Alice Ottley (23 March 1840 – 18 September 1912) was an English educator and the first head of what came to be called

The Alice Ottley School The Alice Ottley School was an independent all-girls' school in Worcester that existed under this name – referencing its first headmistress – between 1883 and 2007 before it merged with the Worcester Royal Grammar School. She had already res ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

Life

Ottley was born in 1840 at

Acton, Suffolk Acton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. The parish also includes the hamlets of Cuckoo Tye and Newman's Green. Etymology According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the name is "''Village by the Oaks''". History The ...

, where her father was the vicar. Her parents were Rev. Lawrence Ottley and Elizabeth Bickersteth Ottley. Her mother came from the prominent Bickersteth family, the eldest daughter of John Bickersteth, sometime

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Sapcote Sapcote is a small village in the south west of Leicestershire, England, in the Sparkenhoe Hundred. It has a population of approximately 3,260, measured at the 2021 census The well-known inland scuba diving site Stoney Cove is nearby. Histor ...

. Alice's uncles included Edward Bickersteth, the

Dean of Lichfield The Dean of Lichfield is the head (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons, the ruling body of Lichfield Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and ...

, and Robert Bickersteth,

Bishop of Ripon The Bishop of Ripon is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. The bishop is one of the area bishops of the Diocese of Leeds in the Province of York. The area bishop of Ripon has oversight of ...

. When she was about ten, her family moved to Yorkshire as her father became the rector at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

. Her father became the canon the following year and he and Elizabeth continued to have children. In 1854, she was amongst three of the daughters who were sent to a small school in London, but Alice was unhappy and she returned to Richmond. She cared for her younger brothers Henry Bickersteth Ottley, Edward Bickersteth Ottley,

Robert Lawrence Ottley Robert Lawrence Ottley (2 September 1856 – 1 February 1933) was an English theologian. Life He was the son of Lawrence Ottley, Canon of Ripon. He was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, and was educated by his sister Alice OttleyGillian Avery, 'Ot ...

and

Charles Ottley Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Langdale Ottley (8 February 1858 – 24 September 1932) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Director of Naval Intelligence. Life Ottley was born in 1858 to Lawrence and Elizabeth Ottley. His father was a canon in Ri ...

. In 1861 she was one of twelve children left when her father died. Her family moved back south where she and her mother took in pupils.Gillian Avery, ‘Ottley, Alice (1840–1912)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 21 January 2017
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was founded by Canon William Butler of Wantage and Ottley in 1883.Alice Ottley School
RGS, Retrieved 21 January 2017 Canon Butler had arrived in Worcester in 1881 and he founded a new school for girls. Ottley was recommended to Butler as the ideal candidate. The school opened on the 21 June 1883 with ten pupils. They were soon eleven and these became known as the "first brood". Ottley remained headmistress until 1912 when having interviewed her successor she retired.. Ottley died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 18 September 1912. In 1914 the school's name was changed in her honour. In 1957, the City of Worcester added its own, more lasting commemoration, in the form of a window in the cloisters of the cathedral. In 2007, the former Alice Ottley School merged with the boys' school and in 2009 it abandoned its name and became part of "RGS Worcester".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottley, Alice 1840 births 1912 deaths People from Babergh District Women school principals and headteachers Heads of schools in England Bickersteth family