Stella Cunliffe

Stella Vivian Cunliffe MBE (12 January 1917 – 20 January 2012)^[1]^[2] was a British statistician. She was the first female president of the Royal Statistical Society.^[3]

Education and early career

Cunliffe was educated at Parsons Mead School, Ashtead, Surrey; and at the London School of Economics, where she gained a BSc (Econ).

She began her career working from 1939 to 1944 in the Danish Bacon Company.

Guide International Service

At the end of the Second World War, Cunliffe interrupted her career to undertake voluntary relief work in Europe, from 1945 to 1947, with the Guide International Service. The service had been formed from specially trained ex-Girl Guide volunteers to help with the rehabilitation of Europe after the war. Cunliffe was among the first civilians to go into Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945,^[4] where the volunteers oversaw the so-called "human laundry", the delousing of the inmates.

Statistical career

In 1947 Cunliffe resumed her professional career by accepting a post as statistician at the Dublin brewers Arthur Guinness Son & Co., where she worked until 1970. In this role, she developed important principles of experimental methods that are taught to this day. In the most famous example, she redesigned the instructions for quality control workers who were tasked to either accept or reject handmade beer barrels.^[5] Before Cunliffe's redesign, workers accepted barrels by rolling them downhill and rejected barrels by pushing them uphill, the more difficult task; thus, workers were biased to accept barrels even if they were flawed. Cunliffe redesigned the quality control work station so that it was equally easy to reject or accept a barrel, eliminating the prior bias and saving Guinness money in the process.

In 1970 she became Head of Research Unit at the Home Office, before in 1972 being appointed Director of Statistics at the Home Office, a post she held until 1977. She was the first woman to reach this grade in the British Government Statistical Service. During her time at the Home Office she expanded the department's statistical and support staff, and established a dedicated computing team.^[6] She was a prison visitor, and promoted the use of statistics in criminal justice policy. She presented the Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, with international comparisons to show that capital punishment had no effect on murder rates.^[6]^[7]

She was later Statistical Adviser to the Committee of Enquiry into the Engineering Profession from 1978 to 1980.^[8]

She served as the first female President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1975 to 1977.^[9]

Presidential Address to the RSS

Interaction Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), Vol. 139, No. 1. (1976), pp. 1–19.

Honours

Cunliffe was appointed MBE in 1993, for services to the Guides and the community in Surrey.^[10]

Other activities

Cunliffe's other activities included work with youth organisations, gardening and prison after-care. She served as a Mole Valley District Councillor from 1981 to 1999, chaired the local Community Health Council, and served as Chair of Governors for Parsons Mead School.^[6]

References

^ "Stella Vivian CUNLIFFE Obituary: View Stella CUNLIFFE's Obituary by The Times". The Times. The Times. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012. Stella Vivian died peacefully on 20th January 2012 aged 95.
^ "Stella Cunliffe dies aged 95". This Is Surrey Today. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
^ "First woman RSS president, Stella Cunliffe, dies - RSSeNEWS". Royal Statistical Society. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012. It is with sadness that we report that Stella Cunliffe, who was our first woman president, has died at the age of 95.
^ Davies, Serena (14 August 2009). "100 years of the Girl Guides". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
^ A., Nolan, Susan (1 January 2016). Statistics for the behavioral sciences. Worth Pub. ISBN 978-1319014223. OCLC 956339986.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Philpotts, Greg (1 October 2012). "Obituary: Stella Vivian Cunliffe MBE, January 12th, 1917–January 19th, 2012". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. 175 (4): 1058. doi:10.1111/j.1467-985X.2012.01068.x.
^ Leatherhead Advertiser. "Tributes to 'amazing' Stella Cunliffe". Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser. Local World. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ Haines, Catherine (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9781576070901. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ "Past Presidents". Royal Statistical Society. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". The Gazette. No. 53332. 12 June 1993. p. B16. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

Champkin, Julian (2006). "A Life in Statistics: Beer and Statistics (An interview with Stella Cunliffe)". Significance. 3 (3): 126–9. doi:10.1111/j.1740-9713.2006.00184.x.
Salsburg, David (2001). The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century. New York: W. H. Freeman. ISBN 9780716741060. Chapter 25 includes an account of Cunliffe's career based on her presidential address.

External links

"A Glimpse into the Life of… Stella Cunliffe". Ashtead at. Parish of Ashtead. 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
Photograph on the Portraits of Statisticians page

[1] "Stella Vivian CUNLIFFE Obituary: View Stella CUNLIFFE's Obituary by The Times". The Times. The Times. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012. Stella Vivian died peacefully on 20th January 2012 aged 95.

[2] "Stella Cunliffe dies aged 95". This Is Surrey Today. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.

[3] "First woman RSS president, Stella Cunliffe, dies - RSSeNEWS". Royal Statistical Society. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012. It is with sadness that we report that Stella Cunliffe, who was our first woman president, has died at the age of 95.

[4] Davies, Serena (14 August 2009). "100 years of the Girl Guides". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 August 2010.

[5] A., Nolan, Susan (1 January 2016). Statistics for the behavioral sciences. Worth Pub. ISBN 978-1319014223. OCLC 956339986.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[Philpotts2012-6] Philpotts, Greg (1 October 2012). "Obituary: Stella Vivian Cunliffe MBE, January 12th, 1917–January 19th, 2012". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. 175 (4): 1058. doi:10.1111/j.1467-985X.2012.01068.x.

[7] Leatherhead Advertiser. "Tributes to 'amazing' Stella Cunliffe". Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser. Local World. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

[Haines2001-8] Haines, Catherine (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9781576070901. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

[9] "Past Presidents". Royal Statistical Society. Retrieved 22 September 2018.

[10] "Supplement to the London Gazette". The Gazette. No. 53332. 12 June 1993. p. B16. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

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v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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