Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/396

376 step the movement grew, demand created supply, local examination tested the efficiency of the new teaching. Strenuous efforts were made to obviate the criticisms of women's education in a report which declared that "want of thoroughness and foundation, want of system, slovenliness, and showy superficiality, inattention to rudiments, undue time given to accomplishments and want of organisation," were responsible for female incompetence. The Council of the Girls' Public Day School Company was founded in 1872, whereby a sound education for girls of all classes and creeds was established on a footing similar to that long enjoyed by boys. Other developments followed. In 1867 women were admitted to the University of London examinations: in 1872 Girton College was opened at Cambridge, followed by Newnham in 1875, and at Oxford, Somerville College and Lady Margaret Hall were founded in 1879; thus women were no longer forced

Meanwhile other professions were opening their doors to women. Florence Nightingale, in the dark Crimean days, had shown that the nursing