Chapter I: Front Matter

FROM A PAINTING BY J. J. SHANNON

_Frontispiece_]

PIONEERS OF PROGRESS
WOMEN

EDITED BY ETHEL M. BARTON

DOROTHEA BEALE

PRINCIPAL OF THE CHELTENHAM LADIES’
COLLEGE

1858-1906

_WITH TWO PORTRAITS_

BY
ELIZABETH H. SHILLITO, B.A. (LOND.)

LONDON
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920

“Some there are who go forth to their own life-work with the holy hands of the dead who live laid on their hearts, who feel that they have a debt to repay, who see a ray of life from afar cast upon all they do, and bear about for ever a light within, which they must pass on for the sake of the dead who live.”

EDWARD THRING.

Great Souls who sail uncharted seas,
Battling with hostile winds and tide,--
Strong hands that forged forbidden keys,
And left the door behind them wide.

Diggers for gold where most had failed,
Smiling at deeds that brought them Fame,--
Lighters of lamps that have not failed--
Lend us your oil, and share your flame.

TO

DR. ELSIE MAUD INGLIS

WHOSE CRIMEA WAS SERBIA,

BUT WHOSE POST-WAR WORK
IS IN ANOTHER WORLD

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Discoveries and enterprises of the Nineteenth Century--Effect on the
educational world--Girls’ education in age of Elizabeth and in
Nineteenth Century--Protests against the latter--Pioneers of
higher education--Our indebtedness to them 1

CHAPTER II.

Dorothea Beale--Parentage--Mrs. Cornwallis and her daughter--Their
influence on Dorothea Beale--Home life--Early education--School
life--Time of self-education--Attitude to games--Reading
in early life--Euclid--School in France--Some personal
characteristics--Religious and other influences of home 4

CHAPTER III.

History of Queen’s College--Early students--Rev. F. D. Maurice--His
opening address--Dorothea Beale’s attitude to teaching--Study
and friendship at Queen’s College--Appointment
there--Difficulties--Resignation--Impetuosity of nature--Some
inherent difficulties of women’s life 10

CHAPTER IV.

Clergy Daughters’ School at Casterton--Hasty acceptance of post
there--Beautiful situation of school--Evils--Personal
difficulties--Mr. Beale’s letters--Dorothea Beale’s dress and
appearance--Thoughts of resignation--Father’s advice--Appeal to
committee--Suspicions of High Church tendencies--Determination
to resign--Notice from committee--Acknowledged indebtedness
to the school--Appreciation--Work at home--History of England
begun--Spartan habits--Some philanthropic work--Offer
of service--Dawning conviction of real vocation--Her diary
begun--Extracts--Time of waiting--Religious life and beliefs 16

CHAPTER V.

Cheltenham Ladies’ College--Early history--The first
Principals--Advertisement for new Principal--Dorothea Beale
candidate--Tributes to character and ability--Alleged High Church
tendencies--Declaration of belief--Time of anxiety--Appointment as
Principal--Work at Ladies’ College--Personal appearance at this
time--Rule of silence--Precarious financial position of
school--Practice of economy--Question of renewing lease of Cambray
House--Mr. Brancker--His wise policy and administration--Some
reminiscences--The Fight against ignorance and prejudice--Dorothea
Beale’s inspiring leadership 27

CHAPTER VI.

Blue Book Report on condition of girls’ education--Dorothea Beale’s
evidence and theories with regard to women as teachers; effects
of higher education on health; idleness and health; the teaching
of music--Modern ideas on the teaching of this subject 38

CHAPTER VII.

Rearrangement of school hours at the Ladies’ College--Opposition
met and overcome--Gradual breaking down of prejudice--Gossip
and disloyalty--Dorothea Beale’s gift of inspiring
loyalty--Miss Belcher--Death of Dorothea Beale’s father--How
she spent holidays--Singleness of aim--Idea of Sisterhood of
Teachers--Expansion of Cheltenham College--Opposition to a
new building--Dr. Jex Blake’s plea--Farewell to Cambray
House--Continued growth--College incorporated under Companies’
Acts--Boarding houses made an intrinsic part of
College--Defining of Principal’s powers--Cambray House again 43

CHAPTER VIII.

Cheltenham College magazine started--Dorothea Beale, editor--Her
“silver wedding”--“Old Girls’” Gift--Scheme of Guild
put forward and carried out--Emblem--Opening address--Dorothea
Beale’s remembrance of former pupils--Miss Newman’s
work--Continued after her death--St. Hilda’s, Oxford--St.
Hilda’s, East London--Dorothea Beale’s attitude to charitable
enterprises 51

CHAPTER IX.

A time of darkness--Effect on outlook and character--Some general
interests--Freshness of outlook--Pundita Ramabai--Interest in
Indian widows--Women policemen--Balfour’s Education Act,
1902--Attitude to prizes--John Ruskin and the Ladies’ College--Paris
Exhibitions--Another Royal Commission on Education--Visits
of Empress Frederick and Princess Henry of Battenberg
to College--Epidemic of smallpox--Dorothea Beale and
vaccination--Personal honours--Officier d’Académie Française, Tutor
in Letters of Durham University, Corresponding member of
National Education Association, U.S.A., Freedom of Borough
of Cheltenham, LL.D. Edinburgh--Robes presented by staff--Three
weeks’ tour--A brief interval of ill-health--Story of the
Shannon portrait--College Jubilee celebrations 58

CHAPTER X.

Greatness of personality--Varied gifts--Prodigious power of
work--Great organising capacity--Organisation of the Ladies’
College--Advice to teachers--Her sense of humour--The tricycle learnt
at 67--Her extreme sensitiveness--Power of sympathy--Her
outlook that of a religious poet--Her Scripture lessons--Her
views on marriage--Tribute of the Bishop of Stepney 70

CHAPTER XI.

Signs of the end--The last Guild meeting--The last term--A journey
to London--The doctor’s verdict--Operation--Waiting the call--A
morning of suspense--Laid to rest--Tributes to her
character and work 75

CHAPTER XII.

The modern world--The need of work--Power of education--Supreme
importance of home training--Responsibility of parents--Teaching
as a vocation--Personal fitness--Different kinds of
teaching--Elementary schools--Boarding schools--Demands of
the work--Its joys and advantages--The need of devoted teachers 79