Hilda Ingold

Edith Hilda, Lady Ingold ( Usherwood; 21 May 1898 – 1988) was a British chemist based in Leeds and London. Her career was unfairly overshadowed by that of her husband. She failed to gain much public recognition, despite being an innovative chemist and partner to her husband in his work on organic chemistry. She was known as Lady Ingold following her husband's knighthood.

Early life Edith Hilda Usherwood was born into a working-class family in Catford (south-east London).

Education She attended a girls' grammar school in Lewisham, and then had two years of private education in Horsham. She then moved to the North London Collegiate School after being awarded a Clothworker's Scholarship.

As an undergraduate at Royal Holloway College, Usherwood attained a BSc Hons in Chemistry (1916-1920) before completing her doctorate in 1923 at Imperial College London. As the doctoral degree was only introduced to British Universities in 1917 she was one of the earliest students to qualify. Her PhD project was on tautomers, isomers of molecules which differ only in the position of a labile hydrogen atom. Her doctoral supervisor was Martha Whiteley.

Her subsidiary subject was physics and this led to her research in physical organic chemistry and quantum mechanics.