Margaret Keay
Margaret Agnes Keay, was a South African-born British phytopathologist. She played a role in the development of educational institutions in Africa through activism and financial programmes focusing on education of girls and women in Africa.
Life and career
South Africa
Keay was born on 11 June 1911 in Pretoria, South Africa, the only child of Scottish parents. Her father was Under-Secretary for Justice in the Union of South Africa. Her early schooling was at the Collegiate School for Girls in Port Elizabeth. She completed a BSc in Botany and a Secondary teachers certificate at Cape Town University.England
In 1934 she became a research student in mycology and plant pathology at Newnham College, Cambridge under F.T. Brooks and in 1943 she was appointed a lecturer at the University of Reading, England. She also spent some time in Norfolk, England researching diseases in flax, which was used in parachute harnesses. She returned to Cambridge to the Cambridge University School of Agriculture after the Second World War where she worked with the Commonwealth Potato Collection.At this time women were only allowed to attend either Girton College or Newnham College at Cambridge. Keay joined a lobby group to have more of the colleges open to women. New Hall and Lucy Cavendish, both female only colleges, were subsequently opened.