Hannah Elizabeth Pipe (27 November 1831 – 29 December 1906) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

headmistress.

Life

Pipe was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1831. Her parents were Susanna (born Spencer) and William Pipe. Her uncle was John Willson Pipe who like her father, was a Wesleyan preacher. Her father died in 1841 and her mother reopened the family's cutlery shop to make a living. She was an only child and they lived in the Greenhays area of the city. Her education was a priority and she went first to a school run by Charles Cumber before she went on to

Chorlton high school Chorlton High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England. It has around 1500 pupils and 300 in each year. History Grammar school There was a "Chorlton High School" in th ...

where she became a star pupil of the head

William Ballantyne Hodgson William Ballantyne Hodgson (6 October 1815 – 24 August 1880) was a Scottish educational reformer and political economist. Life The son of William Hodgson, a printer, he was born in Edinburgh on 6 October 1815. In 1820 the family were living ...

. She was encouraged to become a teacher and she opened her own school in 1848 and this made enough money for her to employ her mother as the shop was closed. By 1852 she had moved premises and she was taking in boarders. She was encouraged to move to London and children;s parents agreed. Her Manchester school was replaced by Laleham Boarding School for Girls which was based in Clapham in 1856 offering lessons in art, science and a religious education. Her mother had also moved to London and Pipe taught several subjects herself. There were five bible classes each week and each time she was alone with her charges. By 1860 the school was in a larger building with twenty five boarders paying 100 guineas each per annum. Pipe considered schools for girls as poor and that the expectation of parents for education for their daughters was unambitous. She employed leading teachers and she had high expectations although she was not keen on examinations. Ten of her students by 1893 had gone on to

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

. Pipe preferred Newnham to Girton as she didn't support Emily Davies' idea that women should take the same courses as men.

Death and legacy

Pipe retired in 1890 (or 1900) and died at her home in

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

in 1906. Her school operated until 1908. Her life and her letters were published after her death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pipe, Hannah Elizabeth 1831 births 1906 deaths People from Manchester Women school principals and headteachers Heads of schools in the United Kingdom 19th-century British educators