Mary Ann Baxter (1801 – 19 December 1884) was a noted philanthropist in the Scottish city of Dundee.

Family

Mary Ann Baxter was the daughter of William Baxter, founder of the Baxter Brothers And Co. Ltd. textile business. She outlived all of her siblings, her brothers Edward (general merchant),

Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet (1793–1872), was a linen manufacturer in Dundee, Scotland, and a baronet. He also performed a considerable amount of philanthropic work, benefiting his home city of Dundee and more widely Scottish education. Ea ...

, John, and William (who worked in their father's textile business), and her sister Eleanor.

Notable achievements

Mary Ann Baxter was the co-founder of

University College, Dundee A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, the forerunner of the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

and also, with her brother, Sir David Baxter (1793-1872) of the Technical Institute of Dundee which opened in 1888 and led to the founding of

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art schoo ...

. The Deed of endowment and trust in the University archives, signed in 1881 when Mary Ann Baxter would have been 80 years old, lists the donation of £120,000 for the creation of an institution of higher education in Dundee from Miss Mary Ann Baxter of Balgavies assisted by her relative, Dr John Boyd Baxter, Esq., LL.D., an alumnus of St Andrews and Procurator Fiscal of Forfarshire who contributed nearly £20,000. The deed stated that the college should promote "the education of persons of both sexes and the study of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts". Mary Ann Baxter's insistence on the education of women meant that the college's alumni include the social reformer

Mary Lily Walker Mary Lily Walker (5 July 1863 – 1 July 1913) was a Scottish social reformer, who worked to improve conditions for women and children working in industrial Dundee. The ninth child of a Dundee solicitor, Walker was born into a relatively affluent ...

and Scotland's first female professor,

Margaret Fairlie Margaret Fairlie Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, FRCOG Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, FRCSE (1891–1963) was a Scottish academic and Gynaecology, gynaecologist. Fairlie spent most of her career working at Dundee Roy ...

. As a philanthropist, together with her sister Eleanor and her brother Sir David, Mary Ann Baxter also founded

Baxter Park Baxter Park is a park located in the east of Dundee, Scotland. It was designed between 1862-63 and is the only complete park wholly designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in Scotland. The park is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Land ...

, buying 37 acres of fields in 1861 and commissioning designer

Sir Joseph Paxton ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

to design a park "with the view of affording to the working population the means of relaxation and enjoyment after their hard labour and honest industry".

Recognition

A blue plaque marking her place in the Dundee Women's Trail is sited on Perth Road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Mary Ann People from Dundee 1801 births 1884 deaths Founders of Scottish schools and colleges People associated with the University of Dundee 19th-century philanthropists