Janet Ruth Bacon (26 October 1891 – 25 January 1965)''BACON, Janet Ruth'', "Who Was Who", A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007; accessed 1 June 2012
/ref> was Principal of

Royal Holloway College, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

from 1935 to 1944.

Early life and education

Bacon was born on 26 October 1891 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, Oxfordshire, the daughter of a barrister. She was educated at Oxford High School, a

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in the city. She studied the

Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previously studied L ...

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, sitting Part I in 1915 and Part II in 1916: women were not allowed to graduate from the University of Cambridge with degrees until 1948.

Career

She first taught at

King Edward VI High School for Girls King Edward VI High School for Girls ''(KEHS)'' () is an independent secondary school in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was founded in 1883. It is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and occupies the sam ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. She then was a lecturer in classics at

from 1919, and Director of Studies in classics there from 1925 to 1935. In 1925, she published ''The Voyage of the Argonauts'', an authority on the subject. She was appointed as Principal of Royal Holloway College unanimously by the governors as successor to Ellen Charlotte Higgins. The 50th anniversary of the college opening was celebrated in her tenure with a visit from Queen Mary. This was in 1937 as

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

had died in 1936 the anniversary year, a year of royal mourning. During the 1940s she was instrumental in protecting Royal Holloway's Victorian

art collection A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, repla ...

, donated by founder

Thomas Holloway : Thomas Holloway (22 September 180026 December 1883) was an English patent medicine vendor and philanthropist. Early life Holloway was born in Devonport, Plymouth, Devon, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary Holloway (née Chellew), who at the ...

. As principal, she opposed the recommendation of a college committee that wanted to dispose of or give away much of the collection, at a time when

Victorian art The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms ...

was considered of poor quality. She was principal during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when part of the college was occupied by the women's

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Officer Cadets' Training Unit (OCTU). The stress of war-time forced her to resign on the grounds of ill-health but it was clear that she understood she had failed. One of her last responsibilities was as a member of the Post-War Policy Committee of the college. She disagreed with the majority on the committee and her failure to convince her colleagues added to her sense of failure as principal. One of the proposals agreed was an intention for Royal Holloway College to become co-educational. This later began in 1945 with the admission of men postgraduates and then in 1965 with male undergraduates. She was succeeded in the last year of war by Miss

Fanny Street Fanny Street (21 November 1877, Wilton, Wiltshire - 20 March 1962, Hindhead, Surrey) was Acting Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London (RHC) in 1944-1945. Her brother was Arthur George Street author of ''Farmer's Glory''. Ed ...

as Acting Principal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Janet Ruth 1891 births 1965 deaths People associated with Royal Holloway, University of London People educated at Oxford High School, England Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge

Early life and education

Career

See also

References