[scapp]

M.A. was the highest degree available in the UK at the time [1]. The closest equivalent to a PhD program might be the Prize Fellowship that Hardy had from 1900 to 1906, though it's certainly not one to one. Don't get the impression that Hardy was done with his education when he got his masters degree.

[1] https://www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/Doc1.htm

[2] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1949.000...

[OldGuyInTheClub]

Interesting. The Wikipedia page for his contemporary Littlewood lists a Doctoral Advisor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edensor_Littlewood

Edit: The Mathematics Genealogy Project lists Littlewood as an M.A. as well.

https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=10463