Women's Education in Oxford

In September 2017, we looked at the theme of women's education in Oxford, and here are some of the things we've found out.

Primary education for girls in Oxford has a long and fascinating history. One of the earliest girls' schools was the Blue Coat School for Girls, founded in 1756. It was a "Charity School for the better Education of Poor Girls within the Precincts of the University and City of Oxford". Perhaps not our vision of liberating education as the school aimed to train girls aged 11-14 for domestic service; but they were taught many skills they would not have otherwise had, such as reading, writing and arithmetic (in addition to knitting, sewing and spinning cotton!) Then again, "Between 1806 and 1848 the girls were forbidden to learn to write, the subscribers in 1806 '... thinking it is no consequence for the Girls to learn to write ...'!" The school closed in 1904, as by that point there were many more elementary schools for girls in Oxford.

In the 18th century, quite a few schools existed. According to the 'History of the County of Oxford':

"John Salman (d. 1714), Fellow of Oriel College and rector of St. Peter-leBailey, 'a Whig of little or no parts', was said to have paid for girls at a school called Salman's Charity school. Records of charity schools in Oxford at the time do not mention Salman as a benefactor, but in 1710 a charity school for 90 children, mostly girls, in St. Michael's parish was being maintained by members of the university. By 1713 the school had 60 pupils and by 1714 had moved to the parish of St. Peter-leBailey; the girls were taught to write and to spin their own cloth, and attended church twice daily. The school appears to have been short-lived. Alworth's school was founded by Ann Alworth who, by will dated 1721, left £400 for a school in St. Michael's parish. A master was to teach 10 poor Church of England children of each sex reading, writing, and the catechism. For many years the school was carried on in leased premises in Ship Street or in the school-master's own house; about 1838 the latter was in Clarendon Street. By then only boys were taught and the legacy was held by Lincoln College which paid a fixed salary of £14 a year. In 1818 an extra £6 a year was being raised by subscription to augment the schoolmaster's income, and grants of £15 or £10 were made by St. Michael's vestry from time to time. In 1858, when a trust was formed to carry on the charity more in accordance with the founder's wishes, Lincoln College proposed to hand back only the £400 it had originally received. By 1868 the school had returned to its original location in Ship Street and was once again mixed. In 1876 a new school was built in New Inn Hall Street with the help of a grant from the university. There were then only 23 children, and by 1886 the school had closed. The trust funds were later used for the education of choristers at St. Michael's and to hire the 'Ann Alworth room' in the church, used for educational purposes by the young people of the parish."

Notice how Ann Alworth's original will was ignored for a while in the 19th century, so that only boys's education was paid for!

The Anniversary Meeting of the Charity Children in the Cathedral of St. Paul, 1826 [By Robert Havell, source: Wiki Commons]

In the 19th century, several schools for girls were in existence, with different social, educational and religious profiles. St Denys School, or a 'Middle Class Day School for Girls', was founded in 1857 by Sister Marian Rebecca Hughes, with the aim of providing education to 'the daughters of College servants and small tradesmen', and a particular reference to giving the children 'a high-principled moral tone'.

A very different kind of establishment was Wychwood School, started in 1897 by two friends, Miss A.S. Batty and Miss M.L.Lee. As University dons started sending their girls to the school, and as a highly unusual method of running the school was introduced – where all decisions were made by the cooperative School Council made up of pupils and staff – the school became known across the country. The ‘unwritten tradition’ as much as the written constitution promoted individuality over conformity and 'ruling by kindness and understanding’ rather than by fear of authority. The 1970 prospectus stated one of the most important aims of the school was ‘to lead the child to think independently instead of being a passive recipient of instruction’. (The school still exists today and is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year.)

Drawing of the first location of the Oxford High School, taken from a privately published history of the school, 'Oxford High School 1875-1960', ed. by V E Stack

Oxford High School was founded in 1875 as the 9th school opened by the Girls' Day School Trust which aimed to provide better girls' education across Britain. During its early years, tutors included local academic celebrities such as Annie Rogers or Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). The School was unusual in that it admitted pupils of various social backgrounds at a time when class segregation in schools was common. Even this approach had its limits; according to one old pupil, "our little world of the Upper Third reflected faithfully the people of Oxford, apart from the very poor. I doubt if we knew what all the parents did but among them were certainly a parson, a baker, a doctor, a printer, a dentist, a stationer, a don, an estate agent, a lawyer, a builder, and the governor of HM Prison." The school is still in existence today, and its past pupils include numerous well-known figures, including Dame Maggie Smith, Mel Giedroyc, Emma Bridgewater, Cressida Dick, Harriet Hunt, Elizabeth Jennings, and more.

Finally, Oxford Central Girls’ School, founded in the late 18th century, was originally a privately run, paid, undenominational school for ‘pauper’ (poor) girls; by the 1950s, it had become a council-run, free, selective grammar school. Its history is in a way a good case study for the history of girls’ education in Britain. In the early 19th century, the main goal was to give poorer girls skills useful in ‘that station in life in which they are likely to be placed’; by the 1920s, the school’s motto was ‘self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control – these three alone lead to sovereign power’. The school’s long-term headmistress, Miss Chadwick (1907-43), was described by one former pupil as ‘one of Oxford’s great headmistresses, and a pioeer of education. Her concept of education was (…) to make her pupils live life to the full whatever their calling might be”.

Central Girls' School, by Hervey Rutherford in 1900, as published in The Builder of 18 May 1901

Women were excluded from university education in our University-dominated city for a very long time. In 1866, Eleanor Smith established a short-lived scheme of lectures for women, which was followed in 1873 by another similar scheme, this time under the leadership of a group of women related to University professors and tutors living in North Oxford. These were the first steps in a long process which decades later resulted in women being admitted to the membership of the University of Oxford. It took many years of hard work by members of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women to finally earn women the right to matriculate and graduate from the University of Oxford: it was only granted in 1920. The Association was run by a group of well-known, high power, dedicated promoters of women's education such as Annie Rogers or Mrs T.H. Green, who were also involved with girls' education in Oxford.

Oxford Brookes seems to have a slightly more equitable origin: it started its life as the Oxford School of Art in 1865, and over the years absorbed many other schools and colleges, many of which included women as their founders, staff and students. Of course, most of the leadership positions were occupied by men, and classes were segregated by gender for many years. This meant that for example fewer drawing and painting classes were offered to women than to men, while the fee was higher for the same courses.

This short post is of course only scratching the surface of this broad and complex topic, and we will revisit this theme again in future! If you'd like to get involved or have interesting research to share, do get in touch with us.