known, Not

Anna Gurney was an Anglo-Saxon scholar who had studied both classical and modern languages. She anonymously published a limited edition of her work, entitled 'A literal translation of the Saxon Chronicle' in 1819. Anna Gurney was deeply religious and her sense of social responsibility resulted in her involvement in prison reform and establishing a branch of the anti-slavery movement in Norwich. In 1830 she co-founded the Belfry School at Overstrand in Kent with her cousin Sarah Buxton. Although having contracted polio at the age of ten months and not being able to walk, she travelled to Rome and Greece in a wheel chair in 1836. In 1845 she became the first female member of the British Archaeological Association. Anna Gurney was also responsible for purchasing a Manby apparatus which was used to save the lives of shipwrecked seamen along the Norfolk coast. She died whilst planning a trip to the Baltic, aged sixty-one.

Mary Blagg was born in 1858 to John Charles Blagg, a solicitor, and France Caroline Foottit. Mary was sent to a finishing school in Kensington in 1875 where she studied algebra and German, the latter she employed when translating German poetry into English verse. In 1891 Mary Blagg became the branch secretary of the Girls' Friendly Society in Cheadle. She also worked as a Sunday school teacher. When Mary was thirty-eight, her mother died. This then left Mary with the responsibility of running a large household. Mary Blagg was a keen chess player and wrote children's stories, four of which were published locally. Mary was also responsible for editing a manuscript magazine, entitled 'Literary links', a task she performed until her death. Her career as an astronomer started in 1904, when Mary, now aged forty-six, was introduced to Professor Turner of the Oxford Observatory. In 1907, Mary started working with Mr S A Saunder to assist the International Committee of the International Astronomical Union on the 'uniformity in nomenclature of lunar formations'. This work was finally completed in 1935, resulting in the publication of 'A Catalogue of Named Lunar Formations'. Her research work led to her writing papers for the Royal Astronomical Society, the most important of which was 'Suggested Substitute for Bode's Law', published in 1913. During the same year, Professor Turner put her name forward for election as a Fellow to the Royal Astronomical Society, a position which had not previously been open to women. Mary was actually elected in 1916. Following the outbreak of the First World War, Mary took care of a family of Belgian refugees but continued with her work in astronomy once the war had ended. In recognition of her achievements in the field of astronomy, a crater on the moon was named in her honour. She died aged eighty-five.

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