Frances Mary Buss (16 August 1827 – 24 December 1894) was a British headmistress and a pioneer of
girls' education.
Life
The daughter of
Robert William Buss
Robert William Buss (4 August 1804 – 26 February 1875) was a Victorian artist, etcher and illustrator perhaps best known for his painting ''Dickens' Dream''. He was the father of Frances Buss, a pioneer of girls' education.
Early career
Bo ...
, 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, 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
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...
which she remembered as simply consisting of children learning
Murray's ''
Grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
''. Aged 10 she attended a more advanced school in
Hampstead; 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 ...
.
During 1848–9, she attended evening lectures at the newly opened
Queen's College in
Harley Street, 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."Fre ...
,
Charles Kingsley, 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 ...
, 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
North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...
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. 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
Robert William Buss (4 August 1804 – 26 February 1875) was a Victorian artist, etcher and illustrator perhaps best known for his painting ''Dickens' Dream''. He was the father of Frances Buss, a pioneer of girls' education.
Early career
Bo ...
and her brother Septimus Buss teaching Art and
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...
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
The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist- ...
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
The Endowed Schools Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict c 56) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948. It was passed during William Ewart Gladstone’s first ministry, to restructure endowed gr ...
), 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) 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
The Chartered College of Teaching is a learned society for the teaching profession in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1846, the college was incorporated by Queen Victoria into a royal charter as the College of Preceptors in 1849. A supplemental cha ...
, 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
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, participating in the
Kensington Society, 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 ...
in a satirical rhyme:
Miss Buss and Miss Beale,
Cupid'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 Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
) and
Camden School for Girls
The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist- ...
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
North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...
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