1813
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'Siliceous petrifactions from Tisbury, Wiltshire' sent by Miss Etheldred Benett, the first recorded donation (of at least 44) she made to the Society’s museum.
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1824
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“An account of some Effects of the late Earthquakes in Chili”, by Mrs Maria Graham (1785-1842), is read before the Society. Becomes the first paper by a woman to be published in one of the Society’s journals.
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1862
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“On a deposit containing Diatomaceae leaves etc in the Iron ore Mines Dalton-in-Furness”, by Miss Elizabeth Hodgson (1813-1877), is read at the OGM. Published in 1863, it is the second paper by a woman to appear in the Society’s journal.
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1887
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“Notes upon some Carboniferous species of Murchisonia in our Public Museums”, by Jane Donald (1856-1935), is read (and subsequently published). The first of 23 papers by the new generation of educated women read between 1887 and 1900.
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1889
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Thomas Vincent Holmes’s motion (countersigned by 13 members) requesting that ‘her’ be added to byelaws is defeated at a Special General Meeting (SGM).
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1893
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Catherine Raisin (1855-1945), BSc, receives the Lyell Fund, ‘in recognition of her researches in petrology and other branches of Geological Science’. It is the first Society award given to a woman, but not being allowed to attend meetings she cannot collect it in person.
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1895
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Henry Woodward, in his presidential address before the Annual General Meeting (AGM), suggests that the Society should, ‘test experimentally the admission of ladies to attend the evening meetings of the Society, and even, in special cases of original workers, to the use of the Library.’
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1898
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Jane Donald becomes the second woman to receive an award, being given the Murchison Fund ‘in recognition of the value of her work upon the Palaeozoic Gastropoda, and to assist her in further work’.
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1899
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Margaret Chorley Crosfield (1859-1952) is granted use of the Society’s library.
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1900
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10 January Council confirms award of the Lyell Fund to Gertrude Elles (1872-1960), ‘as an acknowledgment of the value of her contributions to the study of the Graptolites and the rocks in which they occur, and to encourage her in further research’.
24 January George Jennings Hinde proposes to Council that Elles should be invited to collect her award in person, but after strong objections, notably from Horace Monckton, the resolution is withdrawn.
7 February Hinde resubmits the resolution, but Monckton in absentia objects by letter pointing out that Council does not have the power to decide who attends Society meetings. His objection is laid aside and a vote taken, but the motion is not carried.
16 February Gertrude Elles’ award is collected on her behalf by her Cambridge professor Thomas McKenny Hughes. In his acceptance speech, McKenny Hughes comments, ‘I am glad to have to have been asked to receive the Award from the Lyell Fund for transmission to Miss Elles, who is debarred by circumstances over which she had no control from standing here to receive for herself this mark of recognition which the Council of the Society have bestowed upon her.’
21 March Monckton’s motion, ‘It is not desirable that the Fellows of the Society should be allowed to introduce ladies as visitors at the Ordinary General Meetings’, is placed before Council but defeated.
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1901
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20 March Issue of women’s attendance at meetings is settled when Sir Archibald Geikie (at the time the country’s most well-known geologist and past President of the Society) simply brings two ladies with him to the OGM.
November to December Following a further SGM motion for women to be allowed membership, a Special Committee is appointed which decides to seek legal opinion.
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1902
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Richard Burdon Haldane, KC, gives the legal opinion that as the law stands (and taking into consideration the Society's Charter) only single women would be eligible as married women no longer held the 'status of separate persons in law.'
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1904
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9 March SGM passes a new regulation that any visitor could be introduced at meetings without requiring the consent of the majority of Fellows present - therefore making it easier for women to attend.
9 November Maud Healey becomes the first woman to be present when her paper, “Notes on Upper Jurassic Ammonites with special reference to specimens in the University Museum Oxford II”, is read at a Society meeting.
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1906
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7 November Proposal put again before Council for women to be admitted as members.
December Special Committee established to investigate and draw up a suggested scheme that women could be admitted as Associates.
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1907
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17 April Council recommends the byelaws be changed to include women Associates.
15 May SGM held to vote on proposal to change byelaws. Defeated 34 to 32.
19 June Council minutes record that Gertrude Elles and Maria Ogilvie Gordon (1864-1939) send ‘a memorial of protest’ to the Society.
26 September to 3 October Celebrations marking the centenary of the founding of the Society, in which women take part, including Crosfield and Elles. Ogilvie Gordon sends a telegram of congratulations.
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1908
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7 April SGM passes motion:‘That it is desirable that women should be admitted as Fellows of the Society, assuming that this can be done under the Present Charter.’ A further motion is passed for a poll of all Fellows resident in the United Kingdom to be taken on the issue.
20 May Results of poll reported to Society. Of the 477 answers received, 342 are in favour of admitting women and 248 of those agree that it should be as full Fellows rather than Associates.
17 June Another SGM is called which passes the motion that, ‘Fellows non-resident in Great Britain be invited to express an opinion concerning the admission of women to Fellowship or Associateship of the Society’.
4 November Results of the poll of Foreign & Commonwealth Fellows reported to the Society. Of the 124 answers received, 97 are in favour of admitting women and 70 of those agree it should be as full Fellows.
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1909
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SGM called to hear the motion, ‘That it be desirable under the existing Charter, to admit Women to candidature for the Fellowship of the Society’. Rejected by 50 votes to 40.
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1914-1918
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World War One and women’s contribution to war effort.
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1918
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Council appoints a committee to consider, ‘The most convenient and expeditious way of effecting the admission of women into the Society’.
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1919
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22 January Recommendations of the committee discussed and adopted.
26 March SGM held to hear the following simple motion, 'That it is desirable to admit Women as Fellows of the Society'. Finally carried by 55 votes to 12.
The addition to the following byelaw is passed: Article XXIII. Interpretation. – In the interpretation of these Bye-Laws words in the masculine gender only, shall include the feminine gender also.
21 May Eight women are elected as Fellows of the Society. Benefitting from the alphabetical primacy of her surname, Margaret Chorley Crosfield officially becomes the first female Fellow of the Geological Society.
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1920
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Eleanor Mary Reid, FGS (elected 21 January 1920) is the first woman to read her own papers “On Two Preglacial Floras from Castle Eden (County Durham)” and “A Comparative of Pliocene Floras, based on the Study of Fossil Seeds”.
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