100 ORGANISATION 



Ladies were not, in point of fact, admitted by 

 purchased ticket until 1843 ; a special ' ladies' 

 ticket 3 was then introduced, but this was found to be 

 not to the taste of some of the recipients, since in 

 1869 a Miss Becker and others presented a memorial 

 to the Council asking that these tickets should be 

 similar in form to those of ordinary members and 

 associates. It can no longer be ascertained whether 

 it was a cause or an effect of this memorial that 

 the ladies' transferable ticket which survived until 

 1919 was adorned with a fair garland of vines ; but 

 the memorial went farther and demanded an answer 

 to the question whether ladies were eligible for 

 election to the sectional committees, the General 

 Committee, and other offices. The Council coldly 

 replied that ' there were no rules of the Association 

 by which ladies were precluded from serving upon 

 committee if elected in the ordinary way ' ; and the 

 question remained quiescent until 1876, when the 

 Council appointed, and adopted the report of, a 

 committee which stated that ' it does not appear 

 to have been the practice of the Association to admit 

 ladies to election as officers, or upon committees,' 

 and that ' it does not appear that any case has been 

 made out for altering the practice.' Again, in 1885, 

 the General Committee referred the same question 

 to Council ; and again the Council appointed a 

 committee, which this time reported in the ladies' 

 favour ; nevertheless the Council were ' of opinion 

 that the time has not yet come when it would be for 

 the advantage of the Association to depart from the 

 established custom.' As late as 1897, a woman was 

 excluded from a sectional committee, after nomina- 

 tion, on the strength of the Council's ruling twelve 



