Agnes Mary Field (24 February 1896 – 23 December 1968) was an English film producer and director, particularly associated with documentary, educational, and children's films.

Early life and education

Agnes Mary Field was born in

Wimbledon, Surrey Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

, on 24 February 1896, the second daughter of Evelyn Lucy Daniel and Ernest Field, a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

. She attended

Surbiton High School Surbiton High School is a private independent school in Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England. It has seven buildings overall including the Boys’ Preparatory School, Girls’ Preparatory School, the Se ...

and

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

. She earned an master of arts from the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

with a distinction in Commonwealth history.

Career

Field joined

British Instructional Films British Instructional Films was a British film production company which operated between 1919 and 1932. The company's name is often abbreviated to BIF. The company released a number of feature films during the late silent and early sound eras, d ...

in 1926, as its education manager. She went on to work for the

Gaumont Film Company The Gaumont Film Company (, ), often shortened to Gaumont, is a French film studio headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in ...

. In 1928, she took over from

F. Percy Smith Frank Percy Smith (12 January 1880–24 March 1945) was a British naturalist and early nature documentary pioneer, who explored time-lapse photography, microphotography, microcinematography, and animation. Biography Percy Smith was the son ...

and writing, directing, and editing the '' Secrets of Nature'' , a short black-and-white

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

series, consisting of 144 films produced by British Instructional Films, with titles including "The Private Life of a Gull", "Plants of the Underworld", and "Mighty Atoms". She traveled to the

Farne Islands The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. The group has between 15 and 20 islands depending on the level of the tide.

to film birds, and made another film at the

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...

. The timing of her career meant that she was one of the first British women to be an established, professional film director and producer, and she oversaw the transition to sound in instructional films. In 1944, she created and became executive producer of the Children's Film Division of

J. Arthur Rank Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation. Family business Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...

, remaining until the division closed in 1950. She worked on children's matinées, undertook advisory work, toured the commonwealth in 1954, and was a consultant for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's Centre of Films for Children. In 1950, she visited Australia for six weeks, on a lecture tour sponsored by the Victorian Council for Children's Films and Television. She returned to Australian in 1954. In 1956, she wrote an article, "Children's Taste in Films", for the ''Quarterly of Film Radio and Television.'' She was billed as "the western world's foremost authority on films and television for children" when she toured Canada for four weeks in 1960. She was made a

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 ...

in 1951. In 1954, she was awarded an OBE for her services to educational and children's film. From 1950, she served on the British Board of Film Censors.

Personal life

Field was a

Soroptimist Soroptimist International (SI) is a global volunteer service organization for women with nearly 72,000 members in 121 countries worldwide. According to Soroptimist.org, their mission statement says that, "Soroptimist is a global volunteer organiza ...

and a founder member of SI Greater London Club, which was chartered in 1923. She was married to Gerald Hankin, a

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

official. She died in 1968, aged 72 years, in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

Publications

*''Secrets of Nature, Etc. n the Making of Natural-history Films. With Plates.' (Faber & Faber 1934). Co-authored with Percy John Delf Smith. *''Good Company: The story of the children’s entertainment movement in Great Britain 1943 - 1950'' (Longmans Green, 1952).

References

External links

* * *
Brewster's Magic
' (1933) and
Amazing Maize
' (1933), some of the ''Secrets of Nature'' films written by Mary Field. {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Agnes Mary 1896 births 1968 deaths British women film producers Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Bedford College, London English film directors English film producers Members of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Surbiton High School 20th-century English businesspeople