Catherine Joyce Symons

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

JP (née Anderson; 18 August 1918 – 11 June 2004) was an educator, former teacher of the

Diocesan Girls' School Diocesan Girls' School (DGS) (), and Diocesan Girls’ Junior school, one of the oldest girls' schools in Hong Kong and a well known secondary and primary school in Kowloon, HK, was founded in 1860 by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church (Hong ...

the leading girls' school in Hong Kong and its headmistress for 32 years. She was also a Member of the Urban Council,

Hong Kong Legislative Council The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong' ...

, and the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It i ...

Biography

Joyce Anderson was born in Shanghai, China, daughter of Lucy Elanor Perry and Charles Graham (Carl) Anderson, and arrived in Hong Kong with her family at the age of 3. She began what was to become her lifelong involvement with the school in January 1926, when she joined the Diocesan Girls' School (DGS) as a student. After graduating from the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public university, public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest Higher education in Hong Kong, tertia ...

in 1939 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Geography, she joined DGS as a geography teacher. Symons became headmistress in 1953, and held that post until her retirement. Symons is credited with turning DGS into the leading girls' school it remains to this day: in particular pioneering all-round education to "''nurture broader minds, with music, dancing, sports of all kinds''". Symons caused furore in 1967 when she introduced

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduct ...

into the school, which was condemned as "evil heresy", and provoked rebellion among conservative parents and ridicule from the wider community. She was one of three women to be subject of the book ''Being Eurasian: Memories across Racial Divides'', which centred on the difficulties faced by Eurasians growing up in Hong Kong in the 1920s and 1930s. Symons was bestowed the title 'Justice of the Peace' (J.P.) by the Hong Kong Government in 1965, and was appointed OBE by

HM Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

1971. She was appointed to the

in 1972 through 1976, and the first woman appointed to serve on the

, in 1976. In 1977, she was appointed member of the oversight committee of the

Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong was established by Governor Sir Murray MacLehose on 15 February 1974, when Hong Kong was under British rule. Its main aim was to clean up endemic corruption in the many departme ...

. She was awarded an honorary

Doctorate of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (L ...

(LL.D) by the Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong in 1978.Hong Kong University Citation: Cathering Joyce Symons

, 1978 She retired in 1985, and published her memoirs entitled ''Looking at the stars: Memoirs of Catherine Joyce Symons''. She died in Surrey, England on 11 June 2004 at the age of 85.Obituaries
Milestones,

, 2004

Published works

Authored works

*''Looking at the stars: Memoirs of Catherine Joyce Symons'' (1996 Pegasus)

As featured subject

References

External links