Frances Mary Buss (16 August 1827 – 24 December 1894) was a British headmistress and a pioneer of
girls' education
Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...
.
Life
The daughter of
Robert William Buss, a painter and etcher, and his wife, Frances Fleetwood, Buss was one of six of their ten children to survive into adulthood. Her grandparents, whom she was visiting in
Aldersgate
Aldersgate is a Ward of the City of London, named after one of the northern gates in the London Wall which once enclosed the City.
The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersgate Within and Aldersgate Without, the suffix denot ...
, sent her to a private school housed in the most basic accommodation "...to get me out of the way". Next she was sent to a similar school in
Kentish Town which she remembered as simply consisting of children learning
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
's ''
Grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
''. Aged 10 she attended a more advanced school in
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
; by the age of fourteen she herself was teaching there and by sixteen she was occasionally left in charge of the school.
[Elizabeth Coutts, 'Buss, Frances Mary (1827–1894)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004]
Her father's career as an artist being at times unsuccessful, to help the family finances her mother set up a private school in Clarence Road, Kentish Town, in 1845, at which Frances assisted, and which was based on the ideas of
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (, ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach.
He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking r ...
.
During 1848–9, she attended evening lectures at the newly opened
Queen's College in
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...
, London. She was taught by
F. D. Maurice
John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Frede ...
,
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...
, and
R. C. Trench, and gained certificates in French, German and Geography. To
Dorothea Beale
Dorothea Beale LL.D. (21 March 1831 – 9 November 1906) was a suffragist, educational reformer and author. As Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, she became the founder of St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Early and family life
Dorothea Beale w ...
, a contemporary at Queen's, she described the education she had gained there as opening 'a new life to me, I mean intellectually'.
Career
The school was renamed the
North London Collegiate School for Ladies and moved to larger premises in Camden Street on 4 April 1850. Buss was its first Headmistress and remained so for the rest of her life. Under her headship, and with the help of family members, the school became a model for
girls' education
Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...
. By 1865 the school had 200-day girls, with a few boarders, but was still run as a private, family concern, with her father
Robert William Buss and her brother Septimus Buss teaching Art and
Scripture respectively.
In July 1870 Frances Mary Buss handed over the school to trustees, and in the following year she founded the
Camden School for Girls with the aim of offering more affordable education for girls. She was the first person ever to use the title Headmistress.
Buss was at the forefront of campaigns for the endowment of girls' schools (see
Endowed Schools Act 1869), and for girls to be allowed to sit public examinations and to enter universities. She became the founding president of the
Association of Head Mistresses
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
in 1874, a position she held until 1894, and was also involved in establishing the Teachers' Guild in 1883 and the Cambridge Training College (later
Hughes Hall
Hughes Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. It is the oldest of the University of Cambridge's postgraduate colleges. The college also admits undergraduates, though undergraduates admitted by the college must b ...
) for training teachers in 1885.
In 1869 she became the first woman
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
College of Preceptors, helping to establish the College's professorship of the science and art of education in 1872. Her election to a Fellowship of the College in 1873 was the only public recognition she ever received. She was also a member of the Council of the Teachers' Training and Registration Society.
Buss was also a
suffragist, participating in the
Kensington Society
The Kensington Society is a civic society for Kensington, London. It serves both as an individual membership organisation, with more than 700 members, and as an umbrella organisation for 33 affiliated residents' associations and conservation ...
, a woman's discussion society, and the London Suffrage Committee.
She is buried in the churchyard of Theydon Bois in Essex.
Legacy
Frances Mary Buss and ">Sophie Bryant
Her name is associated with that of
Dorothea Beale
Dorothea Beale LL.D. (21 March 1831 – 9 November 1906) was a suffragist, educational reformer and author. As Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, she became the founder of St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Early and family life
Dorothea Beale w ...
in a satirical rhyme:
Miss Buss and Miss Beale,
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
's darts do not feel.
How different from us,
Miss Beale and Miss Buss.
In the spring of each year North London Collegiate School, North London Collegiate School Jeju (in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
) and
Camden School for Girls all hold Founder's Day to commemorate Frances Mary Buss and her legacy. Pupils, staff and guests each carry a daffodil in memory of Miss Buss's favourite flower.
The educational values that Frances Mary Buss taught at the
North London Collegiate School became the model for many schools throughout the UK and overseas. This included
Pretoria High School for Girls
Pretoria High School for Girls (Simply often known as PHSG), is a full-government, fee-charging, English-medium high school for girls located in Hatfield, Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is the sister school to Pretoria Boy ...
, founded in South Africa by Edith Aitken, a former pupil of Miss Buss.
Notes
Further reading
* Richardson, Joanna. "The Great Revolution: Women's Education in Victorian Times." ''History Today'' (1974) 24#6 pp 420-427.
External links
School WebsiteNLCS ArchivesAIM25: Frances Mary Buss and family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buss, Frances Mary
Feminist studies scholars
English suffragists
1827 births
1894 deaths
Headmistresses of North London Collegiate School
People educated at Queen's College, London
19th-century English educators
19th-century women educators