Mary R S Creese was born in Orkney in 1935 to Walter (a minister) and Annie (a schoolteacher) Weir. She married Professor Thomas Creese, a US mathematician, in 1964 and had two daughters, Anna and Catherine. She enjoyed a long and distinguished career in science and later in her career she became interested in the contributions of nineteenth-century women to scientific research and subsequently became a respected author on the subject.
She maintained a passion for Scottish history and following her death in 2017, she left an extremely generous legacy gift to the University which is allowing the History Department to create lasting educational opportunities and explore further opportunities for preserving and sharing the riches of Scottish history.
The gift has enabled the appointment of Dr Laura Mair as the Mary R S Creese Lecturer in Modern Scottish History earlier this year and Laura is already proving herself as a highly respected researcher and educator, especially with her work on the history of childhood in Scotland.
We have also been able to appoint Dr Clare Loughlin who started a three-year post in the Jacobite World research project in August. Clare’s post was created and funded using Mary’s gift combined with funds from the bequest of Margaret Jones, which supports the Research Institute for Irish and Scottish Studies, and further funding from the Jacobite Studies Trust.
Dr Laura Mair is an expert on the history of childhood and is supporting the MLitt Scottish Heritage Online masters degree. As a historian of modern Scotland, Laura has particular interests in children, disability, and religion. She undertook a masters in History at Leiden University in 2012 and was awarded a doctorate by the University of Edinburgh in 2017. Her PhD covered both Divinity and History, focusing on the relationships formed within ragged schools across Britain.
Laura’s research focuses primarily on Scotland and is underpinned by an interest in marginal and underrepresented voices. Youth, disability, and poverty sit at the hearth of her research, though she also holds an interest in subjects such as emigration, religion, and welfare.
Dr Clare Loughlin was recently appointed to a three-year position in the Jacobite World research project which is formally partnered with the Jacobite Studies Trust. She graduated from the University of Oxford in 2011 and completed her MSc and PhD at the University of Edinburgh.
Her research follows a reappraisal of the complex nature of Jacobitism in recent years and will enable her to mine the extensive holdings of Jacobite material in the University’s Special Collections, to explore the intricate and wide-ranging nature of the Jacobite World wherever it might be found.
Clare will be extending her research on early modern anti-Catholicism in Scotland, whilst enriching the department's teaching with a new course on Jacobites.
These appointments and the advances in Scottish history research and education that they will create at the University would not have been possible without the support and insight of Mary Creese and we are extremely grateful for her generosity.
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