Grace Mary Linnel was a British born educationist and the founder principal of
Welham Girls' School.
She spent many years in India and was associated with educational institutions such as Government Mahbubia Girls’ School,
Hyderabad and
Women's College, Hyderabad before joining with
Hersille Susie Oliphant of
Welham Boys' School to establish
Welham Girls' School in 1957.
She was honoured by the
Government of India in 1971 with
Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Biography
Grace Linnel was born in 1900 in Leicester, Leicestershire in the United Kingdom in 1900 to John Stockburn Linnell and Mary Elizabeth Smith.
Shifting her residence to India, she took up the post as the head of Mahbubia Girls’ School, Hyderabad in 1922.
She headed the institution, even after Indian independence, till 1956 when she moved to the
Osmania University College for Women
The Telangana Mahila Viswavidyalayam, formerly Osmania University College for Women is a state university in Hyderabad, India. It was formerly a constituent women's college of Osmania University. The main building of this college, which was p ...
in the city, an assignment lasting only one year. Accepting the invitation of Hersille Susie Oliphant, the founder of
Welham Boys' School,
Dehradun
Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...
, she took up the responsibility of setting up
Welham Girls' School in the Himalayan valley town.
Starting with a student strength of 10, the school grew under the leadership of Linnel and is now one of the notable residential schools in India, offering studies to 600 girls.
The school has been the alma mater to several notable personalities such as
Brinda Karat
Brinda Karat (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) member on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal.
In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She ...
,
Subhashini Ali
Subhasini Ali (born 29 December 1947) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She is the President of the All India Democratic Women's Association and former Member of Parliament from Kanpur.
Early life ...
,
Neera Yadav,
Kareena Kapoor Khan,
Madhu Trehan,
Tavleen Singh,
Radhika Roy,
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
and
Laila Tyabji. She stayed with the school till 1970.
The
Government of India honoured her with the civilian award of
Padma Shri for her contributions to the field of education in India.
The life and work of Linnel has been documented by Khatija Akbar, one of her students at Mahbubia School,
in a biography, ''A Teacher's Tale'', published by Roli Books in 2007.
See also
*
Welham Girls' School
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linnel, Grace Mary
1900 births
Year of death missing
Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education
People from Leicester
British educational theorists