Kate Marion Hall FLS FZS (August 1861 – 12 April 1918) was an English museum curator, educator and writer. As the curator of the Whitechapel Museum, Hall was the first professionally employed female curator in England.

Biography

Hall was born during August 1861 in Newmarket,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Her parents were the artist Harry Hall, most known for his drawings of animals, and his wife Ellen Hall (). Hall was raised in the countryside then was educated at Highfield School in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, where she was taught by Fanny Metcalfe. She then studied at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

from 1881, but did not graduate with a degree, as she "never succeeded in mastering

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

." From 1891, Hall lectured at the

Toynbee Hall Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affili ...

project, which provided free education programmes in the East End of London, as well as giving lectures and demonstrations to local school children as part of the Natural History Society. In 1905, Hall was one of the speakers in the

Horniman Museum The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and music ...

's series of public lectures, speaking on "The life of the honey bee", "The work of the honey bee", and "Trees". At this time, the Horniman Museum was the only museum in England that invited women to give lectures. As the curator of the Whitechapel Museum from 1894 to 1909, Hall became the first professionally employed female curator in England. She succeeded her mentor, the

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

, Alfred Vaughan Jennings. Hall also founded the Nature Study Museum in a disused chapel of

St George in the East St George-in-the-East is an Anglican Church dedicated to Saint George; located on Cannon Street Road, between The Highway and Cable Street, in the East End of London. Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original graveyard. Histor ...

church, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, in 1904. It received up to a thousand visitors a day during summer, held the "first municipal beehive," and aimed to educate local children about the natural world. In 1901, Hall presented a paper "The Smallest Museum" at the Edinburgh Conference of the

Museums Association The Museums Association (MA) is a professional membership organisation based in London for museum, gallery and heritage professionals and organisations of the United Kingdom. It also offers international membership. History The association w ...

. She was appointed a Fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

in 1905. Towards the end of her museum career, Hall published the book titled ''Nature Rambles in London,'' in 1908. Hall died on 12 April 1918 at New Place,

Lingfield Lingfield can refer to: * Lingfield, County Durham, England, a village * Lingfield, Surrey, England, a village ** Lingfield Park Racecourse ** Lingfield Cricket Club, prominent in the 18th century ** Lingfield railway station, serving the villag ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Biography

References

Further reading