Fanny Louise Calder (26 March 1838 – 6 June 1923) was a promoter of education in domestic subjects in Liverpool, England. The college that she created would in time become part of

Liverpool John Moores University , mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold , established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University , type = Public , endowment = , coor ...

Life

Calder was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 1838 to James and Jane Calder. Her father bought and sold cotton, and he had lived in America for some years. She was the youngest of eleven and was a dedicated Anglican, attending

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

and other church activities. She became concerned for the state of the poor. In 1875, she started a "Ladies Committee" with herself as secretary that would organise the Liverpool School of Domestic Science. The committee included the Countess of Sefton and

Mary Stanley, Countess of Derby Mary Stanley, Countess of Derby (previously known as Mary Gascoyne-Cecil, Marchioness of Salisbury, née Lady Mary Sackville-West; 23 July 1824 – 6 December 1900) was an English grande dame and political hostess. Family Daughter of George Sac ...

. The classes were originally held at St George's Hall in central Liverpool. The following year, she established the "Northern Union of Training Schools of Cookery" which included schools in Yorkshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was this body that issued certification for the courses. In 1891 she published "A Teachers' Manual of Elementary Laundry Work". In 1900, the organisation moved to new buildings at Colquitt Street, where term started on 2 September. 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 fightin ...

, the school remained popular but the unavailability of some items meant that courses had to be mothballed. On the other hand she was called on to teach cookery to soldiers.

Death and legacy

The Domestic Science College ran out of funds in 1920 and had to apply for increased funding from the Local Education Authority. These negotiations ended with the college being incorporated into the LEA. The school was renamed the F. L. Calder College of Domestic Science. Calder died in

in 1923.Annmarie Turnbull, ‘Calder, Fanny Louisa (1838–1923)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 14 June 2017
/ref> The college that she created would in time become part of

. Calder's house carries two plaques, one with a quote from

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

. Nightingale wrote to her and described her as "Saint of the laundry, cooking and health".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, Fanny 1838 births 1923 deaths People from Liverpool British non-fiction writers British women writers