Author. Cecilia Mary Ady, an English academic, historian, and author, received professional recognition for her books on the Italian Renaissance, but also for her part in the well-published scandal at Oxford University in 1924. Born the only child of Rev. William Henry Ady, a clergyman, and his wife, Julia Cartwright Ady, an author of biographies. Like her mother, she became known as an authority on the Italian Renaissance. Although female students at Oxford University were not allowed to earn a degree until 1920, her mother sent her there for a higher education at St. Hugh's Hall. She received first place honors in the subject of modern history in 1903. She became a colleague of historian, Sir Edward Armstrong, who had been commissioned to publish textbooks on Italy. As part of the collection of textbooks, her 1907 "A History of Milan under the Sforza" was published, following with much success in 22 editions. In 1909 she became a tutor at St. Hugh's Hall, becoming a close friend of Eleanor Frances Jourdain, who held managerial positions at the college. This relationship led to her receiving privilege information about the executive decisions of the college, which caused conflict between the women. In 1923 allegations against her were made by Jourdain, who had become the principal of the college, requesting her termination after fourteen years of employment. The allegation was that she had questioned the authority of the principal of the college. She formally resisted the termination. With this scandal, there were numerous resignations of highly-profiled professionals from the college as an investigation was started, which brought this negative situation to the public's eye in the newspapers. Eventually, she was cleared of any wrong doings and was reinstated to her position. Upon hearing the results of the investigation, Jourdain suddenly died with a heart attack, which is said to be related to the stress of an unhappy period of her life and knowing that she would be asked to resign from the college. Quietly, Ady accepted another position at St. Anne's College at Oxford but in 1929 returned to St. Hugh's College. This incident in the college's history became known as "the Row." In 1938 she was awarded the degree of Doctorate of Letters, after she published in 1937 a monograph titled "The Bentivoglio of Bologna: A Study in Despotism". Other publications include her 367-page "Pius II: The Humanist Pope" in 1913; "A History of Modern Italy, 1871–1915," with the translation of Benedetto Croce's writings; and in 1934 was the editor of "Italian Studies." Her last text was "Lorenzo Dei Medici and Renaissance Italy" in 1955. In 1960 posthumously, her students gathered a collection of her essays and published them as "Italian Renaissance Studies."