Marian Farquharson

Marian Sarah Ogilvie Farquharson, FLS, FRMS (née Ridley, 2 July 1846 – 20 April 1912) was a British naturalist and women's rights activist. The first female Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (although not permitted to attend meetings), Farquharson is best remembered for her campaign of women rights to full fellowship of learned societies.

Early and personal life

Marian Sarah Ridley was born on 2 July 1846 in West Meon, Hampshire, England, the eldest daughter of Reverend Nicholas James Ridley and Frances Joucriet (d. 1901). She was a descendent of Bishop Nicholas Ridley. Educated at home, including lessons in music, she became interested in natural history.

In 1883, she married Robert Francis Ogilvie Farquharson from near Alford, Aberdeenshire. She moved to live with him on the Haughton estate. He died in May 1890 She also gave a presentation about them to the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Aberdeen in 1885.

In 1885, she was elected the first female Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. Despite this, as a woman she was prohibited to attend any of its meetings or vote on Society's matters.

She was involved with the Congress of the International Council of Women, held in London in 1899, and contributed to the Biological Sciences section of the Congress.

The following year, Farquharson petition of the Linnean Society intensified under it finally agreed for the petition to go before its fellows. In 1903, the Society decided to seek a supplementary charter from the King explicitly allowing women fellows. A ballot of fifteen women for fellowship finally took place in December 1904, where all but Farquharson were elected. Farquharson was not elected to the Society until 1908 when her nomination was resubmitted. However, as a result of her health, she never signed the Society's roll for admission thus was never formally admitted to the Linnean Society. She died in Nice on 20 April 1912.

Works In addition to her early interest in ferns and mosses, she developed an interest in desmids from 1883 onwards. A Pocket Guide to British Ferns (1881) (online) Notes on mosses of the north of Scotland in Scottish Naturalist, vol. 8, 1885–1886, p. 381 (online) Ferns and mosses of the Alford district in Scottish Naturalist, vol. 10, 1889–1890, pp. 193–198