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The British Psycho-Analytical Society sustained a severe loss by the death of Dr. Ruth D. Usher in May, 1950. Dr. Usher had been a member of the Society since 1944, and in this short time had shown unusual ability both in scientific and executive work in connection with the Institute of Psycho-Analysis and the Society.
Her personality and mental equipment were characteristic of a group of British middle-class women born towards the end of the last century and privileged to be amongst the first women to receive a University education. The majority of women in this group were distinguished by character traits of integrity, independence and honesty combined with mental ability of a high order. The profound changes in the status and education of women and the social upheavals resulting from the two European wars have made this pioneer group of historical significance, and it can be regarded as transitional between the typical Victorian 'lady' and the average professional or business woman of the present day.
Ruth Usher was born in Bristol in 1891. She was the second of four girls and was educated at Clifton High School and Newnham College Cambridge, where she took a Mathematical Tripos in 1913. She taught in several girls' schools belonging to the Girls' Public Day School Company from 1913 to 1930, having taken a Cambridge Teachers Training Certificate in 1920. While taking her teaching certificate her interest in psychology was aroused, and in 1932 she decided to study psychology and took a B.A. Honours degree at King's