Annie Mary Anne Henley Rogers (15 February 1856 – 28 October 1937) was a British promoter of

women's education Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

. She had an offer of a university place at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

withdrawn when it was realised that the candidate was female.Annie Rogers. Retrieved 13 November 2019
/ref> She proved that she was capable of achieving first-class Oxford University degrees but could not receive a formal degree until 1920. Her work as a home tutor for women students led to her being recognised as a founder of

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

. She wrote a history of the admission of women to Oxford University and its degrees, which was published posthumously.

Life

Annie Rogers plus Mary Jackson by Lewis Carroll

Rogers was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

James Edwin Thorold Rogers James Edwin Thorold Rogers (23 March 1823 – 14 October 1890), known as Thorold Rogers, was an English economist, historian and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1886. He deployed historical and statistical method ...

and his second wife, Ann Susannah Charlotte (). Her father was a campaigner for women's rights and later a Liberal MP. She was the eldest of six children and the only girl. Both her parents supported her academic interests, and it is likely that she was taught ancient languages by her father. They were also personally close; Rogers lived with her mother in a house in St Giles until her mother's death in 1899, when she moved to Museum Road. She had been a child model for

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

in 1863. Carroll took pictures of her in costume and wrote a poem which he sent with a photograph. The poem read :::A picture, which I hope will :::B one that you will like to :::C. If your Mamma should :::D sire one like it, I could :::E sily get her one. Rogers came top in the Oxford school examinations in 1873 and was automatically qualified for an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

at Balliol or

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

. The offer of a university place was withdrawn when it was realised that she was female. However, according to her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article, her identity was known and the offer was made as a joke. As a consolation prize Balliol gave her volumes of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and her place was given to the boy who had come sixth in the tests. Rogers was able to sit examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level in 1877 and 1879, giving her the equivalent of first-class marks in Latin and Greek and in Ancient History respectively. She was not formally awarded an Oxford degree until 1920 when women became eligible for admission as full members of the university and were given the right to take degrees. In 1879, with the opening of

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

and

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formally known under ...

, Oxford University opened its first halls for women students and Rogers, as the only woman with the equivalent of an Oxford University degree became a don (lecturer). In 1881 she became a Senior Tutor in

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 ...

. Rogers joined the Association for the Education of Women in Oxford upon its formation in 1879. She was a stalwart member of the Association Committee, attending all but four committee meetings between 1879 and 1920, and eventually becoming the committee's Honorary Secretary after 1894.

Vera Brittain Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...

praises her work on the committee as demonstrating her to be a "natural tactician." She is also credited with overseeing the end of the ascendancy of the AEW over the women's colleges, which gained in independence as a result. In 1893, she was teaching Latin at Oxford High School. During the controversy in 1896 over whether women should be awarded degrees at Oxford, she was one of the first women to give evidence before the

Hebdomadal Council The Hebdomadal Council was the chief executive body for the University of Oxford from its establishment by the Oxford University Act 1854 until its replacement, in the Michaelmas term of 2000, by the new University Council. Chaired by the Vice- ...

on whether their exclusion from degrees had limited women's prospects in tuition. In 1897, she wrote a paper titled "The position of women at Oxford and Cambridge" which set out a case for improved funding for women's education. The paper inspired

Clara Mordan Clara Evelyn Mordan (28 September 1844 – 22 January 1915) was a British suffragist and benefactor to the Women's Social and Political Union and St Hugh's College, Oxford. Tuberculosis obliged her to fight for women's rights by supporting milit ...

who in time would fund the new buildings of

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

. Rogers remained a tutor at St Hugh's until 1921, when she resigned this position. Notably she became secretary of the Society of Oxford Home-Students which would, in 1952, become

. She was a talented tutor to the women who were studying

at home and she is acknowledged as one of the founders of St Anne's College. A half-serious reference at the time of the college's being named 'St Anne's' suggested that it had been named partly after her. Rogers died in the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...

, Oxford in 1937 after being struck by a lorry in St Giles'. She was buried in

Wolvercote Cemetery Wolvercote Cemetery is a cemetery in the parish of Wolvercote and district of Cutteslowe in Oxford, England. Its main entrance is on Banbury Road and it has a side entrance in Five Mile Drive. It has a funeral chapel, public toilets and a small a ...

, Oxford, on 1 November. In her memory a garden was laid out to the north of the

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Anglican church in Oxford situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost excl ...

, and a stone bench there bears an inscription in her memory. A blue plaque was erected in her memory at her home at 35 St Giles' on 23 September 2020. Her book ''Degrees by Degrees'' was published in 1938; it is subtitled "The Story of the Admission of Oxford Women Students to Membership of the University".

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Annie 1856 births 1937 deaths Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford British women classical scholars