Georgina Kinnear (1820 – 26 April 1914) was a British headmistress.

Life

Kinnear was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1820. Her brothers were educated by tutors, but Kinnear taught herself, getting up at 5 am each morning to do so. She was able to poach some language teaching from her brother's tutors. She was the daughter of John Gardner Kinnear

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

, a businessman and founder of John G. Kinnear & Co, commission merchants based at 17 St Vincent Place in the city centre. The family lived at 137 Clarence Place in Glasgow. Her younger brother became

Alexander Kinnear, 1st Baron Kinnear Alexander Smith Kinnear, 1st Baron Kinnear, (3 November 1833, Edinburgh – 20 December 1917, Edinburgh) was a Scottish advocate and judge. He served as Lord of Council and Session (1882–1913), and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1911. ...

and her uncle was

James Kinnear James Kinnear WS FRSE (1810-1849) was a Scottish lawyer. His legal title was Master Extraordinary in Chancery and Commissioner of English Affairs. Life He was born on 2 December 1810 and lived at 31 Queen Street in the New Town. He was appren ...

(1810–1849). All were descended from the Edinburgh banking firm of

Thomas Kinnear :not to be confused with Grace Marks' employer who died in 1843 Thomas Kinnear FRSE (1796–1830) was a Scottish banker and Director of T. Kinnear & Sons. He was also a Director of the Bank of Scotland. Life He was born on 11 January 1796. ...

and Sons. Kinnear traveled abroad and increased her knowledge of French and German. In 1860 she was employed by the British minister Lord and Lady Ann Napier to educate their children at their home in the Netherlands. The minister family moved to Russia in 1861 and there she taught herself Russian so well that she was able to take a job with a Russian family. Kinnear became the head of the

Park School for Girls Park School for Girls was an independent all-girls school situated in Glasgow, Scotland. The school merged with Laurel Bank School and the resulting Laurel Park School was absorbed into Hutchesons' Grammar School in 2002. History The school was ...

in Glasgow in 1880. The school was a new one opened by the Glasgow Girls School Company which had been formed by local businessmen the year before. Despite being largely self taught Kinnear came with glowing recommendations from the school's she had worked at previously. Kinnear was allowed to develop the school as she saw fit. She was shocked by the complacency of others about the lack of education for girls. When she retired, she was replaced by

Margaret Paulin Young Margaret Paulin Young (4 December 1864 – 15 January 1953) was a Scottish educator. She attended and was later headmistress of the Park School for Girls in Glasgow, where she introduced classes on art and science. Early life Young was born in ...

who had been a founding pupil of the Park School. She had been head girl and was later groomed by Kinnear to take on the post. Kinnear had sent her to be the founding head of

St Columba's School, Kilmacolm St Columba's School is a 3–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is split across two sites and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conf ...

which was a clone of Park School opened by the same company in 1897. Kinnear, Young and Young's replacement are credited with forming St Columba's school which is still an independent, but co-educational, school in 2019. Kinnear died in

in 1914 after spending some time speaking mostly in Russian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnear, Georgina 1820 births 1914 deaths Schoolteachers from Edinburgh Heads of schools in Scotland Women heads of schools in the United Kingdom

Life

See also

References