Isabel Cleghorn LLA (14 March 1852 – 4 December 1922) was a British educationist and suffragist. She was the headteacher at

Heeley Heeley is a former cluster of villages. Which all now form a suburb in the south of the City of Sheffield, England. The village has existed at least since 1343, its name deriving from ''Heah Leah'', ''High Lea'' then ''Hely'', meaning a high, w ...

which is now part of Sheffield and she was the first woman President of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

in 1911.

Life

Cleghorn was born in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

. Her parents were Mary Ann (born Robinson) and Alexander Cleghorn. She became a pupil-teacher and she was awarded a scholarship to go to London to be trained at Stockwell Training College.

She became the headteacher of the Heeley Bank School for Girls when it opened in 1880. The school was in the

area of Sheffield. She soon began a correspondence course with the University of St Andrews for their

Lady Literate in Arts A Lady Literate in Arts (LLA) qualification was offered by the University of St Andrews in Scotland for more than a decade before women were allowed to graduate in the same way as men, and it became popular as a kind of external degree for women w ...

qualification which she gained in 1888. In 1896 her book, ''Needlework for Scholarship Students'', was published. This was a book that could be used at Sheffield Pupil Teacher Centre where she had been a teacher of sewing from 1889. In 1907 she began to serve on consultative committees of the national Board of Education with other suffragists like

Sophie Bryant Sophie Willock Bryant (15 February 1850, Sandymount, Dublin, – 14 August 1922, Chamonix, France) was an Anglo-Irish mathematician, educator, feminist and activist. Early life and education Bryant was born Sophie Willock in Dublin in 1850. H ...

. She was the first woman to lead the ''Sheffield Teachers Association'' and the ''Sheffield Headreachers Association''. She succeeded

Marshall Jackman Marshall James Jackman (1860 – 2 August 1938) was a British trade unionist and politician, who served on the London County Council. Life Born in Exeter, Jackman became a pupil teacher, then trained as a teacher at the Borough Road College ...

as President of the

in 1911 and she was the union's first woman member to hold the position. She brought forward a [proposal that the union should support the call for women's suffrage. It was defeated as it was in 1912, 1913 and 1914.

Death and legacy

Cleghorn died at her home in Sheffield. Her figure was recreated by a theatre company to explain women's suffrage and their advancement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleghorn, Isabel 1852 births 1922 deaths People from Rochester, Kent Heads of schools in the United Kingdom Presidents of the National Union of Teachers