The most obvious difference between the subject of this final biographical essay and those of previous chapters is doubtless that of gender. By the twentieth century it had become possible for a woman to be ranked alongside her male colleagues as both a mathematician and a mathematics educator. There are, however, other significant differences: for the first time the study is of someone who trained professionally as a teacher, who studied at a university other than Oxford or Cambridge, and who undertook postgraduate work in mathematics education. Most importantly of all, Elizabeth Williams' interests were to span all sectors of school education. For, during her lifetime, the concept of two independent elementary and secondary systems existing side-by-side was first weakened and later replaced by a unified scheme in which all children received first primary and then secondary education.

PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

Elizabeth May Larby was born in January 1895, the second in the family of four children. Her childhood was to be divided between the country where her forbears had farmed for generations, and the suburbs of London in which the family lived during term-time until the children's education had been secured [1].

So it was that at the age of four Elizabeth began school at St Michael's Church of England Infants' School, Chelsea. She attended that school for two years – each Monday paying her ‘fees’ of 3d (slightly over 1 p) – before transferring to Shaftesbury Road Elementary School in Forest Gate.