The Cyclist

Here's an illustration I've made for a poem-illustration book about women in the history of Cambridge, with a beautiful poem by Roseanna Waterfall. 

Here's an extract from the book for a little back story:

"In 1897, a proposal was put before Cambridge University’s Senate to grant full degrees to female graduates.

Male students responded with outrage. On the day of the debate, these students filled the area between Cambridge’s Market Square and the Senate House and an effigy of a woman on a bicycle was suspended out of the window of a building opposite the Senate House. Banners reading “No Gowns for Girtonites” and “Varsity for Men” flew alongside it. The lady cyclist in her rational costume was a readily recognised symbol of the new woman whose entrance into higher education the male students resented. At the time of the protest, women were permitted to study at Cambridge, but were not granted full degrees. Newnham and Girton Colleges for women opened in the 1870’s, and in 1881 women gained the right to write the Tripos examination. The 1897 ruling would have admitted women as full members of the university. The resolution did not, however, pass. Upon hearing this result, the triumphant mob tore down the effigy. They then savagely attacked the mannequin, decapitating and tearing it to pieces in a frenzy. What remained of the poor lady cyclist was stuffed through Newnham College gates.

Women studying at Cambridge University were not to receive the titles of full degrees until 1921, and even then it was without associated privileges."