Louisa Browning (1807 – September 6, 1887) 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, ...

school proprietor. Her small school had some notable pupils.

Life

Browning was born in 1807 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Her father was Robert Browning who would be the grandfather of the poet named

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

when he was born in 1812. Her father had however remarried to Jane Smith and she was his sixth child. She was her father's fourth daughter and he gave her £200 to set up a school which she did with her sister Sarah and for a while another sister Jemima. Girls could board at her school at 4 Dartmouth Row in Blackheath in London. Among their pupils were the daughters of Newson Garrett and this included two notable girls. Aged twelve in 1858, Millicent (later

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights associati ...

) and her elder sister Elizabeth (later

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 17 December 1917) was an English physician and suffragist. She was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She was the co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, ...

) was sent to London with her sister Elizabeth to attend a private boarding school in Blackheath. They met the head of the school who was large and wore bright colours. Millicent found Louisa Brown to be a "born teacher" whereas her sister remembered the "stupidity" of the teachers. However Millicent was to meet

Emily Davies Sarah Emily Davies (22 April 1830 – 13 July 1921) was an English feminist and suffragist, and a pioneering campaigner for women's rights to university access. She is remembered above all as a co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton Colleg ...

via the school. She met Emily in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

at the house of Sophie and Annie Crow who were two other puils at the school. Emily Davies was quoted as saying "It is quite clear what has to be done. I must devote myself to securing higher education, while you lizabeth mustopen the medical profession to women. After these things are done, we must see about getting the vote." She then turned to Millicent: "You are younger than we are, Millie, so you must attend to that." Millicent was the youngest and by the time she left the school it was under new management. Louisa and Sarah had retired by 1862 to a house together. Browning died in

Haverstock Hill Haverstock is an area of the London Borough of Camden: specifically the east of Belsize Park, north of Chalk Farm and west of Kentish Town. It is centred on Queens Crescent and Malden Road. Gospel Oak is to the north, Camden Town to the south. ...

in 1887.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Louisa 1807 births 1887 deaths People from London School principals and headteachers