Christian Edington Guthrie Wright (19 April 1844 – 24 February 1907) was a Scottish campaigner for women's higher education, co-founder of the Edinburgh School of Cookery which was the forerunner to

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a public university located wholly within the county of East Lothian on the outskirts of Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093). The university can trace its ...

Early life

Christian Edington Guthrie Wright was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, and raised by her father, Harry Guthrie Wright, after her mother Christian Edington died soon after giving birth. Her father worked for a railway company. The two Wrights moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

together when Christian was a young woman.Tom Begg
"Christian Edington Guthrie Wright"
in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press 2004).

Career

Christian Guthrie Wright was a founder of the Ladies' Edinburgh Debating Society, and an officer of the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women. With support from the women in their reform-minded circle (notably

Flora Stevenson Flora Clift Stevenson (30 October 1839 – 28 September 1905) was a British social reformer with a special interest in education for poor or neglected children, and in education for girls and equal university access for women. She was one of ...

),Sarah Richardson
''The Political Worlds of Women: Gender and Politics in Nineteenth Century Britain''
(Routledge 2013): 51-52. she and

Louisa Stevenson Louisa Stevenson (15 July 1835 – 13 May 1908) was a Scottish campaigner for women's university education, women's suffrage and effective, well-organised nursing. She was the co-founder of Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University. Family S ...

(Flora's sister) founded the Edinburgh School of Cookery in 1875. The school gave public lectures and demonstrations, about nutrition and hygiene, and trained young women to cook in homes, and in institutional settings like hospitals and schools, improving the possibilities for expertise and paid employment for working-class Scottish women. In 1876, similar schools in Liverpool, Leeds, and Glasgow (founded by Grace Paterson, joined with Guthrie Wright's school to standardize instruction as the Northern Union of Training Schools of Cookery. The Edinburgh school left the coalition in 1878. Guthrie Wright presented a paper at the Domestic Economy Congress in Birmingham, 1877, organized by the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. In 1879 Guthrie Wright compiled and edited the ''School Cookery Book'', a compilation of basic, nutritious, and economical recipes aimed at school students. In 1887 she was involved in creating and funding the Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, an early training program focused on home care.

Death and legacy

Guthrie Wright died in 1907, aged 62 years. Ethel Maud De la Cour, was promoted to Principal of the cookery school which went on to define

Domestic Science Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

teaching for Scotland. In 1930, Guthrie Wright's school became the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science. In 1972 the name changed again, to Queen Margaret College (now

). There is a Historic Scotland plaque on the site of the school's Atholl Crescent location, naming Stevenson and Guthrie Wright as the school's co-founders. One of Christian Guthrie Wright's cottages in the

Colinton Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated southwest of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-w ...

suburb of Edinburgh, designed by Sir

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

in 1896, still stands on Pentland Avenue, and is a point of interest on the walking tour of the parish.Colinton Local History Society
"Walks around the Parish of Colinton"
pamphlet.

References

External links

*Wright'
School Cookery Book
from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie Wright, Christian 1844 births 1907 deaths Writers from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish educators 19th-century Scottish women writers British cookbook writers British women food writers 19th-century Scottish women educators