Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth (22 June 1840 – 30 November 1932) was founding Principal of

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 ...

and she funded and founded

St Hugh's College 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 ...

. She was also an author, sometimes writing under the name Grant Lloyd.

Life

Grace Eyre with-Principal-and-Fellows-of-Lady-Margaret-hall-Oxford-scaled

Wordsworth was born in 1840 at

Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill or Harrow-on-the-Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) ...

and she was educated at home. She learned several modern languages as well as (self taught) Latin and Greek, though her knowledge of science and mathematics was meagre. She had a "persevering familiarity" with the

Greek testament (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek published by ''Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft'' (German Bible Society), forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical crit ...

, as well as the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

, which she read at the rate of fifty lines a day with the help of a Latin translation. Her mother was Susanna Hatley Frere and her father Christopher Wordsworth was a headmaster and later the Bishop of Lincoln. Her brothers were John Wordsworth,

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

, and Christopher Wordsworth, a liturgical scholar. She travelled on European family trips and she was brought up in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey and in Stanford in the Vale in Berkshire. She was the great-niece of the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

. She was the founding Principal of

in 1879 as a college for female undergraduates, on Norham Gardens in

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian architecture, Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the co ...

. She continued in this role until her retirement in 1909, when she was succeeded by Henrietta Jex-Blake. In 1886, she inherited some money from her father and founded

also in north Oxford as a college for poorer female undergraduates unable to afford the costs of Lady Margaret Hall. Today this is one of the largest colleges in 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 ...

. In 1896, she was one of the women who was called to give evidence to the Hebdomadal Council on the question of whether women should be awarded degrees at the

, making her one of the first women to appear before this council. She believed that women's education at Oxford should be as close to that of men as possible, although she did not believe in their being entered for University prizes, due to the risk of overstimulation. She received an honorary M.A. from Oxford in 1921, shortly after degrees were opened to women, and an honorary D.C.L. in 1928. She was a prolific author, writing poetry, plays, biographies and religious articles, as well as writing and lecturing on women's education. She published the novels ''Thornwell Abbas'', (two volumes, 1876) and ''Ebb and Flow'', (two volumes, 1883) under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

of ''Grant Lloyd''. She wrote a song "Good and Clever", which like her books came out of copyright in 2002.

Works include

*''Thornwell Abbas'', (two volumes, 1876) *''Ebb and Flow'', (two volumes, 1883) *''Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln, 1807-1885'', with John Henry Overton, (1888) *''William Wordsworth'', (1891)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wordsworth, Elizabeth 1840 births 1932 deaths English philanthropists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Harrow on the Hill Principals of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Elizabeth Founders of colleges of the University of Oxford

Life

Works include

See also

References

External links