Rhubarb 2017

20 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

The Female Influence at St Edward’s prior to Co-Education

By Archivist Chris Nathan (G, 1954-1957)

In the Michaelmas Term of 1982, the School’s first female pupil, Penelope Brown (née Burke) (E, 1982-1984) joined her brother Richard Burke-Ward (G, 1977- 1982). Today, girls account for 40% of pupils. Right from the School’s earliest days there were a few, but significant, women whose impact on the life of St Edward’s was not only highly influential, but who also probably have never received the credit they deserved. The early pupils at the School seldom saw a woman of any kind in term time except for the nursing staff and the ‘Annies’ who served in the Dining Hall (the male servants were called ‘Johns’) and provided domestic service to the dormitories. These women were so well protected they were not allowed to cross the Quad, and though there might have been the odd furtive glance in their direction, did not provide any female distraction of any kind.

Through the School’s early history there were several married couples working at the same time, the Mutters, the Cherrys, the Bowermans, the Neales and the Barnes all provided long and invaluable service. A later teaching couple were Chris and Mo Ruscombe-King, both pottery teachers during the1960s and 1970s. Mo left memories of the difficulties facing female staff members who had no access to either toilet or refreshment facilities; she was, however, eventually offered the chance to take tea in the Common Room by Stanley Tackley, the President at that time! Despite these privations Mo ‘was very much part of the fabric of the School in those years taking part in plays and musicals in the early days of girls on stage’ (Malcolm Oxley). To a few pupils at the time of the Great War the name of Mrs Dore was never to be forgotten. The mother of an OSE, William Dore (E, 1907-1914), killed on the Somme in September 1916, she not only helped nurse the School victims of the widespread Spanish Influenza in 1918 but also offered,

Few of the early teachers, and particularly Set Tutors and later House Masters, were married men and those who were usually lived off site and their wives did not take part in School life on a regular basis. Wardens Simeon and Hudson were exceptions to the rule, with their spouses not only being visible and approachable but also held in high esteem by the boys. Female secretarial and clerical staff were in a minority over many years, often considered rather fiercely protective of their employers and as a result tended to be held at arm’s length and to be avoided if possible. A very early stalwart was Mrs Bursey, the wife of Warden Simeon’s Coachman, first appointed as the School Nurse, she also supervised young female servants whilst managing the Lodge. She was later the Warden Simeon’s Housekeeper, giving invaluable service to the School for 29 years until 1903.

A R C H I V E S

A group of House Nurses in the 1950s. Left to right: Mrs Nankinvel (Segar’s and Cowell’s 1940-1949), Sister McIntyre (Apsley and Sing’s 1950-1954), K. George (Macnamara’s and Tilly’s 1950-1960), and Kay Puxley (Segar’s and Cowell’s 1949-1970).