Eva Hartree

Eva Hartree (née Rayner; 24 December 1873 – 9 September 1947) was the first woman to be Mayor of Cambridge, in 1924–25.

Early life Hartree was born Eva Rayner in Stockport in 1873, the daughter of a Jewish doctor, Edwin Rayner and his wife Isabella.

Hartree read natural history at Girton College, Cambridge from 1892, completing tripos in 1895, but not graduating as women did not then proceed to graduation. Also in 1895 she married William Hartree, a lecturer in engineering. and in her presidential speech in 1936, she called attention to the rise of Nazism in Germany and the treatment of non Aryan people, called for a committee on broadcasting to be set up so that the organsion could have links with the BBC, and raised concerns over women being excluded from roles in the local government.

She served as Secretary of the Cambridge branch of the League of Nations. The Hartrees lived at 21 Bentley Road, Trumpington. During the time after William Hartree died and Eva Hartree lived in London, the house was occupied by the scientist John Baker. Her photographic portrait in mayoral robes by Olive Edis is held by the National Portrait Gallery.