Alice Louisa Theodora Zimmern (22 September 1855 – 22 March 1939) was an English writer, translator and suffragist. Her books made a significant contribution to debate on the education and rights of women.

Early years and education

Zimmern was born at Postern Street,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, the youngest of three daughters of the lace merchant Hermann Theodore Zimmern, a German Jewish immigrant, and his wife Antonia Marie Therese Regina Zimmern, ''née'' Leo, sister of Carl Leo, a syndic of Hamburg. DNB entry: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38621 Retrieved 25 March 2011. Subscription required./ref> Alice collaborated with her elder sister

Helen Zimmern Helen Zimmern (25 March 1846 – 11 January 1934) was a naturalised British writer and translator born in Germany. She was instrumental in making European culture more accessible in English. Biography Zimmern and her parents emigrated in 1850 t ...

on two volumes of translated excerpts from European novels (1880 and 1884). The scholar and political scientist

Alfred Eckhard Zimmern Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (26 January 1879 – 24 November 1957) was an English classical scholar, historian, and political scientist writing on international relations. A British policymaker during World War I and a prominent liberal thinker, ...

was a cousin of hers. Alice Zimmern was educated at a private school and at

Bedford College, London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advancement of women in highe ...

, before entering

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the un ...

in 1881 to read

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. She and Janet Case organized a society for classical drama that performed a 1883 college production of ''Elektra'', "breaking down", as

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

noted, "the tradition that only men acted in the Greek play." Zimmern left Girton in 1885 with honours in both parts of the Cambridge classical tripos. In 1888–1894, she taught Classics at English girls' schools, including Tunbridge Wells High School (1888–1891).

Career

While teaching, Zimmern produced a school edition of the ''

Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161–180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Composition Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' i ...

'' of

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

in 1887, a translation of Hugo Bluemner's ''The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks'' (1893), and a translation of ''

Porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

: The Philosopher to his Wife Marcella'' (1896). She later wrote children's books on ancient Greece (''Greek History for Young Readers'', 1895, ''Old Tales from Greece'', 1897) and Rome (''Old Tales from Rome'', 1906), all of which were reprinted several times. ''Greek History for Young Readers'' was still being praised in the ''Parents' Review'' six years later. In 1893, she and four other women were awarded Gilchrist scholarships to study the US education system. They were: Miss A. Bramwell, B.Sc., Lecturer at the Cambridge Training College; Miss S. A. Burstall, B.A., Mistress at the North London Collegiate School for Girls; Miss H. M. Hughes, Lecturer on Education at University College, Cardiff; Miss Mary Hannah Page, Head Mistress of the Skinners Company's School for Girls, Stamford Hill. Each woman received £100 to pursue their studies in the US for two months. This resulted in her book ''Methods of Education in America'' (1894), in which she praised the articulacy of American school students and their enthusiasm for classic English literature, but noted that their written work and their textbooks were of a poor standard and the teaching of American history ludicrously patriotic. Zimmern ceased to teach in schools in 1894, but continued to tutor private students in Classics. She regularly wrote journal articles on comparative education and the education of women. Her book ''Women's Suffrage in Many Lands'' (1909) appeared to coincide with the Fourth Congress of the

International Women's Suffrage Alliance The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an International non-governmental organization, international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international o ...

. This book and ''The Renaissance of Girls' Education'' (1898) made big contributions to the debate on the education and rights of women in Zimmern's time. In the former she noted an "intimate... connexion between enfranchisement and the just treatment of women." While most of her arguments are moderate and pragmatic, she acknowledges the militant tactics of British suffragettes as effective in making women's suffrage "the question of the day". Much of Zimmern's research was done in the

British Museum Reading Room The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. In 1997, this function moved to the new British Library building at St Pancras, London, ...

, where she associated with suffragists and Fabians such as Edith Bland,

Eleanor Marx Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a Socialism, socialist activist who sometimes ...

, and Beatrice Potter. Other works by Zimmern include ''Demand and Achievement. The International Women's Suffrage Movement'' (1912), a translation of Paul Kajus von Hoesbroech's ''Fourteen Years a Jesuit'' (1911), and ''Gods and Heroes of the North'' (1907). Resident in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in her later years, Zimmern was limited in her capacity to travel in the last decades of her life, although she remained interested in the rights of women and in pacifism, and continued to entertain many visitors from abroad. Her last work was a translation of ''The Origins of the War'' (1917) by

Take Ionescu Take or Tache Ionescu (; born Dumitru Ghiță Ioan and also known as Demetriu G. Ionnescu; – 21 June 1922) was a Romanian Centrism, centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Sta ...

. She was unmarried and died at her home, 45 Clevedon Mansions, Highgate Road, London, on 22 March 1939. She was buried at Abney Park Cemetery. She left £150 to Girton College to establish the Alice Zimmern Memorial Prize in Classics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmern, Alice 1855 births 1939 deaths 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 20th-century British women writers 20th-century English translators Translators to English English Jews English people of German-Jewish descent English suffragists British women activists Jewish suffragists People from Nottingham Alumni of Bedford College, London Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge 19th-century English translators