Phillpotts, Bertha Surtees (1877-1932)

English Scandinavian scholar and educationist. In 1913 she was appointed the first Lady Carlisle Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford, and in 1920 became principal of Westfield College, London. She was mistress of Girton 1922-25, and director of Scandinavian studies at Cambridge 1926-32. Her works include The Elder Edda and Ancient Scandinavian Drama (1920) and Edda and Saga (1931).

Phillpotts was born in Bedfordshire. She studied medieval and modern languages at Girton College, Cambridge 1898-1902, and was a research student in Iceland and Denmark from 1903 to 1906.