"Steamboat ladies" was a nickname given to a number of female students at the
women's colleges of the
universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge who were awarded
ad eundem University of Dublin degrees at
Trinity College Dublin, between
1904 and
1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women. The name comes from the means of transport commonly used by these women to
travel to Dublin for this purpose.
An
ad eundem degree is an
academic degree awarded by one
university or
college to an
alumnus of another, in a process often known as
incorporation. The
recipient of the ad eundem degree is often a faculty member at the institution which awards the degree, e.g. at the University of Cambridge, where incorporation is expressly limited to a person who "has been admitted to a University office or a Headship or a Fellowship (other than an Honorary Fellowship) of a College, or holds a post in the University Press ... or is a Head-elect or designate of a College".
Although an
ad eundem degree is not an earned degree, both the original degree(s) and the incorporated (
ad eundem) degree(s) are given in post-nominals listed in the Oxford University Calendar.
Before modern transport had shrunk the world, it was common, when a graduate from one university moved into the neighborhood of another, for the new university to admit the graduate as a
courtesy, "at the same degree" (
ad eundem gradum). Thus if someone was a bachelor of arts in the university that they had attended, they would likewise be a bachelor of arts of their new university. (Not every college extended this courtesy to all other colleges, however.) The
practice of incorporation diminished in the early 19th century, but it
continues at the
University of Oxford, the
University of Cambridge, and
Trinity College, Dublin. At the University of
Oxford,
incorporation first appears in the University Statutes in
1516, though the practice itself is
older: In the
15th and early 16th centuries,
incorporation was granted to
members of universities from all over Europe. This
continued until the 19th century, when in
1861 incorporation was
restricted to members of Cambridge University and Trinity College, Dublin. In
1908, incorporation was further restricted to
specific degrees from these universities.
A number of female students at Oxford and Cambridge were awarded
ad eundem University of Dublin degrees at Trinity College, Dublin, between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women.
