Clara Taylor

Clara Taylor was born in Stratford, Taranaki. She was one of seven children of Robert Taylor, a farmer from England, and his New Zealand-born wife Mary, née Morrison. One of her siblings was Lyra Taylor, who became a lawyer in Australia.{{Cite web |title=Women's World: New Zealand author |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19231006.2.82?end_date=31-12-1980&query=Lyra+Clara+Taylor&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1900&type=ARTICLE |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Citation |last=Bundock |first=Anthea |title=Lyra Veronica Esmeralda Taylor (1894–1979) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/taylor-lyra-veronica-esmeralda-11831 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2024-01-03 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}} Another sister, Portia, became a doctor in England, and Taylor's only brother became a barrister.{{Cite web |title=Current Topics |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/STEP19250530.2.11?end_date=31-12-1980&items_per_page=10&page=2&query=Lyra+Clara+Taylor&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1900&type=ARTICLE |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web |title=Wedding in England |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19261201.2.12?end_date=31-12-1980&items_per_page=10&query=Lyra+Clara+Portia+Taylor&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1900&type=ARTICLE |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Three other siblings died in infancy.https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/47673740/person/6821003650/facts

Taylor attended Ngaere School and Stratford District High School, where she was dux of the school.{{Cite news |date=24 November 1932 |title=Ngaere School Jubilee |pages=14 |work=Taranaki Daily News |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19321124.2.130 |via=Papers Past}}{{Cite news |date=21 December 1916 |title=Stratford District High School |pages=5 |work=Stratford Evening Post |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/STEP19161221.2.13 |via=Papers Past}}{{Cite web |title=English Schools - Education of Girls |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAWST19280206.2.78?end_date=31-12-1980&items_per_page=10&query=Lyra+Clara+Taylor&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1900&type=ARTICLE |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} In 1899, while at high school, she won one of six Queen's Scholarships, but was too young to leave high school within the two-year time period specified. The scholarship was worth £40 per year for five years.{{Cite news |date=21 January 1899 |title=Personal paragraphs |pages=82 |work=New Zealand Graphic |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZGRAP18990121.2.48 |via=Papers Past}} In 1904, while at Victoria College, Wellington (now Victoria University of Wellington), she applied to have her scholarship extended.{{Cite news |date=20 October 1904 |title=Victoria College Council |pages=6 |work=New Zealand Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19041020.2.44 |via=Papers Past}} Taylor studied chemistry at Victoria College from 1902 to 1910,{{Cite web |title=Past Students {{!}} NZETC |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-VUW1932_60Spik-t1-body-d37.html#n57 |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz}} graduating with a M.A. (Hons) in chemistry.{{cite web |title=Victoria College Students, Graduates of Year 1907 |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Carn1907-t1-body-d1.html |website=University of Wellington |publisher=New Zealand Electronic Text Collection |access-date=1 January 2024}} In 1908, Taylor was the only student at Victoria College to apply for a government research scholarship worth £100 per year plus laboratory fees. She stated that she would be researching 'The Utilisation of Fats'. Professors Harry Kirk and Thomas H. Easterfield supported Taylor's nomination for the scholarship.{{Cite news |date=16 April 1908 |title=Victoria College |pages=4 |work=Evening Post |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19080416.2.49 |via=Papers Past}}{{Cite news |date=13 June 1908 |title=It is Town Talk |pages=22 |work=New Zealand Free Lance |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZFL19080613.2.25 |via=Papers Past}}

Taylor trained as a teacher in Wellington, then taught at Chilton House, a private girls' school in the city, and at public schools.

Taylor moved to England in 1911 to undertake research at Newnham College, Cambridge, working with William Jackson Pope.{{cite journal |last1=Pope |first1=William Jackson |last2=Taylor |first2=Clara Millicent |title=The Resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 3 : 4- naphthaisotriazine into optically active components. |journal= Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions |volume=103 |pages=1763–1767|doi=10.1039/CT9130301763 }} In 1912 she became a science teacher at Clapham High School. For eight years (1913–1921) she was senior science mistress at St Paul’s Girls’ School, London.{{Cite news |date=18 April 1921 |title=[untitled] |pages=7 |work=Western Daily Press |quote=Miss Clara Taylor, science mistress at St Pauls School for Girls, Brook Green, London, has been appointed headmistress of Northampton High School for Girls. |via=Newspapers.com}} She was headmistress of Northampton School for Girls for 5 years (1921–1926) before becoming headmistress of Redland High School, Bristol from 1926 to 1940.{{cite news |title=New Head Appointed, Redland High School |publisher=Western Daily Press, Bristol. p.5 |date=1 June 1926}}{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Jean |title=Second Best |url=https://potentiality-redmaidsschool.daisy.websds.net/Filename.ashx?tableName=ta_publications&columnName=filename&recordId=272 |access-date=1 January 2024 |agency=Redland High School Old Girls' Guild Newsletter p.11 |date=1995}} In 1930, she and her sister Portia Thomas collaborated to write a school textbook on chemistry.

She was president of the Association of Women Science Teachers, 1925–26, and vice-president for 1927.{{cite book |last1=Rayner-Canham |first1=Marelene |last2=Rayner-Canham |first2=Geoff |title=A Chemical Passion |date=2017 |publisher=UCL IoE Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-78277-188-3 |page=95}}

She died suddenly on 10 January 1940, at her sister Portia's house in Yorkshire.{{cite news |title=Sudden Death of Redland High School Head, Scholastic Career of Miss C. M. Taylor |publisher=Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror. p.5 |date=13 January 1940}}{{Cite news |date=27 January 1940 |title=Memorial Service for Miss C.M. Taylor |pages=6 |work=Western Daily Press |via=British Newspaper Archive}} Former students of Redland High School set up a memorial fund in Taylor's name, to provide a small grant for students leaving the school to begin a career.{{Cite news |last=Redland High School Old Girls' Guild |date=November 1942 |title=News Sheet, 1942 |work= |url=https://potentiality-redmaidsschool.daisy.websds.net/Filename.ashx?tableName=ta_publications&columnName=filename&recordId=246}}

• Taylor, Clara M. (1909). The phases of sulphur. Reports of the AAAS, 12, 158-159.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/commonwealthofsc0000unse |title=The Commonwealth of science : ANZAAS and the scientific enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-19-554683-5 |editor-last=MacLeod |editor-first=Roy |location=Melbourne |pages=189}}
• Easterfield T. H. & Taylor C. M. (1911). The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 2298–2307.{{Cite journal |last1=Easterfield |first1=Thomas Hill |last2=Taylor |first2=Clara Millicent |date=1911-01-01 |title=CCLIII.—The preparation of the ketones of the higher fatty acids |url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1911/ct/ct9119902298 |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions |language=en |volume=99 |pages=2298–2307 |doi=10.1039/CT9119902298 |issn=0368-1645}}
• Taylor C. M. (1912). The rotatory powers of the d-and l-methylethylphenacylthetine salts. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 1124–1127.{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Clara Millicent |date=1912-01-01 |title=CXVIII.—The rotatory powers of the d-and l-methylethylphenacylthetine salts |url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1912/ct/ct9120101124 |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions |language=en |volume=101 |pages=1124–1127 |doi=10.1039/CT9120101124 |issn=0368-1645}}
• Pope W. J. & Taylor C. M. (1913). Cxc.—the resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 : 3 : 4-naphthaisotriazine into optically active components. J. Chem. Soc. Trans 1763–1767.{{Cite journal |last1=Pope |first1=William Jackson |last2=Taylor |first2=Clara Millicent |date=1913-01-01 |title=CXC.—The resolution of 2 : 3-diphenyl-2 : 3-dihydro-1 : 3 : 4-naphthaisotriazine into optically active components |url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1913/ct/ct9130301763 |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions |language=en |volume=103 |pages=1763–1767 |doi=10.1039/CT9130301763 |issn=0368-1645}}

• Taylor C. M. (1923). The discovery of the nature of the air and of its changes during breathing. G. Bell and Sons.{{Cite book |last=Singer |first=Charles Joseph |url=http://archive.org/details/discoveryofcircu00singuoft |title=The discovery of the circulation of the blood |date=1922 |publisher=London G. Bell |others=Gerstein - University of Toronto}}{{Cite journal |last=W |first=F |date=26 January 1924 |title=(1) The Discovery of the Nature of the Air, and of its Changes during Breathing (2) Stories of Scientific Discovery (3) Makers of Science: Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/113118a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=113 |issue=2830 |pages=118–119 |doi=10.1038/113118a0 |bibcode=1924Natur.113..118F |s2cid=4085966 |issn=1476-4687}}
• Taylor C. M. & Thomas P. K. (1930). Elementary chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft (1st ed.). John Murray.{{Cite web |title=Elementary chemistry for students of hygiene and housecraft {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/30929600 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=search.worldcat.org |language=en}}P. K. Thomas was Clara's sister Portia.

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Category:1885 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:People from Stratford, New Zealand

Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni

Category:20th-century New Zealand chemists

Category:20th-century New Zealand women educators

Category:20th-century New Zealand educators