Florence Emily Green (12 April 1862 – 5 April 1926) was an Australian headmistress. She was the founding headmistress at the

New England Girls' School New England Girls' School (NEGS) is an independent Anglican school. Located in Armidale, Northern NSW, NEGS provides an educational experience for both boys and girls in Junior School and a tailored learning environment for young women in Senio ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Life

Green was born in 1862 in

Oamaru Oamaru (; ) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast; State Highway 1 (New Zealand), Sta ...

, New Zealand. Her parents were Eliza Green (née Dutton) and her husband, the Reverend Samuel Dutton Green. Her elder brother

Arthur Vincent Green Arthur Vincent Green (12 May 1857 – 24 September 1944) was an Anglican bishop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who founded two theological colleges. Life Green was born in Albury, Surrey on 12 May 1857. His parents were Eliza (born Du ...

had been born in 1857. They were brought up in Adelaide, Wales and Scotland. Her younger brother was educated at

Trinity College, Melbourne Trinity College is the oldest residential college of the University of Melbourne, the first university in the colony of Victoria, Australia. The college was opened in 1872 on a site granted to the Church of England by the government of Victor ...

and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1880, but she was educated at home and at a private school in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. She then attended the

Australian College of Theology The Australian University of Theology (AUT), formerly known as the Australian College of Theology (ACT), is an Collegiate university, collegiate Theology, theological university based in Sydney, New South Wales. The university delivers awards i ...

where she achieved first-class honours. Green paid for the education of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson. In Richardson's

coming of age novel In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

, ''

The Getting of Wisdom ''The Getting of Wisdom'' is a novel by Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. It was first published in 1910, and has almost always been in print ever since. Author Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindesa ...

'', written under the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson, Green was depicted as Miss Isabella, and Arthur as her brother, the Rev Mr Shepherd. Richardson is said to have described Green "maliciously but accurately". Miss Green and her pony in 1898

Green was a serial founder of schools for girls. She was the founding headmistress of the

in 1895. Another sister, Agnes, was a religious in the

Community of St. Denys The Community of St Denys (CSD) was an Anglican religious order of nuns founded in 1879, under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Salisbury of the Church of England. The community was established to engage in domestic and foreign missionary work ...

Warminster Warminster () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021. The name ''Warminster'' occurs first i ...

. After going overseas in 1908, Green returned to Australia in 1910, becoming the temporary head of the new

Firbank Girls' Grammar School Firbank Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school, situated in the suburb of Brighton, in the Bayside area of Melbourne, Australia. Established on 26 April 1909, by the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Henry Lowther ...

. She was unwell and she stepped down in the following year.

Death and legacy

Green died in 1926 in

Murrumbeena Murrumbeena ( ) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Murrumbeena recorded a population of 9,996 at the 2021 ce ...

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. In 1927, the foundation stone of the Florence Green Memorial Chapel at New England Girls' School was laid. It was opened by John Moyes, the Bishop of Armidale, on 29 September 1936. Its external walls are of blue brick and its internals are of oak.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Florence 1862 births 1926 deaths People from Oamaru Women school principals and headteachers