Annie Hutton Numbers was born in Edinburgh on 6 March 1897. She was educated at Mrs. Steele's Private School in Upper Gray Street in Edinburgh, at James Gillespie's, 1904 to 1907, and then at Edinburgh Ladies' College (Mary Erskine's), 1907-1914. She then went to Edinburgh University graduating with the degrees of MA (Hons), Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 1918, and a B.Sc. in Mathematics, and with a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1920. After a brief spell teaching she was appointed as Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator at the Department of Chemistry at Edinburgh University. While on the staff of the University, Numbers undertook research towards the degree of Ph.D. which she took in 1926 for the thesis The influence of substituents on the optical rotatory power of compounds . She left her post at the Department to become a teacher in Ipswich and then in High Wycombe, retiring in 1965. Annie Hutton Numbers died on 10 April 1988.
From the guide to the Papers of Annie Hutton Numbers (1897-1988), 20th century, (Edinburgh University Library)
