On the 11th of July 1877, Kate Edger graduated with a BA in Latin and Mathematics from the University of New Zealand. She became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree and the first woman in the British Empire to earn a BA.

Born in England in 1857, the family emigrated to New Zealand in 1862 where she was mainly home educated by her father.

By the age of 26 she was the foundation headmistress of Nelson College for Girls. She continued to develop education for girls in New Zealand.

Kate Edger was also a suffragist, supporter of the Temperance movement and of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children.