Newnham’s oldest alumna celebrates 103rd birthday

Long life is because she ‘never got married’

A 103-year-old woman who lived through two World Wars and a career as a teacher says she has had such a long life because she never got married.

Rae Scott is Newnham College’s oldest alumna but she has said she “doesn’t feel old yet”.

The remarkable woman read geography here from 1929-1932 and she got a 2:1 in both parts of the Tripos.

Miss Scott recently celebrated her birthday at The Gardens Care Home in Darlington and reminisced about her time at Newnham.

She said: “I enjoyed university very much, I studied geography and I was at Newnham for three years. I lived at the College and I had my own bedroom and lots of friends. In those days girls were not allowed degrees.”

Newnham’s archives show that Miss Scott lived in Old Hall and also in her year group was Jacquetta Hawkes, a leading archaeologist and writer and Elisabeth Ayrton who carved out a career as a successful cookery writer.

Born in Hebburn, Miss Scott taught at schools across the North-East and became the deputy head of what is now Hummersknott Academy in Darlington.

She was teaching at Newcastle Church High School for Girls when its pupils were evacuated to Alnwick Castle during the Second World War and she accompanied them there to supervise them.

She spent a lot of time travelling and she is known for her interest in the world around her. She has always been fiercely independent and stayed in her own home until she was 100 and drove until she was 96.

When asked what the secret of her long life was, Miss Scott replied: “I’m still young at heart, I think it is because I never got married and I enjoy sherry!”

Friend and former neighbour Brian Dobinson, who has known Miss Scott for all of his life, said: “She is incredibly intelligent and has always had such an interest in the world around her.”

Happy Birthday from everyone at Newnham College, Miss Scott!