{"id":45,"date":"2013-06-28T11:02:55","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T11:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/?p=45"},"modified":"2013-08-15T12:29:23","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T12:29:23","slug":"never-mind-dear-i-didnt-want-a-competitor-only-a-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/2013\/06\/28\/never-mind-dear-i-didnt-want-a-competitor-only-a-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never mind, dear, I didn\u2019t want a competitor, only a wife!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind every great man is that truly awful platitude reserved for the woman in his shadow!\u00a0 Researchers and archivists often despair about the absence of women – and not only women, but that\u2019s several other blogs! – \u00a0found in the margins of the papers of great men.\u00a0 What was their part in the story, other than that of a dutiful wife neglected in the pursuit of greatness?<\/p>\n

Comparatively little is known about Thomson\u2019s wife, Jennie (or to give her full title, Lady Thomson!).\u00a0 She is admittedly rather absent from his autobiography, The Education of an Englishman<\/i>.\u00a0 This may be pardonable in some respects as it is largely about his education and career, though indeed one might say what is marriage if not an education?!\u00a0 Thomson tells us that he married his ‘younger colleague’ and settled down to \u2018happiness and careful budgeting\u2019.\u00a0 We know they met at Armstrong College, where Jenny was also teaching, and that they had one child, Hector.\u00a0 We know that Thomson\u2019s many influential friends, including Carlos Paton Blacker, thought very highly of Jennie and enjoyed her company \u2013 but why?\u00a0 Was she witty?\u00a0 Good humoured?\u00a0 Or did she simply bake a mean scone as the annotations to Thomson’s recipe book would attest?!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jennie Thomson<\/p><\/div>\n

Thomson credited Jennie for winning the Urban Prize with him, saying that she carried out the mathematical calculations, but Jennie\u2019s story is somewhat different:<\/p>\n

One night, sitting as usual in his study with Crelle\u2019s Rechaud Tafel on my knee I said to him \u2018You know Godfrey, although I can do these calculations, I haven\u2019t the faintest idea of what it is really all about.<\/i><\/p>\n

He said \u2019Never mind, dear, I didn\u2019t want a competitor, only a wife!\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n

However, from Thomson\u2019s papers it is entirely clear just how much his Jennie meant to him, and how much her Godfrey meant to her.\u00a0 Its telling, for instance, that Thomson kept so many photographs of Jennie, that on one of the photographs of her in full costume for an amateur production at Durham University, Thomson has written \u2018Jane Hutchinson, (now my wife), in what I like to imagine was a proud and steady hand!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jane Hutchinson (‘Jennie’), right, and Beatrice Buckley, left<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thomson’s notes on reverse<\/p><\/div>\n

We can see Jennie in the papers of James Fitzjames Duff<\/a>, in a letter from Thomson\u2019s friend, G R Goldsborough, who recalls how Thomson informed him of his marriage:<\/p>\n

I wrote back a congratulatory letter saying how fortunate she was to have a man of such fine qualities; which I was sure would lead to a happy union and future prosperity.\u00a0 He immediately replied saying that it would please him very much if I would write and say the same to Jennie!\u00a0 I felt it a pecuiliar request, but I did as he asked and got what I deserved for my pains \u2013 a cool reply with a plain hint that such an unsolicited testimonial was not required.<\/i><\/p>\n

Jennie clearly knew that Thomson, for all his \u2018fine qualities\u2019, was jolly lucky to have her<\/i>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jennie (right) and her sister on their graduation, Durham University<\/p><\/div>\n

Nowhere is the love between Thomson and Jennie more apparent than her biographical notes.\u00a0 Thomson died 14 years before Lady Thomson. Sadly, Jennie never finished the biography, perhaps because she suffered from poor health following Thomson\u2019s death until her own.\u00a0 However, the notes she left behind give an insight into the man she knew better than anyone. \u00a0\u00a0She describes Thomson\u2019s characteristics \u2013 his humour, his kindness, his egalitarian nature:<\/p>\n

He possessed a strong sense of humour, a ready wit and considerate personal charm which made him a perfect host at his own table.\u00a0 His tasks were simple, he loved his fellow men\u2026He had what all great people had \u2013 humility.<\/i><\/p>\n

Lady Thomson\u2019s notes regarding Thomson\u2019s death are particularly poignant:<\/p>\n

I have said earlier that Godfrey sought truth and was not afraid of it when he met it.\u00a0 He was not afraid when he met it at the last.<\/i><\/p>\n

He asked me two days before he died if the doctors had told me he was going to die.\u00a0 He said \u201cI am not afraid to die, but I am afraid of the pain and anguish to you\u201d.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n

Through my barely hidden tears, I said \u201cYes dear, I know you are very ill, but I am your old sweetheart you know \u2013 and I am coming to you soon\u201d.\u00a0 He said \u201cSome things are certainties\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Thomson died in the afternoon of the following day.\u00a0 Jennie, or Lady Thomson as she was by then, was flooded with letters of sympathy telling her how much the sender admired and loved Thomson, from many of the world\u2019s leading statisticians and psychometricians including Charles Paton Blacker and David Glass, as well as several letters from past students.\u00a0 Almost every letter states Jennie should not answer, she should rest, etc., and almost every letter is marked \u2018answered\u2019, with the date Jennie replied.<\/p>\n

We will likely never know terribly much about Jennie other than the traces dotted around Thomson\u2019s papers \u2013 the photographs of her, the book about Durham she gave him for Christmas 1914 \u2013 but Thomson treasured these traces.\u00a0 He referred to them throughout his life, often annotating them in hindsight.\u00a0 Jennie wasn\u2019t \u2018just\u2019 a wife to Thomson, and she wasn\u2019t \u2018just\u2019 a figure in the background of his achievements.\u00a0 She was his partner, his friend, and the person he trusted the most, and he was all those things to her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behind every great man is that truly awful platitude reserved for the woman in his shadow!\u00a0 Researchers and archivists often despair about the absence of women – and not only women, but that\u2019s several other blogs! – \u00a0found in the margins of the papers of great men.\u00a0 What was their part in the story, other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,29],"tags":[21,2,19,6,11,22,15,20],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/godfreythomsonproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}