in 1868, four years before her death at age 91, she was the first person to sign john stuart mill's unsuccessful petition for female suffrage. in her autobiography somerville wrote that "british laws are adverse to women". she detailed the obstacles she had faced in obtaining an education as a young girl, though she did not speculate on the nature of the problem. during her lifetime the agitation for establishing women's access to higher education had grown. in 1875 the astronomer maria mitchell was told by a college president that he "would hire a woman scientist if she was as good as mary somerville".