at Trinity.

One was at the Fellowship Admission Feast, when I was introduced to Trinity’s wonderful Deputy Manciple Junko Megarry, and found out she came from the same part of Japan that I had researched for the past decade. Another was upon discovering that Mary Somerville, namesake of my undergraduate college at Oxford, was not only the first person to be described as a scientist, but was given this title by William Whewell, the 27^th Master of Trinity, in 1834.

In Trinity Minds, Philip Allott exhorts us to remember, when we step out into Great Court after dinner and look up at the stars, just who has looked up at them before us. In a wider sense, it is worth remembering and celebrating the work of women who have been connected to Trinity over its history, before their admission as students and Fellows as well as after.

Hannah Shepherd is a Junior Research Fellow in History at Trinity elected in 2018.