Lydia Rous (May 24, 1819 – December 15, 1896) was a British headmistress. She led The Mount School, a girls' boarding school for Quakers in York.

Life

Rous was born in 1819 in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

. Her parents Mary (born Kekwick) and William Rous were both Quakers and that was the theme of her education. Her father had a shop. Her formal education began at the Quaker school in Croyden when she was ten and from there she went to a similar school in Essex before completing back in Croyden with Sarah and Maria Palmer. She spent five years teaching at the

Ackworth School Ackworth School is an independent day and boarding school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school (or more accurately its Head) is a member ...

, but she also offered private tuition. Her career began looking after children in their home and later in Darlington. Her high profile appointment was with John Bright which began in 1858 and continued to 1863. Bright lauded her abilities saying that only Queen Victoria had more abilities than her. Rous left Bright and went for the second time to the USA. She went to see her elder sister Elizabeth Comstock, a Quaker minister, was helping with the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

, but she also spent time assisting in hospitals that were treating the wounded from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Her sister and her second husband were based in Rollin, Michigan, but her sister would speak across America and visit hospitals, prison camps and runaway slaves to minister. She was appointed as the lead for the York Quarterly Meeting Girls' School – The Mount School in 1866. The school had originally been founded in 1785. During her time as Superintendent informal singing was allowed but music and dancing lessons were not. This restriction allowed for more academic subjects and the school gave greater emphasis to algebra, geometry, Latin and logic than the average girls' school at the time. Her ambition was to create teachers at the school. There had already been some teacher training but under her guidance this was expanded. She continued to lead the school until 1879. Rous died in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in 1896 where she had been cared for by a brother and sister. In the following year a fund had been established at the Mount School to assist pupils wishing to go on to further education. Further donations have allowed the fund to continue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rous, Lydia 1819 births 1896 deaths People from Maidenhead English Quakers English women educators Heads of schools in Yorkshire