:Martha Annie Whiteley

Whiteley was born on 11 November 1866, in Chelsea, London, England, to her father, William Sedgewick Whiteley and mother, Hannah Bargh.{{cite book|last1=Barrett|first1=Anne|title=Women At Imperial College; Past, Present And Future|date=2017|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=9781786342645|pages=69–76|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPutDgAAQBAJ&q=martha+annie+whiteley|access-date=9 February 2017}} Her mother died in the 1870s, after which her father remarried Mary Bargh Turner Clark in 1880.

Whiteley began her education at Kensington High School, London, a Girls Public Day School Trust school. The Girls' Public Day School Trust provided affordable day school education for girls. She continued her education as one of the first 28 students{{Cite book|last=Bingham, Caroline, 1938–1998.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1149420089|title=The history of Royal Holloway College, 1886–1986|date=1987|publisher=Constable|oclc=1149420089}} at Royal Holloway College for Women (London), where she graduated in 1890 with a B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of London. She remained at the Royal Holloway College for Women to obtain and pass an honor in an undergraduate degree in mathematical moderations from University of Oxford.

Between 1891 and 1900, Whiteley was science mistress at Wimbledon High School and for the next 2 years, science lecturer at St. Gabriel's Training College, Camberwall. During 1898–1902 she was also undertaking research on the organic chemistry of barbiturate compounds at the Royal College of Science.{{Cite book|title=Chemistry Was Their Life|page=122}}

Whiteley's research, working with Professor Sir William Tilden, helped her achieve earning a doctorate degree (D.Sc.) in 1902 from the Royal College of Science (later part of Imperial College).{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=25 July 1902 |page=5 |issue=36829}} Her dissertation was on the preparation and properties of amides and oximes. At the same time, she worked part-time as a science lecturer at St Gabriel's Training College in Camberwell, a college for female teachers.

After completion of her doctorate in 1902, Whiteley was invited by Tilden to join the staff at the College of Science, and was one of only two female professional staff when the college merged with the newly formed Imperial College in 1907.{{cite ODNB|title=Martha Whiteley|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/46421|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/46/101046421/|year=2004}} She was the first woman to become a Reader in Imperial College.{{cite book |last1=Gay |first1=Hannah |title=The History of Imperial College London, 1907–2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology and Medicine |date=2007 |publisher=Imperial College Press |isbn=978-1860947094 |pages=856 |edition=First}}

In 1912, Whiteley founded the Imperial College Women's Association upon recommendation from rector Sir Alfred Keogh. This association helped women of the college strive for equal treatment in the field of chemistry.

Whiteley retired from Imperial College in 1934, but continued work in editing and contributing to Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry with her co-author Jocelyn Field Thorpe. After Jocelyn Field Thorpe died in 1939, Whiteley became the principal editor of twelve volumes of the fourth edition of Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. She completed her contributions at the age of 88 in 1954.

Whiteley's life and works are described in a detailed chapter in the 2011 publication on European Women in Chemistry.

During World War One, the chemical laboratories at the Imperial College were utilized to analyze samples collected from battlefields and areas that had been bombed. She and her colleagues focused on analyzing lachrymators and irritants. Whiteley worked with Frances Micklethwait and 6 other female scientists in an experimental trench at Imperial College testing mustard gas and explosives.{{Cite book|title=A lab of one's own: Science and suffrage in World War One|last=Fara|first=Patricia|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2018|pages=Chapter 11|via=P Fara (author) correspondence}} The work was hazardous: Whitely wounded her arm whilst testing mustard gas on herself. She also worked on developing syntheses of drugs that had previously been imported from Germany including beta-Eucaine, Phenacetin and Procaine.

In 1920, Whiteley received the honor of the Order of British Empire for her scientific contributions to war efforts.

An earlier biography by Mary R.S. Creese of the University of Kansas was published in 1997 in the American Chemical Society's Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, and references what appears to be an obituary published 40 years previously in the year after Whiteley's death.

Whiteley was well known for her contributions to working towards women's equality in the field of chemistry. Prior to establishing the Imperial College Women's Association in 1912, Whiteley fought for cloakroom facility updates for female staff and students in all academic departments.

Further, in 1904, she advocated with 19 other women for women's admittance into the Fellowship of the Chemical Society in London. At first the women were unsuccessful in their efforts, but in 1908 current fellows voted in favor of admitting women into the Chemical Society. However, the women did not gain full admittance into the fellowship until 1920 after the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 was passed. After joining the society, Whiteley worked with another woman, Ida Smedley Maclean, in founding the Women's Dining Club of the Chemical Society.

Whiteley became the first female elected member of the Chemical Society's Council.

• Timeline of women in science

{{cite web |url=http://www.rsc.org/diversity/175-faces/all-faces/dr-martha-annie-whiteley |title=Dr Martha Annie Whiteley |work=175 Faces of Chemistry |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520090707/http://www.rsc.org/diversity/175-faces/all-faces/dr-martha-annie-whiteley/|archivedate=20 May 2020}}

{{cite book |first1=Jan |last1=Apotheker |first2=Livia |last2=Simon Sarkadi |title=European women in chemistry |date=2011 |publisher=Wiley-VCH |location=Weinheim |isbn=978-3-527-32956-4}}

{{cite journal |first=Mary RS |last=Creese |title=Martha Annie Whiteley (1866–1956): Chemist and Editor |journal=Bulletin for the History of Chemistry |date=1997 |volume=8 |pages=42–45 |url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/bulletin_open_access/num20/num20%20p42-45.pdf}}

{{cite journal |last=Eldridge |first=AA |title=Martha Annie Whiteley. 1866–1956 |journal=Proceedings of the Chemical Society |date=1957 |issue=June |pages=182–183 |doi=10.1039/PS9570000157 }}

{{cite journal|first1=Rafaelle |last1=Nicholson |first2=John |last2=Nicholson |title=Martha Whiteley of Imperial College, London: A Pioneering woman Chemist |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=2012 |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=598–601 |bibcode=2012JChEd..89..598N |doi=10.1021/ed2005455 }}

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{{1904 Women Petitioners to the Chemical Society}}

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Category:1866 births

Category:1956 deaths

Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Science

Category:English women chemists

Category:19th-century English chemists

Category:20th-century English chemists

Category:19th-century English women scientists

Category:20th-century English women scientists

Category:19th-century English women

Category:19th-century English people

Category:20th-century English women

Category:20th-century English people