Mary Crudelius

He travelled a great deal on business and Mary wrote him frequent long letters, including discussions of ideas and personal matters.

She went on to commit herself to the cause of education for women, starting in 1867 when she spoke out at a ladies' discussion group called the Edinburgh Essay Society.

[7] As the group's first secretary, Crudelius was a respected leader and helped steer the association through a few internal disputes and one dispute with the university about details of the plan to offer a university certificate to women passing examinations after attending ELEA lectures.

The association designed its classes according to the university's arts curriculum and to its standards, finding support from several eminent male professors, especially David Masson, who was a strong supporter of Jax-Blake and the Edinburgh Seven, but did not pressure the ELEA to fight for women's admission into British universities, and promoted the Association's objective to provide education for women's "preparing of the mind for the afterlife"[8] rather than for entrance into a profession.

The certificate was introduced successfully in 1872, though Crudelius hoped there would ultimately be full university degrees for women, but her health had been poor for some time and she did not live to see this happen.

Her two daughters, Mary and Maud, were educated through the association in the 1880s and for a few years there was a Crudelius Hall of residence for female students.