Marjorie Alison Wilson (1903-1978)
Plymouth-born, Marjorie Westfield attended Keppel Place Central School in Stoke Damerel, where she was encouraged under the headmistress in her interests in science. She went on to do her degree in Botany at Westfield College, University of London, graduating in 1924, and being awarded a University of London PhD by publication in 1934 for her important papers published during the 1920s and early 1930s. Her work on phycology (with a specialism in algae, the study of seaweed) was considered ground-breaking. She returned to Plymouth in 1931, on her marriage to Douglas Wilson, Deputy Director of the Plymouth-based Marine Biological Association’s laboratory, and thereafter worked closely with him. Sadly, this work was not officially recognised as women were not then permitted to work for the Association. Undeterred, she carried on her own work, and also widened her interests to conservation and environmentalism, with a strong local focus, and also into archaeology. She continued to speak at venues like the Plymouth Athenaeum, as well as giving lectures in Plymouth schools, where she actively sought to encourage girls to engage with the sciences. She was President of the Athenaeum 1963-65, and a noted local figure in a number of community enterprises, including local Women’s Institutes.