Anthony Traill (1838-1914), the first Provost to confer degrees on Women Graduates

Anthony Traill was born into a Scotch-Irish family at Ballylough House near Bushmills in county Antrim in November 1838. At the age of twenty he entered Trinity College Dublin to study engineering, but he was a professional student who passed through all the faculties and took legal and medical degrees in 1864-1870. He applied his knowledge of physics when advising his brother William who was building the Portrush-Bushmills electric railway. Though he took time off to indulge his athletic abilities, he steeped himself in College affairs and became Provost in March 1904, a post he held until his death in October 1914. His outstanding contribution whilst holding that post was to welcome women with university training into graduation.